The Lone Samurai

by William Scott Wilson

  2. There are a number of differing versions of the shugyosha’s seven austerities. One of these versions, the Bukyo shigen, written during the Edo period (1603–1868), lists them as follows:

  —Bear up under days of cold and heat, withstand exposure to wind and rain, and walk mountain roads and difficult paths.

  —Do not sleep under a roof; consider it fundamental to sleep out in the open.

  —Be patient with hunger and cold. Carry no money or food provisions.

  —If there is a battle at one’s destination, participate and achieve meritorious deeds. Be direct in combat; avoid acting like a thief.

  —Go alone to places frightening to the common run of men: places where evil spirits congregate or where there are bewitching foxes and poisonous snakes.

  —Become a criminal on purpose, be put in jail and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.

  —Consider your own position to be lower than that of farmers and make your living by helping in the paddies and fields.

  These would seem to be a little too pat and organized, not unlike the rules for a haiku poet thought to have been written by Basho during the same period. Many shugyosha, however, likely went through these experiences of necessity.

  3. The Sayo gunshi story also departs from tradition by stating that Musashi was living as a guest of the Tazumi family at this time and took upon himself the task of “punishing” Kihei. The fight, according to this record, lasted only a moment, Musashi finishing Kihei off with one quick stroke of a sword.

  4. Some accounts have Bennosuke leaving Hirafuku immediately and starting his own travels as a shugyosha.

  5. Although Musashi himself claims in The Book of Five Rings to have been born in Harima, there are a number of locations that officially declare themselves to be Musashi’s birthplace. The village of Miyamoto, Sanomo-mura in the old province of Mimasaka (now in Ohara-machi, Aida-gun, Okayama Prefecture) claims that Omasa, his father’s first wife, was Musashi’s true mother and that Musashi was born there. Indeed, the Miyamoto-mura kojicho, a copied edition of a longer village record compiled in 1689, states that a Miyamoto Muni and his son Musashi lived in a house in Miyamoto sometime between 1575 and 1596. According to another theory, however, Musashi’s real mother was Yoshiko and Musashi’s birthplace was the village of Hirafuku, in Sayo-gun, in the old province of Harima (now Hyogo Prefecture). Yet another location, the village Miyamoto, Iho-gun, in Harima (currently Taishi-mura in Hyogo Prefecture) claims Musashi as its own, on the basis of statements to that effect in the Harima no kagami, written in 1762. And there are others.

  6. There are a number of questions about Musashi’s father, who is variously called Muni, Munisai, and Muninosuke. Some writers consider these individuals to have been separate people—variously his adoptive father, his uncle, or his teacher. Another theory has his real father as a Tahara Jinbei Iesada. Muni’s family name was Hirata, and he is thought to have been aged thirty-one at the time of Musashi’s birth. His grave marker, however, which still exists today in Okayama Prefecture, states his death to have been in 1580, or four years before Musashi was born. This would clearly have made it a little difficult for him to have fathered Musashi. On a more reasonable note, the Hiratake keito states that Muni died in 1590 at the age of sixty-three, or six years after Musashi was born. The problem in this case is that, counting backward, Muni would have been born in 1528, but this same Hiratake keito dates Muni’s father’s death to 1503 and his mother’s to 1505. What is more, the theory that names Tahara Iesada as Musashi’s father dates Musashi’s birth to 10 February 1573. The reader can see the problem, which is probably better left to other disciplines.

  7. Just as the shugyosha’s required austerities are defined, there is also a formal list of the possessions that he is permitted.

  —CLOTHING: a padded cotton garment, underwear, an undersash, a bleached cotton shirt, a three-foot-long hand towel, a dyed headband, a cord (for drying things as necessary)

  —FIRE-MAKING MATERIAL: flint and steel, tinder, small kindling

  —EATING UTENSILS: a straw wrapper (for rice or other leftovers), a bamboo canteen

  —MISCELLANEOUS: a travel pass, paper, a portable brush-and-ink set, medicine, scissors, straw sandals, hempen cord, wattled hat

  All shugyosha would have carried most of these items. The list is very similar to the possessions carried by traveling priests. The difference is that priests would not, in addition to these articles, have been carrying a set of swords.

