Wisdom Vault — onlinknow.co.za

the Nobeoka domain, was in a potentially tight spot on account of some of his former vassals siding with the rebels. Afraid that the shogunate would view this as guilt by association, Musashi was asked to write a letter as a witness to the “heroism demonstrated by Naozumi and his son” as they stormed the rebel stronghold before anybody else.*® Musashi states, “My shin was struck by a rock, and I find myself unable to stand.

I do apologize for not being able to hand this to you in person.” It has long been assumed that Musashi was seriously injured but there is no mention of him in the Nakatsu domain’s list of 148 battle casualties. Moreover, he traveled to Nagoya and Edo immediately after the uprising, so any injury he may have sustained was obviously not serious.

Musashi ventured to Nagoya (Owari) and Edo in 1638, possibly in search of employment. Warlords were on the lookout for martial art instructors. Musashi’s ability was indisputable. His style of combat, however, did not quite fit the orthodox model of swordsmanship.

Unsuccessful in securing a position that suited him, he returned to Kyushu as a guest of daimyd Hosokawa Tadatoshi in 1640.3? Tadatoshi was roughly the same age as Musashi and skilled in both the martial and literary arts. He was among a small handful of elite disciples of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū who had received a copy of Heihé Kadensho from Yagyu Munenori (1571—1646), an instructor to three generations of shoguns.

In fact, Tadatoshi was invited to perform demonstration matches in front of the shogun with Yagyū Jūbei. It is recorded in Bukoden that Hosokawa Tadatoshi summoned Musashi from Kokura in order to see him in action against Uji Yashiro, a student of Yagyū Munenori and Tadatoshi’s teacher of Yagyū Shinkage-ryt.

Both duelists were required to take an oath forbidding them from disparaging the other’s school after the bouts. The only other outsider present was the lord’s young page and he also was sworn to secrecy. It is impossible to know exactly what happened, but the author of Bukdéden records that Musashi fought Yashiro in three bouts.

Yashiro’s skills were completely ineffectual and he was unable to break Musashi’s defense. Musashi, on the other hand, contented himself by effortlessly deflecting all that Yashird threw at him. Tadatoshi was so impressed he also asked Musashi for a match.

Equally flummoxed by Musashi’s style, Tadatoshi then became his student. Being a keen patron of the martial arts, he probably realized that he had much to learn from Musashi, but contrary to what is written in Bukdoden, it is doubtful that Tadatoshi abandoned Yagyū Shinkage-ryt in favor of Musashi’s school.

Musashi was permitted to teach in the domain, eventually attracting over 1,000 students, from daimyo down to rank-and-file. Musashi presented Tadatoshi with a scroll, Heihd Sanjigo-kajo, outlining his teachings in thirty-five articles.

Tadatoshi died a month later, which was an emotional blow for Musashi as the pair had grown quite close. Tadatoshi’s successor urged Musashi to remain in Kumamoto. He spent the last four years of his life there engaging in the practice of Zazen (meditation), painting, and joining tea ceremonies and poetry gatherings with the domain’s elite.