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| Miyamoto Musashi | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Contemporaneous portrait of Miyamoto Musashi (Edo period) | |||||
| Born | Shinmen Bennosuke c. 1584 Harima Province or Mimasaka Province, Japan | ||||
| Died | 13 June 1645 (aged 60–61) Higo Province, Japan | ||||
| Native name | 宮本武蔵 | ||||
| Other names | Niten Dōraku; Shinmen Musashi no Kami Fujiwara no Harunobu | ||||
| Residence | Japan | ||||
| Style | Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū Kenjutsu (二天一流), Enmei-ryu (圓明流), (二天流) | ||||
| Children | Mikinosuke (adopted) Kurōtarō (adopted) Iori (adopted) Yoemon (adopted) | ||||
| Notable students | Takemura Yoemon; Terao Magonojō; Terao Motomenosuke; Furuhashi Sōzaemon | ||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji | 宮本 武蔵 | ||||
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Miyamoto Musashi (宮本 武蔵), born Shinmen Takezō (新免 武蔵, c. 1584 – 13 June 1645),[1] also known as Miyamoto Bennosuke and by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku,[2] was a Japanese swordsman, strategist, artist, and writer who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 62 duels (next is 33 by Itō Ittōsai). Musashi is considered a kensei (sword saint) of Japan.[3] He was the founder of the Niten Ichi-ryū, or Nito Ichi-ryū, style of swordsmanship, and in his final years authored The Book of Five Rings (五輪の書, Go Rin No Sho) and Dokkōdō (獨行道, The Path of Aloneness).
Both documents were given to Terao Magonojō, the most important of Musashi's students, seven days before Musashi's death. The Book of Five Rings deals primarily with the character of his Niten Ichi-ryū school in a concrete sense, i.e., his own practical martial art and its generic significance; The Path of Aloneness, on the other hand, deals with the ideas that lie behind it, as well as his life's philosophy in a few short aphoristic sentences.
It is believed that Musashi was a friend of a Tokugawa shogunate general named Mizuno Katsunari and fought together with him in the Battle of Sekigahara, Siege of Osaka, and Shimabara Rebellion as part of the Tokugawa army.
The Miyamoto Musashi Budokan training center, located in Ōhara-chō (Mimasaka), Okayama Prefecture, Japan was erected to honor his name and legend.
- ^ Tokitsu, Kenji (1998). Miyamoto Musashi: 17th century Japanese saber master: man and work, myth and reality; Miyamoto Musashi : maître de sabre japonais du XVIIe siècle : l'homme et l'œuvre, mythe et réalité. Editions désiris. pp. 19, 20. ISBN 978-2907653541. OCLC 41259596.,
- ^ Toyota Masataka. "Niten Ki (A Chronicle of Two Heavens)", in Gorin no Sho, ed. Kamiko Tadashi (Tokyo: Tokuma-shoten, 1963), 239.
- ^ Miyamoto Musashi, trans.S. F. Kaufman (1994), Book Of Five Rings, Tuttle Publishing.