Musashi
By Eiji Yoshikawa
Categories: Literature & Fiction
Eiji Yoshikawa's historical novel, first serialized in Japan from 1935 to 1939, follows the real swordsman Miyamoto Musashi as a reckless young man in the years after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Wounded among the defeated, Musashi heads home, commits a rash act and becomes a fugitive until a weaponless Zen monk captures him. Through study, hard training and duels across Japan, he begins to learn that the Way of the Sword means more than brute strength, while Otsu, the woman who loves him, follows his path.