Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era Kindle Edition

True masterpiece, unique in its kind, and superbly written. This is one of the few books which I've read in a long time that I didn't want the story to end. Despite seeming a dauntingly long and hefty novel, the story flows at a neckbreaking pace, full of surprises and clever plots at every turn. The book I would most compare it to is James Clavell's epic "Shogun", but besides the fact that both stories take place more or less in the same time period in Japan (beginning of Edo period), the comparison ends there. Whereas "Shogun" describes Japan from the eyes of a foreigner, and deals with high-court intrigues, Musashi's fictional story (albeit loosely based on events in his life including all his ill-fated duels) deals with the common day-to-day life in Japan, the peasantry, the samurai, the secret lives of Geishas and pleasure quarters, Buddhist priests and itinerant monks, of families torn by the everlasting conflicts that was raging between North and South daimyo factions at that time (Osaka vs Edo courts), the tribulations of ronin who were left masterless after the battle of Sekigahara and who were roaming the country incessantly in search of odd jobs or who would become evil doers. Such a man was Musashi, who being on the losing side of the Sekigahara battle, started a life long wandering journey throughout Japan, perfecting his sword techniques and becoming, slowly, the most prestigious swordsman of all time. Although the book only recounts 12 years of this journey, these were without doubt his formative years, and the characters he meets, loves or fights with along the way all edge him, little by little, towards achieving his goal, the Way of the Sword. Every encounter Musashi goes through is a lesson of life and death, something that even we, as readers, can apply in our daily lives centuries later. It's timeless advice.The second thing I thoroughly enjoyed about the book was the translation. The way the story flows, the vocabulary used as well as the dialogues are very well rendered to the point where I was actually believing the text to be written originally in English. There's also quite a lot of light-hearted, downright comical dialogues, which give the story a lighter tone despite the somber aspect and seriousness of the background story. I actually wonder if this is the work of the translator (by the mere fact that eastern languages are not always easy to transpose into western ones) or if Eiji Yoshikawa himself inserted those funny passages. In any case, this novel was a hidden gem that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for brilliant historical fiction or simply who wants to learn more about Japanese culture during the Edo period.

Such an important book for me as a young man and no less exciting and inspirational rereading it in middle age.

I’m a huge fan of all things Miyamoto Musashi. So when first heard about the Vagabond Manga I was pumped. But then I found out it isn’t finished and there was a real possibility it never would be I didn’t want to get into it. Then I heard it was based off this book so I decided to read it instead. Best decision ever. The novelized story of my hero’s life is an inspiration for any young man trying to find his way in the world. Honestly I wish this book was better known because I feel like it could help a lot of lost men today.

This book is hard to rate. It is long and sometimes inconsistent in its character arcs and subplots, which left me feeling a bit disconnected at times. Over the course of its dense 970 pages, it seemed to go in a thousand directions—sometimes rapidly, sometimes at a snail’s pace. All that said, this book felt less about the story, the battles, or even the conclusion. Instead, it offered a deep dive into the life, mind, and way of a samurai in feudal Japan.Packed with history, culture, philosophy, and personality, the book takes you on a non-linear adventure through the imagined life of Musashi and the many characters involved in his story. Honestly, it’s probably the best three-star book I’ve ever read, and I would still recommend it to anyone interested in feudal Japan, so I’m giving it a 4 out of 5.

Read it after seeing the movie series adapted from the book (Samurai I-III) and the book was so much better! Every chapter is short and filled with a wide range of Japanese history, marshal arts philosophy, travel through little post towns, economic history and engaging characters. How dare they insult this book by calling it the Gone With the Wind of Japan as if Musashi were a ruffly skirted "fiddledeedee" uttering idiot. For some reason, the writing in the first two or three chapters was a little campy and slow, but stick with it as the payoff after that is huge. In western culture, we are used to the Errol Flynn prolonged sword fighting up and down the castle stairs, not the swish-headroll-next... but the later gets your attention. And while the different schools of swordsmanship and military science are discussed, this book is much more than a fencing tale about one legendary man. In fact, Musashi himself is not in a significant part of the book.I am still reeling as to how the film rendition of Ichijoji temple completely watered down and missed the conflict with the Yoshioka school, how Sasaki was not in film the complex (and somewhat evil) man he was in the book, the military, socio economic context (increasingly wealthy merchants, vs royalty vs the military factions) was completely lost in the film it took a toll on the impact of the story (book wins hands down). You don't have to worry about the movie spoilers because different people live and die in different ways in the book.Some of the translation was humorously dated- one would not imagine samurai insulting other with retro American epithets, but this was outweighed by the rich cultural aspects that were captured in vivid detail.Be prepared for a lot of characters and settings, they add to movement and conflict in a good way. I agree with the "best book ever" reviewers and ordered his Daimyo book because I liked this one so much.