The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

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Overview

The Lone Samurai is a landmark biography of Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary Japanese figure known throughout the world as a master swordsman, spiritual seeker, and author of The Book of Five Rings. A stunning portrait of a courageous and singularly determined man emerges in these pages, the first biography of Musashi to appear in English. With a compassionate yet critical eye, William Scott Wilson delves into the workings of Musashi’s mind as the iconoclastic samurai wrestled with philosophical and spiritual ideas that are as relevant today as they were in his times. Musashi found peace and spiritual reward in seeking to perfect his chosen Way, and came to realize that perfecting a single Way, no matter the path, could
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Overview

The Lone Samurai is a landmark biography of Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary Japanese figure known throughout the world as a master swordsman, spiritual seeker, and author of The Book of Five Rings. A stunning portrait of a courageous and singularly determined man emerges in these pages, the first biography of Musashi to appear in English. With a compassionate yet critical eye, William Scott Wilson delves into the workings of Musashi’s mind as the iconoclastic samurai wrestled with philosophical and spiritual ideas that are as relevant today as they were in his times. Musashi found peace and spiritual reward in seeking to perfect his chosen Way, and came to realize that perfecting a single Way, no matter the path, could lead to fulfillment. The Lone Samurai is far more than a vivid account of a fascinating slice of feudal Japan. It is the story of one man’s quest for answers, perfection, and access to the Way.

By age thirteen, Miyamoto Musashi had killed his opponent in what would become the first of many celebrated swordfights. By thirty, he had fought more than sixty matches, losing none. He would live another thirty years but kill no one else. He continued to engage in swordfights but now began to show his skill simply by thwarting his opponents’ every attack until they acknowledged Musashi’s all-encompassing ability. At the same time, the master swordsman began to expand his horizons, exploring Zen Buddhism and its related arts, particularly ink painting, in a search for a truer Way.

Musashi was a legend in his own time. As a swordsman, he preferred the wooden sword and in later years almost never fought with a real weapon. He outfoxed his opponents or turned their own strength against them. At the height of his powers, he began to evolve artistically and spiritually, becoming one of the country’s most highly regarded ink painters and calligraphers, while deepening his practice of Zen Buddhism. He funneled his hard-earned insights about the warrior arts into his spiritual goals. Ever the solitary wanderer, Musashi shunned power, riches, and the comforts of a home or fixed position with a feudal lord in favor of a constant search for truth, perfection, and a better Way. Eventually, he came to the realization that perfection in one art, whether peaceful or robust, could offer entry to a deeper, spiritual understanding. His philosophy, along with his warrior strategies, is distilled in his renowned work, The Book of Five Rings, written near the end of his life.

Working from original Japanese source materials, author William Scott Wilson paints an unforgettable portrait. Wilson, of course, is also the translator who brought the English-speaking world the authoritative versions of Hagakure, Musashi’s Book of Five Rings, and other classics of martial arts philosophy.

Musashi remains a source of fascination for the Japanese, as well as for those of us in the West who have more recently discovered the ideals of the samurai and Zen Buddhism. The Lone Samurai is the first biography ever to appear in English of this richly layered, complex seventeenth-century swordsman and seeker, whose legacy has lived far beyond his own time and place.


ABOUT THE AUTHORS

William Scott Wilson was born in 1944 and grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As an undergraduate student at Dartmouth College in 1966, he was invited by a friend to join a three-month kayak trip up the coast of Japan from Shimonoseki to Tokyo. This eye-opening journey, beautifully documented in National Geographic, spurred Wilson’s fascination with the culture and history of Japan.

After receiving a B.A. degree in political science from Dartmouth, Wilson earned a second B.A. in Japanese language and literature from the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies in Monterey, California, then undertook extensive research on Edo-period (1603-1868) philosophy at the Aichi Prefectural University, in Nagoya, Japan.

