Miyamoto Musashi

Timeline

1. c. 1584–1612Harima–Mimasaka · HarimaHe styled himself a samurai of the Shinmen clan of Harima. In his youth he duelled swordsmen from various regions, and after the Battle of Sekigahara he wandered through western Japan. Specific records of this period mostly come from eighteenth-century biographies such as Nitenki; what can be confirmed is that he operated as a lone swordsman rather than a retainer of a domain, and began developing the technique of wielding two swords.
2. c. 1612–1637Around Ganryū-jima, Shimonoseki · NagatoLegend holds that he defeated Sasaki Kojirō on Funashima (later Ganryū-jima); the details of this event should not be treated as precise battle reports, but the two-sword style (Niten Ichi-ryū) as his hallmark had already taken shape during the Kan'ei era. He was renowned across the provinces as an undefeated swordsman, while also painting and carving, living a guest-like life not attached to any single daimyō.
3. 1637–1643Kokura, Buzen – Kumamoto, Higo · KumamotoIn the late Kan'ei era he was active in Buzen and Higo. Some biographies claim he accompanied the Ogasawara and Hosokawa armies in the Shimabara campaign; this account is later in textual layer than The Book of Five Rings and can only be regarded as a possible experience. Around 1640 Hosokawa Tadaoki invited him to Kumamoto as a guest-retainer, granting him a residence near the former Chiba Castle, where he taught military strategy and Niten Ichi-ryū.
4. 1643–1645Reigan-dō, Kumamoto · KumamotoIn 1643 he retired to Reigan-dō on Kinpōzan and wrote The Book of Five Rings (five scrolls: earth, water, fire, wind, void), extending swordsmanship to governance and conduct of life, completing the manuscript around the second month of the second year of Shōhō, and passing it to the line of his disciple Terao Komenojō. On his deathbed he also left the twenty-one precepts of Dokkōdō. He died on June 13 (lunar May 19); later accounts attribute the cause of death to lung disease.