The Real Musashi: A Miscellany (Origins of a Legend III): 3

Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645) is the most revered and celebrated swordsman in Japanese history; unfortunately our modern portrait of this folk hero is derived mainly from popular books comics and film with little heed paid to the early records by men who knew Musashi practiced with Musashi and went into battle with Musashi. Spanning a period of more than a decade the author set out to translate all surviving records on Musashi. The result is a body of text comprising some 150000 words mostly written during Japans feudal era. They range from original accounts of duels battles and sieges local histories and topographies down to personal correspondence clan records family lineages and roll calls. The fruit of that labor of love the groundbreaking three-part The Real Musashi: Origins of a Legend series makes available to the English reader virtually all of the extant early historical material relevant to the life of this enigmatic and solitary swordsman. All texts are accompanied by extensive notes that help to clarify and put them in perspective. Part III A Miscellany presents translations of nearly two dozen texts describing important events in Musashis life dating from the mid-seventeenth to the late-nineteenth century. They include the Tomari jinja munefuda by Musashis adopted son Iori; the Yoshioka-den the clan records of the rivaling Yoshioka clan the Kōkō zatsuroku describing Musashis heroic role in the siege of Osaka castle; the Dobo goen on his liaison with a Yoshiwara geisha; the Sōkyū-sama o-degatari on his role in the Shimabara Rebellion; and the Numata kaki written by the keeper of the castle where Musashi stayed at the time of his famous duel on Ganryu Island.