Nate's Reviews > Musashi

Musashi

“He saw the white paper as the great universe of nonexistence. A single stroke would give rise to existence within it. He could evoke rain or wind at will, but whatever he drew, his heart would remain in the painting forever. If his heart was tainted, the picture would be tainted; if his heart was listless, so would the picture be. If he attempted to make a show of his craftsmanship, it could not be concealed. Men’s bodies fade away, but ink lives on. The image of his heart would continue to breathe after he himself was gone.”

Eiji Yoshikawa, Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era

This showed up as a recommended next read after shogun. It’s really interesting because it takes place right after the end of shogun and is also based on historical figures. But where shogun is set in the upper echelon of feudal Japanese society and is full of political machinations; Musashi takes place among the peasantry and middle classes, merchants and itinerant ronin.

This is a great story, on par with heroic tales from any culture. The characters are all archetypes but have deep flaws to overcome that are obvious to everyone but them.
Musashi himself does many things that are not at all heroic or even good. He literally runs away from any commitment, like when he tells a girl she can come with him but when she goes to get her stuff, he runs away! He employs this strategy many times, he runs from anything but a fight.

Musashi is the epitome of Japanese manliness, his eyebrows are fucking huge, they go right off the sides of his head! This has the effect of making every woman that even catches sight of him dissolve into a puddle and fall instantly in love with him!
Musashi thought, has no time for the tender charms of fair maidens or even famous hookers, he rebuffs them all.
He’s got armies of dipshits to hack to pieces! So that begs the question, is Musashi a virgin? That would explain his foul temper.

Musashi continues to work on himself; spiritually, artistically and most especially his swordsmanship as he travels the country in search of the ultimate truth of zen but the real treasure was the friends he made along the way.

“No one appreciates the agonizing effort he’s had to make. Now that his years of training have yielded such spectacular results, everybody’s talking about his ‘god-given talent.’ That’s how men who don’t try very hard comfort themselves.”

This book is a bit off beat for western readers, there may be a few things lost in translation but it’s manages to be epic, action packed, funny, heartfelt and tragic- read it and you shall learn the way of the sword and attain spiritual enlightenment!