When war broke out between the Edo government and the Toyotomi house, comprising the famous Winter and (1614) Summer (1615) Sieges of Osaka, Tokugawa Ieyasu sent messengers through the Kyoto Shoshidai to try and prevent the Yoshioka house from taking the Toyotomi side. The kind of swordsmanship taught at the Yoshioka house was called Yoshioka-Ryu, and it is considered one of the Kyohachiryu (eight schools of Kyoto), which began through by Kiichi Hogen during the late Heian period, when he taught the arts of the sword to 8 monks at Kurama Mountain. It is also written that Musashi requested another duel with the Yoshioka house at a later date, and although he was scheduled to face the younger brother Naoshige, it ended in an automatic loss for Musashi as he failed to show up to the designated place on that day. The person who actually faced Musashi is named as Yoshioka Naotsuna, who is the fourth heir in line to the Yoshioka house. It is recorded that there were two judgments, one that the Yoshioka won, and another that it was considered a draw. In this instance, it is written that Musashi was hit on the forehead and bled severely.
But, like Sasaki Kojiro, is Seijuro who has been depicted as Musashi’s rival a real historical person?Īccording to the “Yoshioka-den” (by Michisuke Fukuzumi), an official record kept by the Yoshioka house published in 1684, the duel was held not in Rendai (now the Northern Ward of Kyoto), but in fact on the premises of the Kyoto Shoshidai, an important public office for the city of Kyoto at the time, between the Yoshioka house and Musashi. It is a well-known scene, placed at the climax of movies and theater plays. As his irritation reached its peak, Musashi suddenly appears and proceeds to break Seijuro’s arm with his bokuto. In the novel, Musashi deliberately arrived late to an arranged duel, apparently irritating Seijuro, who was the head of the Yoshioka Dojo at the time.
The Yoshioka Dojo was a famous school of swordsmen, who during the Muromachi era taught kenjutsu and battle tactics to the Shogun’s family. Since then it has been made into movies, TV series, and comic books, making Musashi a legendary swordsman not only in Japan, but worldwide.Īs Musashi traveled around the country training, it is said that the 21-year-old chose the Yoshioka Dojo of Kyoto to test his skills against. “Miyamoto Musashi,” a novel written by Eiji Yoshikawa, was published as a serial by Asahi Shimbun from 1935 to 1939.
0 kommentar(er)
