This biography is about the legendary 17th century Japanese swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi, of which this is one of the only ones originally written in English. The author, William Scott Wilson, has also translated Musashi’s famous work The Book of Five Rings as well as Hagakure and The Unfettered Mind. Amazon describes this book as ‘the dramatic escapades of Musashi’, however, although I didn’t expect this book to contain many car chases, this is no martial arts-style Da Vinci Code as Wilson has clearly taken a strong academic approach.

Wilson has divided up his work into how he sees Musashi’s four stages of life as a shugyosha; a warrior who wandered Japan living a sparse life and going from match to match and fighting various other Samurai in a “comparison of styles”. With regard to reading about Musashi’s famous undefeated matches, the first chapter contains the most action and it was with great surprise I read that Musashi “rarely used a real sword”, using a wooden one instead. As in the first thirty years of his life, most of the fights would have ended in the death of his opponent; it brings home just how outstanding his combative talent would have been. We are given the description of Musashi’s most famous match on Funa Island with Kojiro, the “Demon of the Western Provinces” and for me, this was the most exciting part of the book as we learn how Musashi defeated his opponent using a staff he carved from the oar used to row him over to the island.

The rest of the biography concerns his later years as he further developed the philosophical side of swordsmanship and Zen Buddhism as well as becoming an accomplished painter, writer and sculpture. As there is probably not much information available on Musashi as a person and due to Wilson’s scholastic approach, we are given some insight into his character but it is given to us in small tastes throughout and most is left to the reader to fathom. We are told that “Musashi’s laconic style is well known,” so this man must have been quite a character, and in his matches after that at Funa Island he rarely killed his opponent, so we are left to assume that Musashi both matured a great deal and changed his outlook to his martial practice.

We are given some details to the main relationships in his life such as that with his father, whom he quarrelled with; his great friend Tadatoshi whose death left Musashi grief-stricken and his adoptive sons, Mikinosuki and Iori. Mikinosuki committed ritual suicide, which must have shaken Musashi a great deal but possibly due to the minimalist Japanese emotions, this is not dwelled upon. Some emphasis is put upon his relationship with a female courtesan, Kumoi, which does show Musashi’s human side and an occasional indulgence into his personal life.

This biography was extremely insightful and held my interest throughout, but it is not a light read and I recommend that you read The Book of Five Rings first so that you know what Wilson is making reference to when he mentions Musashi’s major work. This book concentrates as much on the philosophical and artistic life of Musashi as well as his martial life but it is an essential read for the Musashi enthusiast.