History Literature / Musashi

* {{Foil}}: Kojiro, to Musashi. Musashi is a ragged, unkempt country boy who spends most of his time as a vagrant, but is a deeply stoic and spiritual man who is devoted to improving himself in all possible ways. Kojiro is a well-dressed, silver-tongued fop who is at heart a cruel, arrogant sadist. Both men are fearless master swordsmen, but commit terrible acts--Kojiro rapes and tortures Akemi, and Musashi kills twelve year-old Yoshioka Genjiro to win the Duel at Ichi-joji--as well as heroic ones--Musashi rescues a village from bandits, while Kojiro saves Matahachi and later Osugi from the samurai of the Ono school. By the end of the novel, both men have managed to improve their conduct somewhat--Musashi through spiritual insight, and Kojiro through gaining a respectable position as the Hosokawa Clan's sword instructor that requires him to act in a dignified manner, which eventually becomes natural to him.

* {{Foil}}: Kojiro, to Musashi. Musashi is a ragged, unkempt country boy who spends most of his time as a vagrant, but is a deeply stoic and spiritual man who is devoted to improving himself in all possible ways. Kojiro is a well-dressed, silver-tongued fop who is at heart a cruel, arrogant sadist. Both men are fearless master swordsmen, but commit terrible acts--Kojiro rapes and tortures Akemi, and Musashi kills twelve year-old Yoshioka Genjiro to win the Duel at Ichi-joji--as well as heroic ones--Musashi rescues a village from bandits, while Kojiro saves Matahachi and Osugi from the samurai of the Ono school. By the end of the novel, both men have managed to improve their conduct somewhat--Musashi through spiritual insight, and Kojiro through gaining a respectable position as the Hosokawa Clan's sword instructor that requires him to act in a dignified manner, which eventually becomes natural to him.

* {{Foil}}: Kojiro, to Musashi. Musashi is a ragged, unkempt country boy who spends most of his time as a vagrant, but is a deeply stoic and spiritual man who is devoted to improving himself in all possible ways. Kojiro is a well-dressed, silver-tongued fop who is at heart a cruel, arrogant sadist. Both men are fearless master swordsmen, but commit terrible acts (Kojiro rapes and tortures Akemi, and Musashi kills twelve year-old Yoshioka Genjiro to win the Duel at Ichi-joji) as well as heroic ones (Musashi rescues a village from bandits, while Kojiro saves Matahachi and Osugi from the samurai of the Ono school). By the end of the novel, both men have managed to improve their conduct somewhat--Musashi through spiritual insight, and Kojiro through gaining a respectable position as the Hosokawa Clan's sword instructor that requires him to act in a dignified manner, which eventually becomes natural to him.

* {{Foil}}: Kojiro, to Musashi.

* ForegoneConclusion: If you've read [[MiyamotoMusashi Musashi's]] page, either here or on Wikipedia, you know how the story ends.

Featuring awesome swordfights, epic CharacterDevelopment, melodramatic loves, thrilling escapes, and thoughtful reflections that don't sound like they came out of a Cracker Jack box, ''Musashi'' is perhaps the quintessential samurai epic. A [[{{Doorstopper}} long]] SerialNovel written by Eiji Yoshikawa and published between 1935 and 1939, this novel follows the path of legendary {{Ronin}} UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi as he slowly transforms from violent thug to MartialPacifist using the Way of the Sword. It's had several adaptions over the years, the two most notable being the ''Samurai Trilogy'' of films starring ToshiroMifune, and the manga ''Manga/{{Vagabond}}'' by Takehiko Inoue.

* DefiledForever: With Akemi, the novel goes to great lengths to show that no, non-virtuous girls (even if they aren't really responsible for their lot in the first place) don't deserve a good life. Also played with with notorious [[AManIsNotAVirgin whoremongering]] Matahachi, who ends up with said [[ReallyGetsAround defiled]] Akemi, while [[CelibateHero Musashi]] gets [[IncorruptiblePurePureness virtuous]] Otsu.

