Musashi Miyamoto

Miyamoto Musashi is known to be one of the most famous Samurai warriors. He was born in 1584, in a village located in Japan called Miyamoto. He was a descendent from the Fujiwara clan who were heavily known during the Heian time period.

He was an orphan at the age of seven, and was cared for by his uncle who is a priest. His father, Munisai Hirato, was also a warrior himself. Miyamoto Masashi did not have a very close relationship with his father, and at age seven, he was left in the care of his uncle who was a priest.
Musashi’s father was a warrior and soon followed in his footsteps by studying kenjutsu from an early age. At the age of 13, he experienced his first combat with a fellow swordsman named Arima Kigei, who Musashi had invited to a battle challenge.

These challenges were not just for the sake of battling of each other but for the primary purpose of who is the most superior at the school. Despite the young age Musashi, Kigei took on the challenge and was sorely defeated. Musashi struck him repeatedly with a stick that ended up killing him. This challenge helped Musashi to gain a sense of popularity and respect from his fellow peers.

During Musashi’s early life he learned how handle his famous musashi  katana with one hand instead of the standard two-handed grip. This allowed him the capability to handle two swords at the same time. At the age of 16, he decided that it was time to seek enlightenment through the way of the sword. He began his passageway by leaving home to go for his Musha-Shugyo which is known as warrior pilgrimage.

It is a long time samurai tradition, where a warrior travels all over, fights in duels to help with developing his skills, build his strength, and build up the value of the school that he had previously attended.

During the Musha-Shugyo period, Musashi was completely committed to it and denied himself basic luxuries such as bathing, marriage, and not cutting his hair. Throughout his battles he continued to remain undefeated. During his later years of his life, he gained personality qualities such as patience, humility than he was during his younger years.

He spent time devoting himself to other types of arts that were practiced by other samurais such as the art of Niten Ichi-Ryu kenjutsu. He wrote and published many works on the topic, along with the way of the sword. His works were causes Heiho Sanjugokajo translated as the
35 Articles on the Art of Swordsmanship which focuses on the principles, combat techniques and philosophy of Niten Ich-Ryu. The second was the Go Rin No Sho which is a Book of Five Rings and is known to be one of the most famous works focused on martial arts.

The Go Rin No Sho is focused on five sections which each named after the Japanese elements. Musashi also mastered other unrelated arts such as calligraphy, ink painting, wood sculpture, and metalworking. It is found that he is also known as Kensei, sword-saint. and is the most famous samurai in Japanese history.