OFH Throwback - Episode #55 - Who Was Japan's Greatest Swordsman? (Part I)

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hello and welcome to this very special throwback episode of our fake history

this week i am throwing you back to episode 55 who was japan's greatest swordsman part one

this is the first part of a two-part series that first aired back in season three.

Now, there's a few reasons why I thought it would be good to return to this series now.

First and foremost, this is a fun series.

We're on our short summer hiatus right now, and I thought that the Miyamoto Musashi series would make for an excellent summer road trip listen.

A lot of you tell me that you take our fake history with you when you're out exploring whatever country you happen to live in.

I love getting messages with people telling me that they took the podcast with them to Italy or that they were hiking through Australia and the podcast helped them get to the final leg of their hike.

Or perhaps you are making a trek across Canada right now and you need something to listen to.

Allow me to suggest this wild episode about a disheveled Japanese swordsman carving his way way through the countryside.

I also wanted to return to this series because since I originally released it, I have learned so much more about Japanese history.

What I realized is that when I originally made this series, I was playing pretty fast and loose with my Japanese terminology.

Specifically, the term samurai.

Now, if you've been keeping up with our fake history, then you might know that I've since unpacked what it means to be a samurai when the term samurai came into existence and whether or not warriors from before the Tokugawa era, that's around the year 1600, can even be called samurai.

This issue was particularly relevant when we explored the life of Yasuke, the East African man who eventually became a warrior retainer in the service of Oda Nobunaga, one of the most famous Japanese war leaders?

Many have argued that Yasuke was the first African samurai, but others have argued that the term samurai was inappropriate for Yasuke.

Still others have argued that it's inappropriate to call any Japanese warrior a samurai before

the year 1600, when Tokugawa Aiyesu became the the shogun of Japan.

Now, as you will hear on this particular episode, I'm throwing the term samurai around like it ain't no thing.

I call Miyamoto Musashi a samurai.

I call his father a samurai.

I call his grandfather a samurai.

I also trace the origins of the samurai back to the first shogunate in the 12th century.

Now, this isn't necessarily necessarily wrong.

It might just be imprecise to use the term samurai and not simply bushi, which translates more simply as warrior.

Now, interestingly, Miyamoto Musashi lived right at that point in history when the bushi or warriors of Japanese society were being transformed into the samurai class.

So, in his case, the term samurai might actually apply.

Experts in Japanese history can debate the nuances on this.

Now, perhaps more egregious is my discussion of bushido in this episode.

This is the so-called way of the samurai.

Now, As you will hear, I really wax poetic about bushido in this episode, but I have since learned that the way of the samurai may be a bit of a historical myth.

Bushido as a concept was not fully codified in Japanese society until well into the Tokugawa era.

We're talking the 17th and 18th centuries.

The bushi or warriors of the Warring States period, roughly the 16th century, weren't living by this highly specific code of conduct.

In fact, many of the historical myths that we have about the Warring States period come from samurai families who invented stories about their ancestors where they acted in perfect accordance with bushido.

Ideas about the way of the samurai were then supercharged by government propaganda as Imperial Japan headed in to World War II.

But all the experts agree that bushido as a codified way of acting did not exist during the Warring States period.

Now, interestingly, the story of Miyamoto Musashi really underscores this.

And I should have noticed this when I originally made this series.

Musashi was in no way governed by an ancient code of gentlemanly conduct.

As you will hear, Musashi won his sword fights by any means necessary, even if it meant being a little underhanded.

Anyway, I'm glad I got to return to this series to make these points about Bushido.

So when I'm going on about it, just remember that I kind of got that part wrong.

Bushido is a bit of a historical myth, and I should have known better.

Nevertheless, this is a super fun series.

I hope you enjoy it.

Come back next week when I will be re-releasing part two with an all-new introduction, like the one you're hearing right now.

All right, so let's get into it.

Please enjoy episode number 55: Who Was Japan's Greatest Swordsman?

Part 1.

There's a story that in the late 1500s there was a renowned martial arts master who set out on a journey across his native Japan.

His name was Arima Kihei, and he had been schooled in a unique form of martial arts that the Shinto priests claimed had been taught to them by the gods.

In an attempt to perfectly prepare his mind for the art of swordsmanship, Kihei secluded himself in a Shinto temple, spoke to no one, and lived the life of an ascetic monk.

