Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era

by Eiji Yoshikawa

“Think of this room as your mother’s womb and prepare to be born anew. If you look at it only with your eyes, you will see nothing more than an unlit, closed cell. But look again, more closely. Look with your mind and think. This room can be the wellspring of enlightenment, the same fountain of knowledge found and enriched by sages in the past. It is up to you to decide whether this is to be a chamber of darkness or one of light.”

“I will live by its rule. I will regard it as my soul, and by learning to master it, strive to improve myself, to become a better and wiser human being. Takuan follows the Way of Zen, I will follow the Way of the Sword. I must make of myself an even better man than he is.”

“Those two will be here sooner or later. There’s no reason to sit here doing nothing.” The natural consequence of this statement was the ordering of sake.

Was it not childish, even imbecilic, for an adult to allow impatience to overcome him?

To fight a life-or-death struggle with all one’s might was no more than animal instinct. Moreover, while not being thrown off balance by the prospect of death was a mental state of a higher order, it was not really so difficult to face death if one knew that one had to die.

Of all the sorrows that beset living beings, surely the most gnawing, the most wretched, the most agonizing, was not to be able to lay eyes on the person one pined for.

A peculiar characteristic of the inebriated is that though they appear to be in constant danger of falling, or suffering some worse mishap, if left alone they usually escape harm.

In life, we must have flexibility. Our spirits must be able to move freely. To be too stiff and rigid is to be brittle and lacking in responsiveness.”

He tightened his obi and slid his beloved sword between it and his ribs. As he did so, the loneliness fell away as quickly as it had come. This sword, he reflected, would have to be his mother, his father, his brothers and sisters. That was what he had vowed to himself years earlier, and that was the way it would have to be.

The way I’ve chosen is one of discipline. It requires me to overcome my sentiments, lead a stoic life, immerse myself in hardship. If I don’t, the light I seek will escape me.

He well knew that to live was more than merely to survive. The problem was how to imbue his life with meaning, how to ensure that his life would cast a bright ray of light into the future, even if it became necessary to give up that life for a cause.

There was an inevitability in the way nature rose majestically and sternly above him; it was in the order of things that he was doomed to remain beneath it.

Inwardly, the battle had already begun, for the eye can damage a man more seriously than sword or staff.

The sword was to be far more than a simple weapon; it had to be an answer to life’s questions.

He wanted to conquer himself, to make life itself submit to him, to cause people to live rather than die. The Way of the Sword should not be used merely for his own perfection. It should be a source of strength for governing people and leading them to peace and happiness.

Don’t waste your time trying to impress people. If you become the sort of man people can respect, they’ll respect you, without your doing anything.”

The sword is the samurai’s soul; he carries it for no other purpose than to maintain his own integrity.

Swordsmanship prepares you for peace as well as for war.”

“I’m afraid I’m still immature, imprudent—far from being truly enlightened. The more I travel, the longer the road becomes. I have the feeling I’m climbing an endless mountain path.”

“Wars, like the typhoon we had, pass. The land as a whole is unchanged, but we must never forget the debt we owe to the white bones under the ground.”

A warrior lacking this sensitivity is like a shrub in a desert. To be a strong fighter and nothing more is to be like a typhoon. It’s the same with swordsmen who think of nothing but swords, swords, swords. A real samurai, a genuine swordsman, has a compassionate heart. He understands the poignancy of life.”

A person who doesn’t know himself can do nothing for others.”

Kojirō had put his confidence in the sword of strength and skill. Musashi trusted in the sword of the spirit. That was the only difference between them.