Miyamoto Musashi (1584 - 1645)

The founder of Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu was Shinmen Musashi Fujiwara no Genshin (commonly known as Miyamoto Musashi). The period in which he was born and lived was marked by many conflicts among warring daimyo. The path of his life is deeply marked by those often chaotic circumstances.

From his youth, Musashi aspired to be a swordsman and pursued "the Way of the Sword". Starting from his teenage years, during his life, he fought some 60 duels. At the age of 30, he reflected on his life and considered that his many victories in combat were not necessarily due to his swordsmanship or his strategic skills. So, he redoubled his efforts, training from morning to night to reach an understanding of the deeper meaning or principles of “the Way of the Sword”. When he was 50, he was finally grasped an understanding of a sword discipline that could transcend the categories of life and death – an approach that could be in harmony with nature and the fundamental reality of human existence - the way of strategy. He established the school of Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu . At the age of 60, he started to write his master work “Go Rin No Sho”, living in a cave in the mountains of Kumamoto in Kyushu . He died at the age of 62, a few weeks after finishing the book.

He was not only a great swordsman and author but was also accomplished in other arts, such as brush painting, calligraphy, carving and crafts which he undertook using his pen name “Niten”. Some of his art pieces are considered National Treasures in Japan .

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