After 1,000 days of this seclusion, the gods blessed him with a revelation, a completely new style of sword fighting that he dubbed the single sword technique.

To test this new style, Kihei set out on a journey across Japan.

His plan was to stop in every village he passed and post a general challenge in the town square.

He would put up a note that simply read, He who wishes to fight me with the sword should write his name and the date of the duel here on this notice board.

Bold local champions who fancied themselves skilled with the blade would test themselves against the great Arima Kihei.

Inevitably, they would all end up surrendering or dying at the hand of this great champion.

The single sword technique indeed seemed to be unstoppable.

One day, Arima Kihei found himself in the province of Banshu, where he went about his typical routine of posting his challenge in the town square.

However, on this particular day, A twelve-year-old boy happened to be hurrying through the square on his way to calligraphy class when he saw the warrior's note.

The impetuous young lad took out the ink and brush that was meant for his calligraphy, painted Arima Kihei's name black, and boldly wrote down his own name, Miyamoto Benesuke.

The boy then hurried back to the Buddhist temple where he lived and set about selecting a strong piece of wood that he could carve into a sword.

Later that day, a messenger appeared at the temple, surprising the monk who happened to be on duty at the entrance.

The messenger declared that he had been sent by the Master Arima Kihei, and that he had come looking for one, Mr.

Miyamoto Benesuke.

Master Kihei was formally accepting Benesuke's challenge to a duel.

The monk was flabbergasted.

Look, he said, there must be some kind of a mistake.

The only Miyamoto Benesuke here is but a mere child.

This must be some huge misunderstanding.

Is this not Benesuke's handwriting?

said the messenger, showing the monk the notice.

The monk recognized it immediately and said,

I beg your forgiveness, sir.

Benesuke is a precocious child, and this was clearly just a childish prank.

Your master would gain no honor from humiliating this child in a duel.

I see, said the messenger.

Well,

you should come with me and tell my master this for yourself.

He's more likely to believe it from you.

So, cursing the name of this bratty preteen, the monk headed off to speak with the martial arts master.

He arrived at where Kihei was lodging and explained the entire situation.

Kihei was understanding, but was worried about what the gossips might say about this little episode.

I have no interest in harming this boy, said Kihei.

But if word gets out that I did not confront the person who blackened my name on my official challenge, my honor would never recover.

So here's what needs to happen.

You and your boy need to appear at the dueling grounds at the appointed time.

When you arrive, you will explain to the assembled crowd why your boy cannot fight.

I will benevolently forgive the lad, everyone everyone will understand what has taken place, and you two can go about your lives.

So, the next day the monk and the boy entered the dueling enclosure, which was crowded with spectators, hoping to see a sweet sword fight.

Arima was sitting on a chair as the two approached.

The monk turned to the crowd and said, This insolent boy was stupid enough to spoil the notice of the great Arima Kihe.

I ask you to be indulgent and forgive him for it.

The monk had barely gotten this out of his mouth when the precocious twelve-year-old that he had at his side jumped up, pulled out his freshly carved wooden sword, and screamed, Come on, let's fight.

The boy then charged headlong at Kihei.

The warrior acted fast, drew his short sword, and slashed at the charging youth.

But the boy was quick and ducked under his sword.

The blade missed its target, but Kihei's hand came crashing down on the boy's back.

Thinking quickly, the boy then dove between his opponent's legs, grabbed Kihei's foot, and nimbly flipped the warrior over his shoulder.

This sent Kihei crashing to the ground.

The warrior was now stunned and sprawled out on his back.

Seeing his opportunity, the boy moved in for the kill.

He He raised his crudely carved sword over his head and brought it crashing down between the eyes of Arima Kihei.

The boy was relentless.

He proceeded to rain blow after blow down on his opponent until it was clear that the swordsman would not rise again.

The monk was absolutely shocked by this display of violence.

The crowd, on the other hand, went wild.

Arima Kihei, the man who had taken the lives of dozens of skilled warriors, had just been defeated by a child of twelve.

After that day, the life of the young Benesuke would never be the same.

After this first duel, the boy realized that he could no longer bear living under the authority of the monks.

It was not long before he left the temple and set out to find his own way as a samurai and a master swordsman.

So goes the tale of the first duel ever fought by one of history's most renowned swordfighters.

That young Benosuke would eventually change his name and would become known only as Miyamoto Musashi.

