The Lone Samurai: The Life of Miyamoto Musashi

If you are interested in Musashi, this is an outstanding book. Buy it together with "Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings" by Kenji Tokitsu and you will have all you could need to study this amazing person. The map in the beginning is priceless as it details all the locations of major Musashi duels and events, and can aid you in following the Musashi trail in Japan. I can't recommend this book enough. There are lots of good reviews dealing with the material, but no one has included the actual table of contents. Since there is no search Inside feature for some reason, I will list them here.MapsChapter 1: The Way of the Sword, Banshu to Ganryu Island-First Strike-Origins-Finding His Strength-Kyoto and Matches with the Masters-Sharpening His Tools-Demon of the Western ProvincesChapter 2: The Way of the Sword and the Way of the Brush, Osaka Castle to Kokura-The Fire of Battle-Arts of Peace, Arts of War-The Kyoto Renaissance-Family Name-A Real Live Human Being-On to Kokura-Kumoi-ShimabaraChapter 3: The Way of the Brush, Kumamoto-Connections-The Way of the Warrior-A Place in the Seating Order-Last Bouts-The 35-Articles-An End and a Beginning-The Brush and the Mind-Painting with the Mind of the Sword-The Paintings-Calligraphy-Fudo Myo-oChapter 4: The Way of Life and Death, Reigan Cave-Old Age-The 5-Story Pagoda-The Concept of the 5-Rings in Esoteric Buddhism-Basic Principles-Final Days-Musashi's Character-AfterwordApp: Life After DeathApp: Influences on and Parallels to The Book of 5-RingsApp: Musashi FilmographyBib

This is a brief, but well written book on a very interesting man. There is also a listing of movies as well as other information on Musashi in the end. I have read a few of William Scott Wilson's books/translations and they are always good.

7th grade. Previously he had been assigned books to report on.I raised the kid on Kurosawa, Lone Wolf and Cub, Zatoichi, and other twisty-wisty movies. He finally got to choose his own book to report upon. The Book of Five Rings having been a bedtime story, he wanted to learn more about Musashi, and wanted to write his book report.So I bought the book for him.He ate it up. I didn't even have to read it to him, although I read it later.He did a dress-rehearsal of his report for me the night before he was to deliver it.Blood and guts? Heck yeah.But what got to me was interpretation of Musashi's retirement years.Sure, you can go around killing folks for so long and that's exciting, but Musashi's post-career pilgrimages, artwork, and philosophy came through in the book, and my son's delivery thereof.

Incredible book I would most highly recommend to those searching for such Devine leaders of the arts. Very impressive and will read it again just for the translations alone. Well done!

This is an interesting topic, and a difficult book to write because of the paucity of hard information about the subject. The book is interesting and covers Musashi's life and the legend as well as can be expected. The problem for me is that it is written like a martial arts book, of which I have read many. As a biography it does not pull in the reader and make them part of the story. It is clinical and very 3rd person. There are way too many other people named rather than telling a story with all the characters in it. The difficulty for non-Jananese speakers is that so many of the names cited in the telling sound very similar to western ears and are hard to keep track of.

The produce was as described. The book was in excellent condition. Dust cover was better than expected. This seller should give a class in proper book description.

I enjoyed this book as it not only tells the story of Musashi, it puts him in proper historical context. It not only focuses on his sword fighting, it also tells of his many artistic pursuits. I found the section at the end where the author discusses the various historical and fictional accounts of Musashi interesting.

If you're looking for historical information on Miyamoto Musashi, this is the only book you need. An exhaustive look into the life and times.

The Lone Samurai is the biography of Musashi Miyamoto, one of Japan's most revered swordsmen and this recounts his life from childhood to death.The author uses various sources to tell the main events from Miyamotos life and where the stories differ he tells the most accepted one and then recounts the alternative in notes at the end.This explores some of the more well known battles and duels, as well as how Miyamoto moved away from the art of the sword towards poetry, Zen Buddhism, India ink art and other artistic pursuits at the end of his life.It felt a little repetitive in places, with the same duels being mentioned a few times to illustrate different points or personality traits; but overall it was an interesting read.This is a good way to learn more about this enigmatic character and gives an insight into the life of Samurai and feudal Japan in general. Worth a read.

This book explains everything.

A very well-written book of one of the most famous people in history. Based on the historical data the stories are engaging and entertaining and there are some good lessons to learn too from them.

I have read this book so many times I had to buy a spare copy as my original is looking a little used.Anyone interested in reading about Samurai should read this - the life, times and thinking behind one of Japan's most famous Samurai is fascinating.As a practitioner of Shinkendo, including study of Two-Sword techniques - to gain more of an idea of the man behind the sword, this is a great start.

An interesting book about feudal Japan and the people that shaped its future. Not sure to have fully grasped the philosophy of its men-of-war but it makes good reading.