In response to many requests, we are proud to present the Illustrated Edition. Drawing from a wealth of images, maps, photograps, woodprints, the Illustrated Editions series gives the reader an even more authentic and in-depth experience of the lives of Japan’s greatest swordsman, set against the backdrop of fascinating periods in Japan’s long feudal history.
Miyamoto Musashi: A Life in Arms
A Life in Arms traces Musashi's constant search for his own distinct style of swordsmanship; how he built on what he learned from his father and his uncles, how he perfected it on his musha shugyō, and how his Enmei-ryu evolved into the Niten Ichi-ryu, his unique art of fighting with two swords. Finally, it traces the remarkable gestation of The Book of Five Rings, his great legacy to posterity of a unique martial philosophy.
In the course of this highly readable account many of the convenient myths that have arisen around Musashi are debunked, while the more controversial aspects of the warrior's life that have been left hidden, perhaps deliberately, are uncovered: his deeply troubled relationship with his father, his whereabouts during the battle of Sekigahara, his role in the siege of Osaka castle, and the birth and death of an illegitimate child, an event that deeply influenced his art.
A Life in Arms shows how Musashi's path through life was shaped by strong personal traits: his reckless valor in the face of danger, his sensitive intelligence in the fields of art and architecture, his generosity toward peers and pupils, and his defiant stubbornness in old age. The complex yet human portrait that arises is a far cry from the accepted one-dimensional caricature of the swordsman.
222 pp, 7.5 x 9.25, soft
145 Illustrations, maps and charts, glossary, index
Japanese history / Swordsmanship / Martial arts
Published by TOYO PRess / ISBN:
