Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Wheels and Hideharu Yoshikawa's novel Miyamoto Musashi were translated into many Chinese and became famous. However, the image of Ronin Kenho, who regards sword fighting as his life in novels, movies, or manga, was fabricated in biographies 130 years after Miyamoto Musashi's death. To this end, this article will first introduce the true face of Miyamoto Musashi revealed in academic research. According to the fifth volume of the Book of Five Wheels, Miyamoto Musashi's thought is discussed.
Samurai from the end of the Sengoku period to the early Edo period
Musashi Miyamoto wrote the treatise on swordsmanship in his youth, and after two revisions, he wrote the book "The Book of Five Wheels" in his twilight years. There are two signed letters written by Miyamoto Musashi himself, dozens of ink paintings identified as Miyamoto Musashi's authentic handwriting, and homemade wooden knives and handguards. In addition, the information recorded by the adopted son and disciple and the historical data of the various feudal states. Combining these materials for research can give a rough idea of Miyamoto Musashi's life.
Miyamoto Musashi was born in 1582, at the time of the end of the battles across Japan and the realization of national unification. He died in 1645, just as the Edo shogunate was founded. Miyamoto Musashi's life can be divided into four periods, consistent with the drastic changes in Japanese society, so he combines his life with the background of the times at that time and organizes them into the following four parts.
i. Cultivation period before the age of 20. Japan's society was unified and a modern order was formed.
ii. The period of martial arts practice between the age of 21 and the age of 29. After the Sekigahara War, the newly established Tokugawa shogunate was in turmoil with the forces of the previous dynasty regime.
iii. Between the ages of 30 and 59, as a disciple of the Daimyo, he explored the art of war. During this period, honyori became the head of the clan. After the Battle of Osaka, the japanese domestic melee ended, and the shogunate system was established.
iv. After the age of 60, he wrote the Book of Five Wheels throughout his life. Japan was in a period of generational alternation between young shoguns and daimyo and predecessors who had not experienced a joint war.
Miyamoto Musashi Seated Statue (Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art Collection) Painted during the Edo period Author is unknown
A lifetime of practicing "Bushido"
Miyamoto Musashi is known for being a "samurai born in Hamama" and for the Go-Wheel Book. According to information left by his adopted uterus, Iori, Miyamoto Musashi was born into a samurai family in Harima near Himeji Castle, but was defeated in the process of unification and was adopted as an adopted son by Miyamoto Nojisai of Okayama as a teenager. Miyamoto Nojizai was given the title "Peerless in the World" by General Muromachi. Miyamoto Musashi practiced swordsmanship under his guidance as a teenager and defeated the famous buddy in his first duel at the age of 13.
Legend has it that after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the 21-year-old Miyamoto Musashi went to Kyoto to fight against swordsmanship from various countries and won a great victory. According to the survey, Miyamoto Musashi wrote the swordplay book "Bing Dao Mirror" at the age of 24, which contains 28 related records. And called itself "the first in the world" and established the Yuanming Stream. After that, Miyamoto Musashi traveled all over the country to practice martial arts. Before the age of 29, he had fought more than 60 duels, and none of them had lost a hand. Legend has it that Miyamoto Musashi was late in his final duel with the famous swordsman Kojiro Sasaki is not true. In fact, the two should have arrived at the uninhabited island at the same time, with Sasaki Kojiro holding a three-foot long sword, while Miyamoto Musashi defeated Sasaki Kojiro with a longer large wooden sword.
Miyamoto Musashi began to seek "a more profound path" in the year of his founding, and at the age of 50 he finally became a daisei and wrote the Book of Five Wheels. An investigation of this period revealed that in 1615, the 34-year-old Miyamoto Musashi was under the daimyo of the Tokugawa side who had joined the Osaka Natsuno Line. Two years later, he went to Himeji Castle and became a protégé of Himeji Domain. Because he was not a courtier, but as a disciple, he had a certain degree of freedom, and at that time, Miyamoto Musashi was instructing the lord of the clan in his swordsmanship, and it was from this period that Miyamoto Musashi began to explore the theory of swordsmanship and paint ink paintings.
Miyamoto Musashi's ink painting "Dead Wood Naruto Diagram" (collection of the Kuhoku Memorial Museum in Izumi City) The Five Wheel Book states that Miyamoto Musashi will practice calligraphy and painting
Nine years later, the lord's concubine died of illness, and Akashi Domain, who had helped build the neighboring town of Joshita, gave Miyamoto Iori to Miyamoto Musashi to serve him as an adopted son. Miyamoto Musashi thus became a protégé of Akashi Domain. Five years later, at the age of 20, Iori Miyamoto became the head of the Akashi Domain, thanks to his adoptive father Miyamoto Musashi. The following year, the territory of Akashi Domain was transferred to Kokura in Kyushu, and Miyamoto Musashi and his adopted son also moved to Kokura. Five years later, a large-scale rebellion broke out in Shimabara, Kyushu, and the Kyushu clans mobilized to suppress it. Miyamoto Iori played a prominent role as the commander of the army of the Kokura Domain, and later became the number one elder of the domain.