Wilson completed his first translation, Hagakure, while living in an old farmhouse deep in the Japanese countryside. Hagakure saw publication in 1979, the same year Wilson completed an M.A. in Japanese language and literature at the University of Washington. Wilson’s other translations include The Book of Five Rings, The Life-Giving Sword, The Unfettered Mind, the Eiji Yoshikawa novel Taiko, and Ideals of the Samurai, which has been used as a college textbook on Japanese history and thought. Two decades after its initial publication, Hagakure was prominently featured in the Jim Jarmusch film Ghost Dog.

Traveling frequently to Japan for research and pleasure, Wilson currently lives in Miami, Florida.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Musashi is primarily known in the West as the author of The Book of Five Rings, a guide to swordsmanship strategies that became a essential business-strategy manual in the 1980s. Wilson, having translated Musashi's book into English, turns for the first time to biography, with as complete a life of the man behind the sword as possible, given his legendary stature and peripatetic, largely undocumented story. Musashi lived in the 17th century and had his first match at 13 with a shugyosha (an older, professional swordsman); only Musashi walked away alive. For three decades, he wandered feudal Japan, moving from patron to patron, taking on opponents in formal and informal matches, teaching others his art and sometimes taking part in clan and regional rivalries. He eventually settled in southern Japan, where his martial art skills led organically to visual art: simple-looking, highly disciplined ink-and-brush painting and calligraphy. Toward the end of his life, Musashi synthesized everything he'd learned into the literary work he is now best known for. Wilson integrates a considerable amount of Japanese history and culture into a short, dense book with lots of specialized information. Although Musashi doesn't become fully dimensional-and given the scarcity of primary source material, he probably can't-Wilson provides an extensive appendix of other materials that have depicted the legendary swordsman over the centuries. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Samurai Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) was known for an unorthodox style that depended both on psychology--or trickery, as his opponents claimed--and on meticulous technique. Wilson, the translator of Miyamoto's Book of Five Rings, a handbook of martial Zen Buddhism, here turns his talents to Miyamoto Musashi's turbulent life as a swordsman and teacher, crisply retelling, with background for Western readers, the story known to so many Japanese. A particular contribution of this study is Wilson's account of how Miyamoto's life became legend in later centuries--in the last 100 years there have been 43 films about him! This book nicely supplements such recent works as Mark Ravina's The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori, a biography of a 19th-century martyr, and Stephen Turnbull's Samurai: The Story of Japan's Great Warriors, a richly illustrated general history. Lively and balanced, it will please those who are looking for a readable but serious presentation of medieval Bushido and samurai culture.--Charles W. Hayford, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
From the translator of his famed treatise on swordsmanship, The Book of Five Rings, the first English-language biography of a legendary Japanese fighter, teacher, artist, and author. Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) first attracted notice at age 13, when he required only a staff to defeat a wandering swordsman whose arrogance offended him. His reputation grew as he vanquished a number of famous samurai, wielding a wooden sword against his opponents' steel. Wilson describes several of these duels, emphasizing Musashi's use of ploys-such as arriving late at the field of combat in ragged clothing. All in all, Musashi fought 60 formal duels and served in six military campaigns. Around the age of 30, he apparently decided that he no longer needed to kill his rivals to establish his mastery; in later matches he often led his opponent around the arena until it became clear that no attack could touch him. Solicited to join the courts of several powerful rulers, Musashi insisted on remaining unattached. He would stay at a sponsor's home as a guest, offering advice but rejecting formal allegiance. At the same time, he developed his skill as an artist in the difficult suibokuga style, which offers no chance to modify or correct brushstrokes. The author includes several drawings he signed with the name Niten, most showing figures from Zen mythology, often with birds; they are considered masterpieces of suibokuga. Wilson, a veteran translator and a longtime student of Japanese language and literature, shows clearly the influence of Zen on Musashi's thinking, art, and writing. Appendices document Musashi's role as a Robin Hood-like folk hero in Japanese literature and film. Excellent notes and glossaryprovide context for the swordsman's life. A fascinating glimpse of a central figure in traditional Japanese culture.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9784770029423
  • Publisher: Kodansha USA Publishing
  • Publication date: 8/13/2004
  • Pages: 288
  • Product dimensions: 7.50 (w) x 5.50 (h) x 1.00 (d)

Meet the Author

William Scott Wilson was born in 1944 and grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As an undergraduate student at Dartmouth College in 1966, he was invited by a friend to join a three-month kayak trip up the coast of Japan from Shimonoseki to Tokyo. This eye-opening journey, beautifully documented in National Geographic, spurred Wilson's fascination with the culture and history of Japan.