After this legendary first fight, Musashi would go on to fight over 60 duels, many to the death, and according to myth, he was never once defeated.

This spectacular run of victories enshrined the samurai as one of the most famous martial artists in Japan's history.

That fame soon morphed into mythology, which eventually became the inspiration for countless works of fiction.

Miyamoto Musashi would eventually become the inspiration for novels, plays, films, comic books, and even video games.

As a result, the real details of Musashi's life have become hard to separate from the robust layer of mythology that surrounds surrounds him.

How much of Musashi's incredible life story should we actually believe?

Is it true that as a martial artist, he was completely self-taught?

Did he really defeat the greatest swordsman of his age with a sword carved from an oar of a rowboat?

How many opponents did the great Musashi really defeat?

Is it true that the guy never even took a bath?

All that and more on today's our fake history.

One, two, three, five

Episode number 55, Who Is Japan's Greatest Swordsman?

Part 1.

Hello, and welcome to Our Fake History.

My name is Sebastian Major, and this is the podcast where we explore historical myths and try and figure out what's fact, what's fiction, and what is such a good story that it simply must be told.

This week, we are exploring the life and the legend of a man who has been called the greatest sword fighter in the history of Japan, and potentially the history of the world.

This is the famous wandering samurai Miyamoto Musashi.

In Japan, Musashi is a legend in every sense of the word.

First of all, he's a legend in that he's an extremely famous figure from Japan's past.

This is the meaning of the term legend that actually frustrates me the most when I'm doing research for the podcast.

I find that many historical figures are somewhat lazily called legendary when the writer just means famous.

Then I start looking for the myth associated with that person only to discover that there isn't one.

The person was just cool and was remembered fondly.

But Miyamoto Musashi transcends that lazy meaning of the term.

His prowess with the blade and his exploits in life were so remarkable that they actually birthed a robust tradition of folklore.

This folklore tradition encompasses everything from quaint local legends to fantastical tales featuring monsters and magic.

Apparently, Japan is peppered with bridges, inns, and temples that claim that they were visited by Musashi or were the site of one of his many duels.

Japanese art is filled with images of Miyamoto Musashi fighting magical creatures and performing all sorts of superhuman feats.

Traditional paintings and woodcuts show the swordsman battling giant bats, riding the backs of sea monsters, killing giant lizards, walking on water, and flying.

In traditional kabuki plays about Miyamoto Musashi, these fairy tale-like stories commingled with the swordsman's more verifiable exploits and served to create a character that was absolutely larger than life.

It should perhaps come as no surprise that Miyamoto Musashi has been a staple of Japanese fiction writing for centuries.

Novels about Musashi date to the early 1800s, and he's continued to be a stock character in manga comics, anime, and samurai films.

Even when his name is not being explicitly used, elements of the Miyamoto Musashi legend have a way of creeping into the lone samurai character across pop culture.

He's the archetypal lone wolf going from town to town, dueling anyone who would dare challenge him.

It's a character type that would eventually find expression in the Old West gunfighter.

In other words, Miyamoto Musashi was Clint Eastwood before there was a Clint Eastwood.

At least, so goes the myth.

The historical Musashi was in fact considerably more complex than his violent man of action reputation would have us believe.

The swordsman was so well-rounded that had he been born in Europe, he may have been called a Renaissance man.

Musashi biographer Kenji Tokitsu has even compared him to a well-armed Leonardo da Vinci.

Aside from pioneering a unique style of combat featuring not one but two swords, Musashi was also a gifted painter, sculptor, poet, philosopher, and writer.

In addition to being a master of the blade, he is perhaps best known as the author of the Go Rin No Sho, or The Book of Five Rings.

This was his tour de force examination of swordfighting tactics, but it also doubles as a Buddhist philosophical text and a meditation on the art of strategy in general.

Since its writing in the early 17th century, the Book of Five Rings has joined the canon of essential world literature.

People talk about it in the same breath that they mention Sun Tzu's Art of War or Machiavelli's The Prince.

It's one of those timeless books that just seems to never go out of print.

In fact, it's still studied for its insights into the art of strategy.

A quick Google, and you'll find dozens of commentaries on how the Book of Five Rings can be adopted to modern life.

In particular, the business world has gravitated to it.

There are no shortage of bite-sized books that claim to distill the lessons of the Book of Five Rings for the busy business person.

As you might imagine, most of these are pretty superficial and completely miss Musashi's deeper philosophical points, but hey, anything to get an edge, right?