  8. Scholars have hypothesized that the six were probably: the attack on Fushimi Castle just prior to the Sekigahara campaign; the attack on Gifu Castle, also in the year 1600; the Battle of Sekigahara; the Winter Campaign at Osaka Castle in 1614; the Summer Campaign of the same castle in 1615; and the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–38.

  9. There is a theory that Musashi was with his father Munisai for the action against Otomo Yoshimune, an ally of the Western forces, at Ishigakihara in Beppu (Bungo Province in Kyushu). If this is true, then Musashi fought in the campaign of Sekigahara on the side of the Eastern forces under the Kuroda clan.

  10. Koku: A measurement of rice equalling 5.119 U.S. bushels. This was the unit in which the stipends for samurai ware paid, and also defined the allowances of income for the various daimyo.

  11. The Rendaiji Moor is still called by that name today, although it has changed considerably since Musashi’s time. Now mostly a residential area, the once extensive temple compound has been reduced to only a few buildings. According to one of the residential priests, Musashi fought his bout with Seijuro near the Jizodo, a temple that has now disappeared altogether. Interestingly, off to the side of the remaining temple are row after row of extremely weathered stone buddhas. These were unearthed recently during road construction and are considered to be about four hundred years old.

  12. The Ichijoji temple was no longer extant even during Musashi’s time, but a pine said to be the second or third generation of the one under which the fight occurred still stands at a crossroads within a residential area. This was where the junction of the old and new roads to Omi Province was during Musashi’s time, and the place still has the flavor of traditional rural Japan. Just up the road is the Hachidai Shrine, where Musashi famously did not pray to the gods and where today a section of the trunk of the old pine is preserved in a glass case. Farther up the mountain is Tanuki-dani (“Racoon Dog Valley”), and a waterfall—now close to a large temple—under which Musashi is said to have meditated often for self-discipline. The waterfall, now just a trickle, falls into a narrow grotto spanned by a huge straw rope. Within the grotto itself is a moss-covered statue of Fudo Myo-o, behind which is a sword cut from stone. Huge cryptomeria and junipers border the two hundred stone steps up to the waterfall, and other than the smoke of incense and the call of birds, there is only the quiet of the mountain.

  13. Much has been made of Matashichiro’s age, and he has often been depicted as a young boy just seven years old. But while he is considered to have been young, theories range from seven to seventeen to a young man in his early twenties. It is thought most probable that he was a teenager at the time of this fight, and it must be remembered that he had more or less been raised in the dojo of the famous Yoshioka clan. It should be remembered too that Musashi fought his first bout at the age of thirteen.

  14. There are a number of other stories concerning Musashi’s fights with the Yoshioka clan. According to the admittedly one-sided Yoshioka-den, published in 1684, Musashi was a retainer of Matsudaira Tadanao in Echizen and matches were arranged with the Yoshioka clan in order to establish Musashi’s style, called the Muteki-ryu, in which he effectively used two swords. The match originated from Tadanao’s desire to see combat between two respected swordsmen and was arranged by the Kyoto Shoshidai (magistrate), Itakura Katsushige. In this story, the bout with Seijuro was tense, with neither man giving way, but in the end Musashi was struck on the forehead, blood was drawn, and the match was declared over. When the judges ruled the mat
ch a draw, Seijuro was enraged and demanded a rematch, but Musashi declared himself happy with the decision. The Yoshioka-den further declares that on the day of Musashi’s match with Denshichiro, he did not show up at all, and the story was circulated that Denshichiro had been victorious without having to leave his seat. And in this version, Musashi’s opponents may not have been Seijuro and Denshichiro at all, but the Yoshioka brothers, Genzaemon Naotsuna and Mataichi Naoshige.

  In the records of the Koro sawa, the story goes that Musashi and Seijuro were to meet at the Seven Pines of Kitano in Kyoto and that Musashi made Seijuro wait by arriving late. In this version, Seijuro used a wooden sword while Musashi used one made of bamboo, and the match was considered to have been a draw. Both received blows from the other: Seijuro on the left side of his head, and Musashi above his left brow. The Honcho bugei shoden also notes that the match with Seijuro ended in a draw.

