Musashi (original 1935; edition 1995)

As gory as this was, and as much as it doesn't really pass the Bechdel test, I loved this legend tale for how much it reminded me of the books I devoured as a kid: those of the knight errant / wandering warrior / searching scholar / itinerant monk in times past, with lessons about self-enlightenment against various scenic backdrops, peppered with extraordinary characters and meandering sidequests as befitting of an epic.

It's the super unlikely coincidences that only happen in these types of stories, where the characters can travel as far as they like, but somehow everyone they meet is essential to the main story and connected to a known character. It's how each individual events of the overall nomadic journey is like a small puzzle in itself for the protagonist (and sometimes the reader) to solve st the same time. And how overall it's just a rollicking good story with villains and heroes alike all reach some satisfying pinnacle point of learning.

The serialised nature of this tale lends itself easily to manga-isation, and I'd love to read one with all the rough and raw drawing style that the story demands. Another version I'd love to read is with a itinerant scholarly woman but considering these types of stories seem most popular a few centuries ago, I might never be able to find one.

In a fun coincidence, at my weekly visit to a friend's house recently, we were sitting in their study that we've sat in a few times before, and my eyes were browsing their books as we chatted and I suddenly spot "Musashi" on the torn spine of this small paperback. It was The Book of Five Rings. Truly, once you learn/know something, you really do start seeing it everywhere. ( )

Once I started reading it, I had a hard time putting it down and would stay awake reading long into the night because I wanted to know what happened next.

I first became familiar with Musashi from the movies in the Samurai trilogy, starring Toshiro Mifune. I don't practice martial arts, but I found Musashi such an interesting figure that I wanted to learn more about his life, hence the Yoshikawa novel, and it didn't disappoint me. I learned not only about Musashi's life and accomplishments, but also about the inner workings of the man and what made him tick, and even after reading this book, I still Musashi intriguing.

I'd like to re-read this book at some point, and since I'll probably never get mine back, it looks like I'll be buying another one, but I enjoyed reading it so much that I don't mind buying it twice. Ordinarily, I don't read a book more than once, but I'm sure I'd enjoy this one again and get even more out of it the second around. ( )

I loved this book! It's quite hard to put down. The chapters progress like a play, with the players intertwining throughout. The Zen/Tao message is strong and sincere. I think about 30% could have been reduced with the peripheral players, but all together, a wonderful long read. ( )

Having started on Vagabond, the manga adaptation of this novel, I am somewhat familiar with the situations and characters in this book. This particular book was quite engrossing for me, I really caught myself being lost in its prose many times. It's only too bad that Vagabond is unfinished, and I don't know if there are any chapters past number 327. Given all of that, I decided to read the source material. There were a lot of names thrown around, so it was sometimes difficult to follow. However, I did really enjoy it as it was. Sometimes I thought a map would have been useful, but I suppose I could find those locations through Google or something.

In any case, the basic story is pretty simple, a young man named Takezo was at the battle of Sekigahara and his side lost. He then goes on to become Musashi after having trained in Zen and other such things. Along the way, he develops his own sword style and fights against a great rival. Of course this is pretty simplified, I mean, the novel is over 900 pages long. ( )

This is a quick read despite its length. The language is easy and there's plenty of action. Unfortunately I thought the characters are mostly two-dimensional and the plot repetitive. If you're interested in samurais and Japanese culture, give it a try. ( )