All of this is to say that Musashi's legacy is as imposing as it is diverse.

His role in folklore, fiction, and his venerated place in the world of martial arts all make finding the real Miyamoto Musashi somewhat difficult.

This is compounded by the fact that the primary sources from this period in Japanese history have a reputation for reporting myths and legends alongside the more verifiable facts.

Much like the chronicles of medieval Europe, Japanese histories in the 16th and 17th centuries were filled with embellishments.

In these documents, storytelling was often more important than a strict adherence to the facts.

So, even the most reliable sources we have about the life of Miyamoto Musashi need to be handled with care.

This is further complicated by the fact that Musashi also has a unique role as a type of Zen Buddhist saint.

He's known as a kensei, which roughly translates to sword saint.

a distinction given to a group of formidable warriors who are thought to have achieved a certain level of enlightenment in their lifetime.

So, this means that Musashi's life is often presented as a type of Buddhist hagiography.

Hagiography just being a fancy pants word meaning the life of a saint.

So in other words, typical Buddhist saint mythology gets thrown into the mix too.

But somewhere beneath all of these layers is a very real and very complicated human being.

The tales of Musashi's prowess with the blade are always thrilling, but are sometimes shocking and even disturbing.

So, parental discretion is advised as we keep going forward.

There's a lot to unpack with this guy, so this is going to be yet another two-parter.

Musashi fought with two swords, and so we must have two episodes.

Alright, so without further ado, let's take a closer look at the life of Miyamoto Musashi and see what we can say about him for sure.

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When it comes to Miyamoto Musashi, there's debate about almost everything in his life, and his origins are no exception.

It's generally accepted that he was born in the year 1584, probably in the village of Sankushu, which is smack dab in the middle of Japan's largest island.

Miyamoto Musashi was not born with the name Miyamoto Musashi, because that would just make things a little too easy for us.

No, like many of the luminaries from that era in Japanese history, he went by many names over the course of his life, which, of course, makes it super complicated for those of us trying to make sense of the story after the fact.

Now, according to the man himself, he was born Shinmin Musashi Fujiwara Genshin.

However, like many Japanese people from the era, he had a different name that he carried through childhood.

His, as we already heard, was Benosuke.

He would later change his name in honor of his father's hometown, Miyamoto.

So, for clarity's sake, I'm just going to keep saying Musashi or Miyamoto Musashi so we know who we're talking about.

There's too many names.

I'm just going to stick with one.

Now, right off the hop, there's a mystery when it comes to Musashi's birth and his parentage.

Musashi's father is generally believed to be a man named Harata Munisai.

And in fact, Munisai features pretty prominently in many of the Musashi myths.

However, this is disputed.

Some have pointed to a gravestone that says that Munisai died four years before Musashi was born.

That would have made it impossible for him to have been Musashi's father.

Now, some have argued that the date on this particular memorial is a simple mistake, but just keep in mind that the origin story that I'm about to tell you might be completely fake.

So, the story goes that the young Musashi started his life estranged from his biological father.

You You see, Musashi's birth mother died not long after giving birth to him.

His father then took a second wife named Yoshiko, who raised young Musashi as her own.

Well, sadly, things didn't work out between Musashi's father and his second wife, and the two divorced when Musashi was still a toddler.

Yoshiko, however, remained the guardian of this child that was not technically her biological son.

She moved to the village next door, took up with a new guy, and set about raising the young Musashi.

Now, at some point in Musashi's childhood, he got clued into the fact that the people he was living with were not his biological parents.

This was a situation he found as infuriating as it was disorienting.

His angst was compounded when he learned that his real father was was a well-respected samurai named Harata Munisai.

Musashi actually came from a long line of warriors and expert swordsmen.

Apparently, his biological grandfather, Harata Shokan, had been one of the most well-regarded adepts of the blade in the entire country.

The shogun had even once given him the title the greatest adept in Japan, and apparently his father had followed in his grandfather's footsteps.

We're told that this discovery completely disrupted Musashi's childhood.

He started acting out and became violent with his peers.

He was basically the village juvenile delinquent.

Eventually, he became too much for his mother, who sent him away to live in a Zen temple with a relative who was a monk there.

Remember that monk from the introduction?

Well, turns out that guy was his uncle.

It was his mother's hope that life in the temple might mellow the young man out and hopefully teach him some discipline.

