Who Was Miyamoto Musashi? Japan's Undefeated Swordsman and The Book of Five Rings

Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584–1645) was a Japanese swordsman, strategist, artist and writer, a masterless samurai, or rōnin, who is remembered as a kensei, a "sword saint". He is credited with an undefeated record in dozens of duels, he founded a fighting style that used two swords at once, and near the end of his life he wrote The Book of Five Rings, a short treatise on strategy that is still read around the world, including by business readers who have never held a sword. He is also one of the most fictionalised figures in Japanese history, so the interesting question is not only what he did, but which parts we can actually trust.

A boy who fought his first duel at thirteen

Musashi was born around 1584, in a Japan that was coming out of more than a century of civil war. According to his own account, he fought his first duel at around the age of thirteen, against a samurai named Arima Kihei, and won. Sources differ slightly about his exact age, which is typical of his life story: even the basic dates come with a margin of error.

In 1600 Japan's great warlords fought the decisive Battle of Sekigahara, after which the Tokugawa family ruled the country for more than 250 years. Musashi likely fought on the Tokugawa side during that campaign, but historians still debate whether he was at Sekigahara itself or at another battle in the same war.

The duel on Ganryū Island

Musashi's most famous fight took place in 1612 on Ganryū Island, a small island in the strait between Honshu and Kyushu, against a renowned swordsman named Sasaki Kojirō.

The popular version goes like this. Musashi arrived deliberately late, irritating his opponent. On the boat he carved a long wooden sword from an oar, longer than Kojirō's famously long blade. When Kojirō attacked, Musashi struck him down with the wooden sword. It is a perfect story about psychology and preparation, and it is the prevailing account, but the sources disagree on many details, and some of the drama was probably added later.

Two swords at once

Samurai normally carried two swords, a long one and a short one, but fought with the long sword held in both hands. Musashi trained to use both swords together, one in each hand. His school is known as Niten Ichi-ryū, roughly "two heavens as one".

His reasoning was practical. A warrior who dies with a sword still in its scabbard has wasted a weapon, so he should learn to use everything he carries. Holding a heavy sword in one hand also forces you to develop strength and control on both sides of the body.

Later life: soldier, teacher, artist

As Japan settled into peace under the Tokugawa, the age of constant duels faded. Musashi is said to have served at the Siege of Osaka, and he is also said to have taken part in suppressing the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–38, although that second claim rests on a later record.

He was not only a fighter. Musashi produced calligraphy and ink paintings that are still admired today, including Shrike Perched on a Withered Branch, a spare, tense image of a small bird on a bare branch. Many people see in his art the same qualities as in his swordsmanship: economy, focus and nothing wasted.

The Book of Five Rings

Between 1643 and 1645, in the last years of his life, Musashi wrote The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin no Sho). It is divided into five "books", named after elements:

• Earth: an introduction to strategy, using the metaphor of a carpenter building a house.
• Water: his own style and basic technique, and the importance of a flexible, balanced mind.
• Fire: the heat of combat, timing and how to seize the initiative.
• Wind: a critique of other schools of swordsmanship.
• Void: a very short, mysterious closing section on mindset, influenced by Zen.

The book is famously direct. It is less about secret techniques than about attitude: train constantly, see things as they really are, do nothing useless. That is why its readers today include athletes, strategists and business leaders.

Shortly before he died, Musashi also wrote Dokkōdō, "The Path of Aloneness", a list of brief personal precepts. He gave both works to his student Terao Magonojō seven days before his death.

Death and legend

Musashi died on 13 June 1645, probably of lung cancer. In the centuries since, he has become a star of novels, films, manga and games. One of the most influential is Eiji Yoshikawa's novel Musashi, which shaped how many readers imagine him today. When you meet Musashi in fiction, it helps to remember that the historical man was already a master of his own legend: much of what we know comes from what he chose to write.

Learn with Musashi: English phrases about strategy and focus

Phrase	Meaning	Example
to seize the initiative	to act first and take control	She seized the initiative in the meeting.
to keep your cool	to stay calm under pressure	He kept his cool during the exam.
to psych someone out	to make an opponent nervous	Arriving late was meant to psych him out.
no wasted motion	doing only what is necessary	Good writing has no wasted motion.
practice makes perfect	repeated training leads to skill	Ten minutes a day: practice makes perfect.

Try this: Musashi tells readers to train every day. Write three English sentences describing your own "daily training" for a language, and use "seize the initiative" and "keep your cool" once each.