After receiving a B.A. degree in political science from Dartmouth, Wilson earned a second B.A. in Japanese language and literature from the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies in Monterey, California, then undertook extensive research on Edo-period (1603-1868) philosophy at the Aichi Prefectural University, in Nagoya, Japan.

Wilson completed his first translation, Hagakure, while living in an old farmhouse deep in the Japanese countryside. Hagakure saw publication in 1979, the same year Wilson completed an M.A. in Japanese language and literature at the University of Washington. Wilson's other translations include The Book of Five Rings, The Life-Giving Sword, The Unfettered Mind, the Eiji Yoshikawa novel Taiko, and Ideals of the Samurai, which has been used as a college textbook on Japanese history and thought. Two decades after its initial publication, Hagakure was prominently featured in the Jim Jarmusch film Ghost Dog.

Table of Contents

Preface 7
Maps 10
Prologue 17
Chapter 1 The Way of the Sword: Banshu to Ganryu Island 23
First Strike 23
Origins 26
Finding His Strength 30
Kyoto and Matches with the Masters 35
Sharpening His Tools 43
Demon of the Western Provinces 51
Chapter 2 The Way of the Sword and the Way of the Brush: Osaka Castle to Kokura 63
The Fire of Battle 63
Arts of Peace, Arts of War 67
The Kyoto Renaissance 75
Family Name 81
A Real Live Human Being 85
On to Kokura 90
Kumoi 94
Shimabara 96
Chapter 3 The Way of the Brush: Kumamoto 99
Connections 99
The Way of the Warrior 100
A Place in the Seating Order 104
Last Bouts 107
The Thirty-five Articles 108
An End and a Beginning 111
The Brush and the Mind 112
Painting with the Mind of the Sword 114
The Paintings 116
Calligraphy 136
Fudo Myo-o 140
Chapter 4 The Way of Life and Death: Reigan Cave 147
Old Age 147
The Five-storied Pagoda 153
The Concept of the Five Rings in Esoteric Buddhism 158
Basic Principles 161
The Way of the Martial Arts Is to Win
Discipline
Real Knowledge
Everyday Mind
Fluidity
Psychology
Final Days 175
Musashi's Character 182
Afterword 186
Appendix 1 Life After Death 195
Appendix 2 Influences on and Parallels to The Book of Five Rings 219
Appendix 3 A Musashi Filmography 237
Notes 245
Glossary 269
Terms
Historical Figures
Clans
Events Fighting Styles
Writings
Others
Bibliography 284

Customer Reviews

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Sort by: Showing all of 9 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 7, 2004

    A chronology is not a story!

    I tried hard to get through this book¿ but, I failed to finish it. I lived in Japan for five years back in the 90¿s and have a great curiosity for Japan and her culture. This book inspired me little however. I couldn¿t believe the author¿s never ending references to people and places that were simply not pertinent to this man nor his story. I was truly disappointed.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted December 1, 2011

    Samurai Forever

    The Lone Samurai was an interesting book. It talks about a legendary and famous swordsman name Miyamoto Musashi or his real name Bennosuke Munisai. At age 13 he won his first match against Arima Kihei and beat him to death. Another famous match is against Sasaki Kojiro(Demon of the Western Providence). He won against him with a wooden oar he carved on the way to the match. Musashi was in excellent fighter with his strategies. Great book to read.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted June 3, 2010

    One of my favorites

    When i saw the title I was immediatle interested, who ever heard of a lone samurai? Musashi's life is not only interesting but inspiring as well. the author gives great detail to Musashi's life, personality and his practices. And on top of that, its not like your reading the history books you get in school that have information but no color or animation to keep you wanting to keep turning the page, its a real page turner, you'll have it finished in no time.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

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    Posted March 6, 2011

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