Well, as we heard in the introduction, all of that fell apart the day Arima Kihei came to town.

Now, before I go any further, I want to point out how this description of Miyamoto Musashi's early life perfectly conforms to the archetypal hero's journey.

This This is what Joseph Campbell famously called the monomyth, the story that exists in every culture and gets told over and over again.

In the beginning, the hero usually has his true parentage hidden from him.

He discovers the secret of who he or she truly is, and this is part of the heroic call to adventure.

He embraces this special inheritance and then sets out on a quest.

You might recognize this as the story of Theseus or Hercules or Catnus Everdeen or Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter.

Now, it might just be a cool coincidence that Musashi's life so closely mirrors this mythological template, or perhaps the details of his life were augmented after the fact to better fit with this storytelling trope.

There's no way to know for sure, but it's just something to consider.

Nevertheless, at the time of his famous first duel that I described in the introduction, Musashi seems to have reconnected with his long-lost biological father.

Now, the records are contradictory on this point, but most scholars seem to agree that he was splitting time between the Buddhist temple and his father's home in the town of Miyamoto.

His father was a samurai warrior who was sworn sworn to the service of Lord Shinamen.

He was a master of the sword in his own right and was also renowned for his expertise with a unique Japanese weapon known as a jite,

which is kind of like a medieval Japanese billy club, but apparently in Musashi's time it was also outfitted with 10 sharp teeth.

Now,

the samurai are a fascinating group of people in general.

So let's take a minute to talk about them.

Earlier in Japanese history, bands of scrappy mercenaries who had been used by the emperor to put down rebellions eventually organized themselves into a fully functioning warrior class.

Known more commonly as the bushi, these warriors would eventually come to dominate both the military and political life of the country.

In fact, one of the key turning points in Japanese history came when the samurai Minamoto no Yoritomo established the very first shogunate and became the de facto ruler of Japan.

The shoguns were essentially military dictators who relegated the emperor to a purely ceremonial role.

In Japan, they never really throw anything away.

The emperor's still in the mix, but the shogun, which is the head samurai, has all the power.

Now, over the centuries, the question of who would be the shogun or who would wield power over the shogun was the source of endless conflict.

As I've said before on this podcast, Japanese political history is often about who will puppet the puppet master.

Nevertheless, the culture of the samurai class eventually became the culture of the political class.

The rules for the samurai were enshrined in a personal code of conduct known as bushido.

It was a system built around personal honor, martial ability, and complete and utter loyalty.

Bushido also involved the cultivation of the mind and the embrace of fine art.

The bushi was expected to learn calligraphy and painting alongside his warrior training.

But most importantly, the samurai was expected to serve his lord with complete obedience and unrelenting energy.

A famous samurai once commented that the role of the bushi was simply to die.

Bushido, therefore, was a practice that involved confronting one's own mortality, conquering fear, and thus becoming an unstoppable warrior.

During the lifetime of Miyamoto Musashi, the role of the samurai would go through a massive transition.

You see, Miyamoto Musashi came of age at the end of a period in Japanese history that we've spoken about before on this podcast.

This was the Sengoku Jidei, or the Warring States period.

This was a period of 160 years that spanned over the 15th and the 16th centuries when central authority completely crumbled in Japan.

The emperor had no control, the shoguns had no control, and local lords known as daimyo were locked in a seemingly endless series of power struggles.

As you might imagine, in this era of nearly endless warfare, the samurai warrior class developed a new cachet and sense of purpose.

Basically, this was the ultimate time to win glory as a samurai.

There was a lot of fighting to be done.

The reason you might remember this period is that this was the exact same era that gave birth to the real-life ninjas that we spoke about way back in the first season.

Remember this?

Ah, any excuse to bring back vanilla ice.

Anyway, as I've talked about before on the show, there are some periods that are overstuffed with big personalities.

Well, the Warring States period is certainly that for Japan.

Interestingly, though, Musashi comes on the scene right at the tail end of this period.

Over the course of his life, the warrior samurai of his father's age would be largely gentrified into a haughty, aristocratic character.

In many ways, Miyamoto Musashi was one of the last scrappy, violent bushi, which of course only adds to his legend.

Now, as I said, in those pre-teen years, he seems to have reconnected with his father.

It was in this time that most experts believe that he began training as a swordfighter and a martial artist.

