Preface
To watch an ancient is just like to watch a mountain. A face of a mountain varies in a thousand ways as to the state of viewers' heart and mind.
Looks from assets to inutility. From far to near.
Like watching a certain mountain to stand before it, watching the ancient across time. Taste and temptation in doing so is plenty.
There are crests, heads of mountains in the past sky. Musashi Miyamoto is one of my favorite ancients to watch a lot of the shadows of them. He has been thought harsh as if the sword, residing spirit of autumn frost (秋霜) in it, represents his whole personality. But when you look at his kana character carefully (仮名文字). How many people there were in the past those who writes and streams out such decent flavor, grace, nicety and beauty of vacant slenderness from tip of digits.
He likes children. When he finds unfortunate quality children through the vagabondage, he takes in them. He is more humanly than Mr. Saigyo-san (西行) who gave the siliver cat away. Because he was also an unfortunate child.
Those, who make their bud which they won't nurture and the destiny, worm around in the shade, and tend to ascribe the situation only to times, can not make friends with him. Weather or raging waves, or anything times introduce, ran against with open arms, and held his own he, that was his pace. Was the way.
He was born and lived in an age of feudalism, that respects family tree and sept more than physical power or mentality in the modern age, without status but a son of a squire or don (郷士). After made them available, he did not take on. There were the one thing he hadn't let gone until his death. Sword. And its way.
Through the sword, he gazed being's ordinary and foolishness and bodhi (菩提).
Beings are like chunks full of earthly desires, and they have fighting instinct to live. Musashi had tried to struggle with handling them for life.
In an age of fouling strings and savage atomsphere, Musashi was a person who thought hard and feelingly about "Shura (修羅)" in life, one of being's froths truculence, regarding the swords, which were supposed to be things only to slash people, considering them at the same time as light of Buddha (仏光), brand of love, too.
It is also he that raised the sword's state to one "Way (道)", an inner matter.
Persons walked on their road just only with the way of savage from Ounin(応仁) to the provincial wars. On the road of Samurai must have been taken a new re-step for trekking since then almost absolutely.
His iridiac color was amber. He was as tall as near six shaku(尺), 1.8 meter. He won sixty and some bouts through his whole life. And he hadn't taken a wife all his life. In late life he didn't fix his hair and avoided taking a bath. --It is good to wipe grime of mind, but not good to do so of body, thus still devoted himself to. He must have been an awfully formidable man. But looking at the left pictures drawn by him, how shall we sing his aroma and descent attraction, as old Japanese plum flower (老梅) or chrysanth flowers (菊華) of autumn forst (秋霜)?
Musashi like that described above. Musashi to be observed in many ways from several angles accoring to viewers' eyes.
So, he has drifted within praises and censures, theories of master and non-master, since a long time ago. And then I did write into a novel.
The novel doesn't historicieze necessarily. There is no way but persuing to approach his inside mind and spirit by the ancient's footmark. Especially, prehension and portrait of a character like Musashi whose historical sources are not plenty is, nearly equal to the works and tries to revive blood circulation in skeltonized remains below the ground. One who deciede to do this would be damn sightless or fearless.
I dared to write audaciously, but now I am afraid that the author's imagination and the correct history could be muddled in the future. As if one who have planted roses clips them by oneself, with scissors in small amounts of time, I decided to bundle this piece of bouths after pruning branches of fictions and historical evidences a little here and there.
Are you doubting that I do it because I don't have my own maxim of literature?
My friend, do not laugh. I, this daring man, have some timidity, too.
For people have wide thick knowledge and grand comprehension.
And, as neccessary decency to the ancient whose virtue I adore and look up to (景仰), I respect and fear him.
Showa（昭和） 14 mid spring
at Sousidou
Eiji(英治) sei(life)
Essay: Miyamoto Musashi
preface
Build a roof on the rooftop. We have such a phrase.
This writing is, surely, is one like a roof built on the rooftop.
It is natural that you look upon this "Essay: Miyamoto Musashi"(Musashi Miyamoto) as redundant stuff because there is already "Novel: Miyamoto Musashi"(Musashi Miyamoto).
Frankly, Also I think of this to be unnecessary.
So, at first I made prints of this from Asahi Shinbunsha (Asahi Newspaper Company ;朝日新聞社). And then rolled off a only quite limited number of them for fewer people especially who are interested in studying Musashi. I haven't reprinted them until now.
But, book readers have a habit of asking too much, or for the moon. And printed books seem to be total comsumable goods. Recently, the part of Essay Musashi can rarely be found out in the market.
After the second World War, fellows of Miyamoto Musashi Mention Society in Kumamoto had been searching this book. They came to Tokyo because they weren't able to find it from used booksellers or find out in bookstores' catalog of publications. Now I have only one in hand for my own remarks. Furthermore, I had written many words here and there in it, hence I could not give it others and declined in vain frequently.
I don't esteem this essay as a writing worth repriting. But incidently there are such wishers, and after another edition of the novel part, voice to ask for it increased. So I have decided reprint only small number of the essay books nearly for hobby or palate.
The matters contained in the essay part are things that had not been used in my novel, such as biographies, historical sources, relics, stories handed by tradition and handwritings of Musashi, arranged directly as raw stuff.
In a word, I've only exhibited the darkside of my novel's subject matter.
You readers would know the process of composing a novel or how the storytellers treat historical sources and their intent, like "Ahh, by these means that long story are created!"
In addition, I have assembled my travel story to search the sources, study sent from my readers, notebooks around and the gleaned at the time I was writing it, in chaos, in passing of pen.
Today we have more and more excursuses about him from time to time, thanks to new discoveries of Musashi's historical sources. For example, we have come to know his letter during Shimabara combat from the Arima correspondence after the end of the war.
Eiji Yoshikawa ”Essay: Musashi Miyamoto”
https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/001562/files/52434_49777.html