  Other versions of the story abound. One states that when Musashi and Seijuro fought, they both received blows on the head from one another’s swords; but that Seijuro’s headband was done in the White Hand Style, which, because of its color, clearly showed a quick flow of blood. Musashi, whose headband was colored persimmon, showed no blood at all. Yet another story relates that the instant Seijuro cut through Musashi’s headband, Musashi cut through Seijuro’s hakama. The final statement, however, may well be that Musashi’s style is still alive and well today, while nothing remains of the once powerful and influential Yoshioka style.

  Yet the clan seems not to have disappeared as quickly as is reported in the Nitenki. According to a document of the times, the Shunpu seijiroku for 1614, a “Yoshioka Kenpo” caused a disturbance during a Noh performance at the Imperial Castle on June 21, and was struck down and killed by Itakura Katsushige’s retainer, Ota Chubei. This unseemly event has been recorded in other documents as having occurred in 1602, 1611, and 1613; and would indicate a clan falling further into degradation.

  Nevertheless, perhaps they struggled on. According to the record known as the Mukashi banashi, written by Chikamatsu Shigenori, about lord Tokugawa Yoshimichi, the fourth-generation lord of the Owari clan, Yoshimichi studied the Yoshioka style and received its book of traditions from a Yoshioka Kahei in the mid-Edo period.

  What seems clear, however, is that after the fights with Musashi, the Yoshioka clan slid from a state of prominence and power in the world of swordsmanship back to the role of makers of dye-goods. The stains on their hands were now once again the colors of indigo and tea rather than blood-red.

  15. The Hozoin style was later carried to Kokura by Takada Matabei, a man who had learned the art from In’ei’s greatest disciple, Nakamura Naomasa, and who was considered to have been the reincarnation of In’ei. Mataemon was later to have a match with Musashi, during which Musashi used a short wooden sword similar to the one that so frustrated the priest from the Ozoin.

  The Hozoin itself was abandoned during the Meiji period’s (1868–1912) anti-Buddhist movement. The ground where it was located, where the priests worked so hard at forging their skills, is now a corner of the Nara National Museum. The spear technique created by In’ei and improved by Inshun, however, survived and is still taught today.

  16. According to the Nitenki, Gonnosuke’s initial match with Musashi occurred in Edo, but the Kaijo monogatari, written in 1666, states that it occurred when Musashi was residing in Akashi in the province of Harima.

  17. Tsujikaze’s fall was probably about eighteen feet—no short distance.

  18. Karl F. Friday, Legacies of the Sword, 89.

  19. A number of controversies surround the fight at Ganryu Island, one of which is Kojiro’s age on 13 April 1612. It is often suggested that he was eighteen at this time, but there are some problems with that conclusion. The Nitenki, for example, is the source that records Kojiro to have been “employed as a sparring partner and disciple of Toda Seigen.” Now this Seigen, according to the Honcho bugei shoden, was ordered in 1560 by the lord of Mino, Saito Yoshitatsu, to have a match with the sword instructor, Umezu, a match which he won. Thus, supposing that Kojiro was a disciple and at least fifteen years old at this time, he would then have been close to seventy at the time of the fight with Musashi on Ganryu Island. Further, Seigen’s younger brother, Kagemasa, who was beaten by Kojiro, died in 1593 at the age of seventy. This means that if Kojiro had been eighteen at the time of the fight on Funa Island, Kagemasa would have died before Kojiro was born. There are other theories on Kojiro’s age at the time, but the responsible suggestion, it seems, is that he was likely about the same age as Musashi. This was a match condoned by the Hosokawa clan, after all; and Tadatoshi would not likely have pitted a septuagenarian against a man in his prime, no matter how talented Kojiro might have been.

  Seigen himself was an excellent practitioner of the Chujo style who, during the time that he employed Kojiro as a sparring partner, developed an excellent method of using a long sword and is said to have actually initiated the Ganryu style. According to the Gekken sodan, written by Minamoto Tokushu, a sword instructor in the Bizen Okayama fief:

  In this style there is something called “One Mind, One Sword.” This is taking a stance in a way that you might make a strike straight to the opponent’s forehead. Advancing straight ahead, you eye the tip of the opponent’s nose, and then suddenly strike at the forehead. . . . [But] as you strike, you bend forward, coming up from below to the place you would have struck from above.