This training seems to have come from his father, who, legend has it, was a notoriously harsh taskmaster who had little patience for imperfection.

But this little story flies in the face of one of the most pervasive myths about Miyamoto Musashi, and that was that he was self-taught.

The story goes that he developed his fighting style entirely on his own and never once studied any particular school of martial arts.

Well, this does not seem to be true.

Almost every source on Musashi's life discusses a period of training, usually with his father as the instructor.

Even Musashi's memorial inscription speaks about his training in swordsmanship and his father's favorite weapon, the jite.

There are also a number of funny little legends about Musashi as a precocious and sometimes insubordinate student.

One tradition tells us that Musashi learned his father's art with the speed of a prodigy.

By the age of 13, he was good enough with the sword that he started openly criticizing his father's technique.

This infuriated his father, who was, by all accounts, a proud and stubborn man.

There's a story that one day Musashi's father was doing some chores around the house.

One of these chores was slicing wood into chopsticks.

The young Musashi once again started chirping his father, criticizing how he was cutting up these little sticks.

With that, his dad completely lost it and threw the knife he was using directly at his son's head.

We're told that with one quick flick of his neck, Musashi dodged the knife and it stuck in a beam that happened to be behind him.

Now, this little story is generally accepted to be untrue, but it does illustrate a number of important things about the young Musashi.

One, he was unnatural when it came to martial arts.

Two, he was precocious, insubordinate, and didn't like following convention, which in Japanese society was even more scandalous than it is in most.

Finally, he had a pretty strained relationship with his father.

So, even though Musashi was not completely unschooled, as one legend might have us believe, he did break away on his own at a noticeably young age.

The reason for his departure around the age of 13 isn't exactly clear.

Perhaps it was his resistance to the authority of his father and the monks at the temple, or perhaps that first duel to the death had changed him in some way.

What is clear is that by his early teens, the young Benesuke would completely reinvent himself.

He would put away childish things, take the name Miyamoto Musashi, and would embark on a journey of self-improvement in order to master the sword.

It was also at this time that apparently he stopped bathing and combing his hair.

We're told that this was because the young Miyamoto Musashi was worried that by taking a bath or distracting himself with grooming would leave him vulnerable to attack.

Whatever the reason was, this disheveled look became his trademark.

He would appear, he would look wild and unkempt, and he would strike fear into the hearts of his opponents.

Now, many experts have since debated whether or not this I never took a bath thing was true.

Some have argued that this was pure exaggeration and later in life when he became a proper samurai retainer, it would have been completely crazy for him not to have bathed.

However, in these years as a wanderer, it's not completely out of the question that perhaps cleanliness was not his first priority.

You see, he was now living the life of a Ronin, the dangerous wandering samurai who served no lords.

This is when the story really starts to get good.

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Creating an exact timeline for the life and wanderings of Miyamoto Musashi has been a task that has frustrated experts for generations.

The tricky thing about Musashi is that the story of his life is often presented as a series of episodes.

One of the most cited sources for his life is a document from nearly 100 years after his death titled, quote, Anecdotes from the Life of the Deceased Master, end quote.

And indeed, his life can just seem like a collection of disconnected little stories.

Depending on which source you're looking at, these anecdotes can get arranged quite differently.

Nonetheless, dedicated biographers have managed to put the stories in some form of logical order, usually by using key events as signposts.

For instance, we're fairly certain that in the year 1600, when Musashi was around 16 years old, he fought in one of the most important battles in Japanese history.

This was the famous Battle of Sekigahara, this huge battle between the forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Aiesu is considered to be the final major battle of the Warring States period.

It basically ended one era and started a new one.

And of course, like a samurai forest gump, Musashi was right there in the mix.

Interestingly enough, though, for a man who would eventually have a reputation for being an undefeated warrior, Musashi would be on the losing side of this particular conflict.

Tokugawa was victorious, and a new shogunate was established that would last for the next 260 years.

An era of tumult and warfare would give way to a period of peace and stability.

Some would argue, an oppressive stability.

The Tokugawa shoguns unified Japan under central authority for the first time in over 150 years, but the social mobility and sense of possibility that existed in the Warring States period were also sacrificed.

The samurais were now warriors with no wars to fight.

Many settled into a life of ceremonial duty, but others resisted this and became Ronin.

These were the wandering samurai who were sworn to no particular master.