In 1640, at the age of 59, Miyamoto Musashi became a disciple of the Kumamoto domain in Kyushu. The following year, Miyamoto Musashi presented the lord of the clan with a 35-article swordplay book, but the next month the lord died. Two years later, Miyamoto Musashi began to write the Book of Five Wheels for the sake of young lords and family elders. A year and a half later, Musashi Miyamoto completed the Book of Five Wheels a week before his death. The Book of Five Wheels is a collection of Miyamoto Musashi's careers, and tells the story of the survival of samurai with sword training as the core.
Miyamoto Musashi, who pursues "universal truth"
The Book of The Five Wheels divides the way of war into five volumes (five wheels) of earth, water, fire, wind, and air, and systematically discusses them.
The Scroll of the Earth is written to the effect of Bushido.
Samurai are divided into thousands of samurai and generals who command thousands of people. Samurai master the method of fighting by tempering their swords, which can be used in joint combat, which is always useful, so it is necessary to study carefully. Samurai often carry two swords, and considering that they are going to participate in battle, it is better to practice with two swords in hand. In addition to swords, you should also master the characteristics of guns, long knives, bows, and rifles, and effectively apply them in combat. Generals should be hired according to their needs. Practicing the path of the samurai, the practice of getting rid of evil thoughts is the fundamental. Broaden your horizons by being exposed to all kinds of skills, understand society by understanding all kinds of professional ways, and take the initiative to distinguish the gains and losses of various things. What is out of reach should also be taken into account, and subtleties should also be carefully observed. Don't do useless things, concentrate on cultivating your own swordplay. This should be a teaching that is common in all fields.
The Scroll of Water is written about the core theory of swordsmanship
First of all, although the basis of swordplay is the mind, posture, and eyes, in order to be able to react immediately, it is also necessary to exercise in daily life. Although the Tai Dao Knife Technique is divided into upper, middle, and lower sections and left and right sides, a total of five directions, it is necessary to find a way to kill the enemy more powerfully. The most important thing about the tai knife is the posture, so you should find the easiest way to swing it, which is called the "way of the tai knife". In order to hone this feeling, the practice should begin with the five directions of swinging the knife. But instead of learning the established method, it is necessary to find the easiest way to kill the enemy and hone the better way of the sword. Thinking about "Today's me is better than yesterday's me, tomorrow's victory is almost won, and then a great victory" "Regard the practice of a thousand days as a forge, and regard the practice of ten thousand days as a practice." "Practice daily with the goal of better techniques for decades.
The Scroll of Fire is written about the theory of battle.
First of all, we should grasp the direction of the light on the battlefield and the location of scaffolding, obstacles, etc., and set these conditions to be favorable to ourselves and unfavorable to the enemy. Understand your enemies and attack their weaknesses without allowing them to play to their strengths. Do not give the enemy a chance to make moves, see through the enemy's intentions, and make a counterattack posture, so that the enemy cannot start. Make a flaw to lure the enemy to attack and defeat the enemy. Make the enemy's heart anxious, confused, shaken, seize the moment of the enemy's collapse to attack and win. When there are a large number of people, we should also grasp the leading power, take the initiative to attack, and attack the enemy's key points. If the two attacks are ineffective, the third one will change the way, attack boldly and carefully, and cannot be careless until the final victory is achieved.
The Scroll of the Winds critiques the errors of other genres and points out the correct truth.
Pursue the principle of universal access at all times. When practicing, do not stick to specific movements, follow the path of the tai knife, and swing the knife in the way that can kill the enemy most effectively. Don't believe in secret traditions, don't stick to stereotypes, and teach in a way that learners can understand. Taking into account the learner's ability to understand, teaching him to follow the right path and abandon bad habits and prejudices, the learner will understand the true meaning of the samurai way of life. I did not hesitate to implement this teaching method.
The Scroll of Emptiness is written about the cultivation methods of the Tao and its ultimate form.
Because there are many mistakes and stereotypes in life, we must always look at the sky as a mirror and reflect on ourselves. The constant pursuit of better technology, while cultivating the body and mind, will eventually reach a clear place without haze, that is, the "real sky".
Musashi won a great victory in the duels of his youth, but at the same time he was also pursuing more general truths, constantly exploring the rational state of all things, and studying the Tao to the extreme, so that he wrote the "Book of Five Wheels", which is based on specific exercise experience, showing the real life style of the samurai, and nearly 400 years later, it is still transmitting the universal martial truth to the world.