  Another tradition differing from the Nitenki account concerns not the material, but the actual number of Musashi’s weapons. The commonly held story is that Musashi used only one wooden sword in his duel with Kojiro. The Gekken sodan, however, states the following:

  At the time he was to meet this person, Ganryu, he asked the boatman for an oar and carved out two swords. Ganryu fought the match with a real sword, but in the end Musashi won by striking and killing Ganryu.

  Again, in the Nitenki and the Kokura Hibun it is stated that Musashi had asked for the duel at Funa Island (Funashima), but in the Busho kanjoki of 1716, there is this account:

  The famous master of the Niten style, Miyamoto Musashi, had become a retainer of the lord of Higo Kumamoto, Hosokawa Etchu no kami Tadatoshi; and when he came to Kyushu from Kyoto, the swordsman, Ganryu, communicated to him that he would like to have a match and would be waiting for him at Funa Island. Funa Island is in the offing out of Shimonseki in the province of Nagato.

  The greatest controversy concerning this fight, however, finds its source in the Numata keki, the records of the Numata clan, senior vassals to the Higo Kumamoto fief. In this version, the fight between the two men brought on a great swelling of pride among their respective disciples about the question of whose martial art was superior. Although spectators had been banned, Musashi’s disciples ignored the edict, secretly crossed over to the island, and when the fallen Kojiro began to recover, rushed over and beat him to death. When Kojiro’s disciples learned of this, the account goes, they were determined that Musashi must now die and they crossed over to Funa Island to take revenge. Musashi then sought help from Numata Nobumoto, the castle warden at nearby Moji, and later became a retainer to the Numata clan in the gunnery squad.

  It is difficult to understand how this story has had any credence at all. Funa Island is small enough today to walk the circumference in less than fifteen minutes, and through soil buildup and reclamation, it is thought to now be about five times the size it was at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The tiny pine-covered mound toward the northern edge of the island could barely have hidden anyone from the official witnesses, and the remaining land is flat enough to have been used until recently for farming (there are two natural springs on the island). It should also be noted that this version is not recorded in the official Hosokawa family records.

  If the differing versions of Kojiro’s age, the number of swords Musashi used, and the source of the duels request are matters of hearsay that change over time, the account in Numata keki is, on the cont
rary, a complete fabrication.

  As a final note on this episode, it should be mentioned that in Musashi’s later years, during his time in Kumamoto, he was asked about the kind of sword he used against Kojiro. Selecting a piece of wood, he quickly and expertly carved out a replica that is a treasure still owned by the Matsui (Nagaoka) family today. It has a blade of just over four feet in length, is studded with two shorn-off nails, and is carved, toward the tip, with an indentation about the size and shape of a gingko nut. This “sword” has been whittled to six edges, becomes thicker from handle to tip, and manifests a surprising grace in its lines that belies its extraordinary weight. It gives the impression of having been fashioned by a man very familiar with a carving knife.

  By most accounts, Kojiro had never met Musashi until that late morning on Funa Island. But by the time he saw the scruffy swordsman over six feet tall with this large wooden sword, it was too late.

  CHAPTER

  TWO

  The Way of the Sword and the Way of the Brush: Osaka to Kokura

  1. There are various theories as to which side Musashi joined during the destruction of the Toyotomi at Osaka Castle, and a number of scholars believe that he joined the forces inside the castle. As proof, they cite the Kokura Hibun:

  Whether at the time of the insurrection of the Taiko Toyotomi’s favorite retainer, Ishida Jibunosuke, or at the time of Lord Hideyori’s rebellion at Osaka in Settsu, Musashi’s valor and great fame could not be overstated, even if the oceans had mouths or the valleys had tongues.

  This, however, appears to substantiate only that he fought at both Sekigahara and Osaka. It is interesting to note, however, that had he fought inside the castle, he would have found himself in rather close quarters with the remnants of the Yoshioka clan, who demonstrated its bad run of luck once again by taking up the Toyotomi cause.