They still maintained the exalted social status of being a bushi,

which basically meant that they could legally kill any commoner that gave them a sideways look, but they were also poor and needed to take odd jobs and small time mercenary work to stay fed.

It was in the years after the battle of Sekigahara that Musashi really started to make a name for himself as the most fearsome of all the Ronin in Japan.

Musashi would later claim in the Book of Five Rings that between the ages of 20 and 30 years old, he fought over 60 duels, most of them to the death, and he was never once defeated.

Ever since the young man had left his father's home as a teen, he had been engaging in duels, but it wasn't until he faced the young men of the Yoshioka family that he truly started to gain a reputation as one of Japan's greatest swordsmen.

In 1604, Musashi made his way to the imperial capital of Kyoto.

There he issued a challenge to the men of the Yoshioka family to face him in a duel.

So, who were these people and why did Musashi want to fight them?

Well, the Yoshioka were a respected samurai family in their own right.

They had once been the official swordmasters to the Ashikaga shoguns.

Those were the shoguns before the Tokugawa reinvented the position after that big battle we just spoke of.

The Yoshioka were known to be devotees of one of the oldest martial arts schools in the city, and their family had produced a number of the best swordsmen from the last generation.

After the fall of the Ashikaga shoguns, who they had served, the standing of the family had also fallen a bit.

However, they had stayed wealthy by going into business selling dyed fabric.

Apparently, the Yoshioka had some particularly nice dyes.

Even though it was often considered below a samurai to engage in commerce, this family seemed to be getting away with it.

They were still quite respected, and they continued to be at the head of one of the most ancient schools of martial arts in Kyoto.

So, why did Musashi want to fight them?

Well, the simple answer is that at this point in his career, he was basically a nobody.

If he was going to make a name for himself, he needed to defeat an opponent who was both famous and formidable.

The men of the Yoshioka clan fit the bill.

However, there's also a legend that Musashi's father, Munisai, had once dueled the father of the Yoshioka brothers.

This legendary duel had taken place in the presence of the Shogun himself.

Munisai apparently won the duel, which was a pretty big deal because old man Yoshioka had been the Shogun's personal sword fighting instructor.

The story goes that the Shogun was so impressed that he declared Musashi's father to be the greatest adept of the sword in Japan, a title that had once been held by his father before him.

Now, there is no reliable evidence that this duel ever took place.

And this little anecdote doesn't appear in most of the accounts of Musashi's life.

So there is a very good chance that that never happened.

But I thought I would mention it because if it was true, it would help explain why Miyamoto Musashi specifically sought out the Yoshioka family.

Defeating the Yoshioka would would mean that he had equaled the achievements of his father and was now free to surpass the old man.

Now,

as is typical with Miyamoto Musashi, there are a number of conflicting accounts about how these duels went down.

So, for simplicity's sake, I'm going to start with the most commonly reported version of events, and then we can get into the nitpicking and all of the weird variations.

So, the basic story goes like this.

The first of the Yoshioka family to be challenged by Musashi was the head of the clan and the oldest of three brothers named Yoshioka Seijoro.

The two men agreed to fight on March 8th outside of a temple in northern Kyoto.

The agreement was that the men would fight with wooden swords known as Bokuto.

The duel would not be to the death, but instead the winner would be declared after one of the fighters managed to land a blow on the body of the other.

So the name of the game was Don't Get Hit with the Wooden Sword.

We're told that in a bid to mess with the head of his opponent, Musashi purposely showed up late to the duel.

This psych-out maneuver was actually quite effective.

Sejuro was apparently enraged by Musashi's rudeness.

By the time Musashi appeared to fight, Sejuro had completely lost his composure and was totally rattled.

When the fight began, Musashi surprised his flustered opponent by charging at him headlong and with one swift slash he slammed his wooden sword into his opponent's upper arm.

The blow was apparently so powerful that he broke Sejuro's bone.

The duel was over in a matter of seconds, and Sejuro was so disgraced by this defeat that he relinquished his title as head of the Yoshioka family and took the vows of a Zen monk spending the rest of his life in a monastery.

The defeat of Sejuro had deeply wounded the honor of the Yoshioka and had really hurt their reputation as one of Japan's great martial arts families.

So, as you might expect, Sejuro's younger brother, Denashiro, who was now acting as the head of the clan, challenged Musashi to a new duel, this time to the death.

This duel was held outside yet another temple in the city of Kyoto.

