The path of Musashi from a young, irresponsible hothead into the great swordsman of legend is a wonderful journey to follow. There’s a huge cast of interesting characters that cross paths in surprising was over many years. The story often feels as if it were cowritten by Charles Dickens and Akira Kurosawa. It recounts in great detail the life of Miyamoto Musashi the famous samurai. Full of gusto and humor, it has an epic quality and universal appeal. Interweaving themes of unrequited love, misguided revenge, filial piety, and absolute dedication to the way of the samurai, it depicts vividly a world Westerners know only vaguely.
It is a living story, subtle and imaginative, teeming with memorable characters, many of them historical. Musashi is a novel in the best tradition of Japanese storytelling. Inevitably, he has to pit his skill against the naked blade of his greatest rival. He becomes a reluctant hero to a host of people whose lives he has touched and by whom he has been touched. He is supremely successful in his encounters, but in The Art of War, he perceives the way of peaceful and prosperous governance and disciplines himself to be a real human being.
Continually striving to perfect his technique, which leads him to a unique style of fighting with two swords simultaneously, he travels far and wide, challenging fighters of many disciplines, taking nature to be his ultimate and severest teacher and undergoing the rigorous training of those who follow the way. When he is set free again, he rejects the position of samurai and for the next several years pursues his goal relentlessly, looking neither to the left nor to the right.Įver so slowly it dawns on him that following the way of the sword is not simply a matter of finding a target for his brute strength. During three years of solitary confinement, he delves into the classics of Japan and China. The lovely Otsu, seeing in Musashi her ideal of manliness, frees him from his tortuous punishment, but he is recaptured and imprisoned. On his way home, he commits a rash act, becomes a fugitive, and brings life in his own village to a standstill - until he is captured by a weaponless Zen monk.
Lured to the great Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 by the hope of becoming a samurai - without really knowing what it meant - he regains consciousness after the battle to find himself lying defeated, dazed, and wounded among thousands of the dead and dying.
Miyamoto Musashi was the child of an era when Japan was emerging from decades of civil strife. The classic samurai novel about the real exploits of the most famous swordsman.
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