Miyamoto Musashi is a famous swordsman and philosopher who lived in Edo period Japan. He founded the Niten Ichi style of swordsmanship, which entails the use of two wooden swords, long and short, at the same time. The Asian Art Museum’s Lord of the Samurai art exhibit, which opens this Friday in San Francisco, will showcase the original wooden swords made my Musashi himself between 1640 and 1645.
Lord of the Samurai at the Asian Art Museum
Musashi’s Niten Ichi did teach a two-sword style, but it was meant for live blades. Most sword students trained (and still do) with bokken (like those shown in the OP) for safety when sparring.
According to Musashi himself, he had killed more than 60 men before writing the Book of 5 Rings, and he certainly did that with live blades.
There are many legends surrounding Musashi’s skill with a bokken, which may lead to some of the confusion. The most famous is the legendary 1612 duel with Sasaki Kojiro. The duel was to be held on a remote island, and Musashi arrived intentionally late to unnerve Kojiro (one of his trademark psychological tactics). While riding the boat to the island, Musashi carved one of the oars into an exceptionally long bokken, which he used to defeat Kojiro.
He was an inspiration for Miyamoto Usagi!
And, the obligatory Kate Beaton comic link:
http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=40
I’m not sure if polished wood normally counts as a “gadget,” but I don’t care, I love this and wish I could see the exhibit!
G.Park, in Musashi’s later life he supposedly gave up steel swords entirely for bo-ken. (bo=stick+ken=sword)
Japanese laminated steel blades carried by master swordsmen of Musashi’s era could be shattered like glass by a hard blow to the flat side by a wooden club. Ironically, cheap poorly made swords would be less vulnerable to such techniques.
The sword carved from an oar was relatively huge, more like a subarito, not like a modern bokken.
If you’ve ever seen a live blade demo with Japanese swords, blade on blade contact can reduce a high quality sword to Swiss cheese in a matter of seconds. One of the major skills of Japanese swordsmanship is proper cutting technique for the purpose of preserving and extending the life of one’s blade.
Given the extreme expense that goes into making and maintaining blades, carrying a bokken or subarito for dealing with non-life threatening fights made good economic sense, and in the hands of a skilled swordsman, a wooden sword is more than enough to disable or kill an unarmoured opponent.
How does one carve an oar while en route to a remote island? You need it to row to the island. Maybe the reason he was late was that he carved the oar after he got there.
One of the major skills of Japanese swordsmanship is proper cutting technique for the purpose of preserving and extending the life of one’s blade.
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While riding the boat to the island, Musashi carved one of the oars into an exceptionally long bokken, which he used to defeat Kojiro.
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Ironically, cheap poorly made swords would be less vulnerable to such techniques.
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