Musashi would once again fight with a wooden sword, and his opponent, Denashiro, wielded a staff reinforced with iron rings.

On the day of the duel, Musashi used the same technique of turning up late to unsettle his opponent.

Apparently Denashiro was expecting this and did his best to remain calm as he waited for Musashi.

When Musashi finally arrived, the two men squared off and the duel began.

This one lasted almost exactly as long as the first duel.

Musashi moving with incredible speed, charged at his opponent and brought his wooden sword crashing down right between the eyes of Yoshioka Denashiro.

The blow was so intense that Denashiro was killed instantly.

The only person left to lead the Yoshioka family was now the youngest of the brothers, Matashiro.

Matashiro was only 12 years old at the time.

Now, obviously, he didn't stand a chance against the much older and stronger Musashi, but his family had a plan.

Matashiro would challenge the swordsman to a duel at night.

A gang of servants and bodyguards would hide out near the dueling grounds.

When Musashi arrived to face the lad, they would jump out and ambush him, hopefully killing the man who had brought so much disgrace to their family.

The challenge was issued and Musashi accepted.

But sensing a trap, the samurai went to the site of the duel early this time and found a hiding place where he could observe the arrival of his opponents.

Sure enough, Musashi didn't have to wait for long before dozens of armed men appeared and started finding their own hiding spots in the nearby area.

He took note of their exact locations and planned a very specific route of escape.

The young Matashiro waited in the middle of the dueling grounds in full armor, armor, ostensibly as bait for the ambush.

Musashi waited, and then, choosing the moment when he judged the bodyguards to be the least vigilant, he ran from the bushes with his sword drawn, and with one fell swoop cut Matashiro's head clean off his shoulders.

The bodyguards immediately jumped from their hiding places and moved in on the samurai.

But in this moment Musashi drew a second sword, and following his plan, proceeded to fight his way through the band of retainers.

Using this novel, two-sworded technique, he managed to carve his way through enough Yoshioka bodyguards to get to a rice field.

He then stealthily disappeared into the long grass.

Legend has it that this final duel completely destroyed the Yoshioka family.

After the loss of the three brothers, the family faded into obscurity.

We're also told that this was the moment when Miyamoto Musashi stumbled upon his famous two-sorted technique.

This revolutionary new way of wielding the sword would become Musashi's trademark.

Now,

is any of this true?

Well, it depends on who you ask.

Some records suggest that Musashi only fought one duel with the Yoshioka, and the man he fought wasn't even any of those brothers I listed before.

It was a man named Yoshioka Kempo.

In that version of the story, he apparently fooled his opponent by feigning that he was sick.

He was brought to the dueling ground on a stretcher and then surprised Kempo by jumping out of the litter and attacking him before he knew what was going on.

But then there's also a completely different account that comes from a document that was found in the family archive of the Yoshioka.

There it's reported that Musashi only fought one duel and was soundly defeated by the eldest Yoshioka brother.

However, most historians think that this Yoshioka family document should not be trusted.

You see, contrary to legend, the Yoshioka family was not not completely destroyed by the duels with Musashi.

They would continue to exist for quite some time, long enough, in fact, to produce a little bit of fake history in order to save face after what may have been a series of humiliating defeats.

So, while the details of these duels may always remain murky, Most historians seem happy to agree that Musashi scored at least one impressive victory over this venerable Kyoto family.

This would essentially put Miyamoto Musashi in a new league when it came to swordsmanship.

If the legend was true, and Musashi had sent one Yoshioka to a monastery and two to their graves, then he was clearly of a different caliber than most of the scruffy, wandering samurai that were going around Japan after the wars had ended.

Word would soon spread, and before long Musashi would not need to seek out worthy opponents.

They would come to him.

Okay,

that's all for this week.

Thanks again for listening.

Join us again in two weeks' time when we will continue our look at Miyamoto Musashi.

There's lots of exciting duels still to come, so please join us again then.

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Honestly, I really love hearing from you guys.

Uh, people are always very uh cautious when they're giving me suggestions about shows.

Like, ooh, I don't know if you take suggestions.

I totally take suggestions.

Miyamoto Musashi came from a listener suggestion.

So, hey, if you were that listener out there that suggested this show, check it out.

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Yeah, I love hearing from you guys.

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And all the other music that you heard on the show today was written and recorded by me.

My name is Sebastian Major, and remember, just because it didn't happen doesn't mean it isn't real.

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