Yagyu Munenori was a great swordsman from the Kanto region of Japan. During the ferocious wars of the medieval era, his clan had first lost its castle, then its lands, until finally it was thrown upon the mercy of a local temple. Munenori was forced to become a ronin, a masterless samurai, destined to lead the life of a wanderer.
The Period of Unification was one of the great turning points in Japan's medieval era. After more than two centuries of civil strife Japan was finding its way back to peace and order under three successive rulers: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The final drive came in the fall of 1600, when Japan's eastern and western warlords faced each other in the Battle of Sekigahara. It was a decisive battle, in which each and every man who called himself a warrior faced the stark choice between the forces of division and those of unification.
Having lost everything, Munenori staked his future on the victory of the eastern forces. His is the story of the tragedy of civil war experienced at the personal level—a story of loyalty, of betrayal, of seemingly insurmountable setbacks. His courage in the face of overwhelming odds stands as moving testimony to the kind of perseverance and dedication that can have no equal in times of peace.
