Raised as a Buddhist by his uncle, Musashi followed a deeply spiritual and cultivated path. The Way of the Peaceful Warriorīut Miyamoto Musashi was not just a violent warrior. According to legend, Musashi hacked his way through two-thirds of his opponents before he defeated the young heir to the Yoshioka school, without ever taking a scratch. When the entire Yoshioka school demanded to battle Miyamoto Musashi, he arrived early and ambushed his opponents. Musashi later repeated this technique to success when he was challenged by Yoshioka’s brother to a revenge duel. His lack of punctuality so enraged his opponent that Yoshioka charged Musashi in a fit of rage and fell upon Musashi’s sword.
Being aware of the intense concentration with which the Yoshioka school trained their students, Musashi arrived three hours late. The young Musashi was said to have taken his much older and more skilled opponent off guard by charging him with a wooden club and beating him to death.Īs a man, Musashi challenged the great swordsman Yoshioka Seijuro, head of the Yoshioka School of Swordsmanship (where Musashi was believed to have trained as a young man), to a duel. He was only 13 years old when he won his first duel-against the notorious samurai Arima Kihei. Legends of Miyamoto Musashi embody everything that the West glorifies in the the samurai: great skill matched with fine cunning and unrivaled excellence. Miyamoto Musashi was an expert swordsman and ronin in 17th century Japan, during the early Edo period. Samurai legend Miyamoto Musashi’s nine precepts offer sage wisdom that applies to everyday life.