* AManIsNotAVirgin: PlayedWith. Matahachi's letting himself be seduced is essentially what ruins his life, putting him in a hole that he spends the rest of the book trying to get out of. On the other hand, Yoshino calls out Musashi for his almost neurotic adversion to women, saying that it's made him brittle and less able to withstand that form of temptation. [[spoiler: And she's right. See NearRapeExperience]]
* MartialPacifist: Musashi at the end. Several of the old masters are too

* BadAss: MUSASHI. Most of the other martial artists in this book qualify.

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Featuring awesome swordfights, epic CharacterDevelopment, melodramatic loves, thrilling escapes, and thoughtful reflections that don't sound like they came out of a Cracker Jack box, ''Musashi'' is perhaps the quintessential samurai epic. A [[{{Doorstopper}} long]] SerialNovel written by Eiji Yoshikawa and published between 1935 and 1939, this novel follows the path of legendary {{Ronin}} MiyamotoMusashi as he slowly transforms from violent thug to MartialPacifist using the Way of the Sword. It's had several adaptions over the years, the two most notable being the Samurai Trilogy of films starring ToshiroMifune, and the manga {{Vagabond}} by Takehiko Inoue.

* MookChivalry: Averted. All the honorable samurai stuff you read about the Yoshiokas on the {{Vagabond}} page? Doesn't happen here.

* AManIsNotAVirgin: PlayedWith. Matahachi's letting himself be seduced is essentially what ruins his life, putting him in a hole that he spends the rest of the book trying to get out of. On the other hand, Yoshino calls out Musashi for his almost neurotic adversion to women, saying that it's made him brittle and less able to withstand that form of temptation. [[spoiler: And she's right. See NearRapeExperience]]

* ScreamingWarrior: Definitely.
* SimpleStaff: Gonnosuke wields one.
* SingleStrokeBattle: Most people only get hit once. As far as major fights go, the only one where both sides only take one swing at each other is the fight between [[spoiler:Musashi and Seijuro.]]

* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack?: Otsu. She sees a whole lot of Musashi's back, but follows him for ''years''.

* TheWoobie: Akemi. She was forced by Oko to pilfer dead bodies as a kid, [[spoiler: raped by Seijuro, a drunken ronin, and, if she was telling the truth, Kojiro]], and abandoned by [[spoiler: Matahachi]].

* TheScrappy: Otsu and Akemi, especially for the movies.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Common complaint about the love story, especially for the movies.

* DesignatedHero: Musashi, to some. See VillainProtagonist

Featuring awesome swordfights, epic CharacterDevelopment, melodramatic loves, thrilling escapes, and thoughtful reflections that don't sound like they came out of a Cracker Jack box, ''Musashi'' is perhaps the quintessential samurai epic. A [[{{Doorstopper}} long]] SerialNovel written by Eiji Yoshikawa and published between 1935 and 1939, this novel follows the path of legendary {{Ronin}} MiyamotoMusashi as he slowly transforms from violent thug to MartialPacifist using the Way of the Sword. It's had several adaptions over the years, the two most notable being the Samurai Trilogy (starring ToshiroMifune), and {{Vagabond}} by Takehiko Inoue.

* HystericalWoman: While Seijuro and Musashi fight, [[spoiler: Kojiro]] attempts to provoke a fight with some Yoshioka swordsmen. [[spoiler: Akemi]] comes out of nowhere and starts shrieking to everyone that he raped her. The whole thing is so random that the swordsmen think Akemi is this.

* HopeSpot: Musashi reunites with Jotaro and Otsu, allowing the former to start his training and giving the latter a chance to talk him into being with her. Otsu convinces him that she wouldn't interfere with his training, and Musashi agrees to have a relationship. On top of that, Matahachi meets up with Musashi and is persuaded by him to become a scholar and turn his life around. Of course, it all goes straight to hell.

* VillainProtagonist: Due to the BlueAndOrangeMorality and the fact that his single-minded quest for mastery selfishly causes pain to third-parties, Musashi is arguably this until he hits his MartialPacifist stride about two-thirds of the way into the novel.

* HopeSpot: Things start looking up for Matahachi after Musashi convinces him to become a scholar. He's about join Musashi on a trip, but he runs into Kojiro, who plants somes seeds of doubt in him and causes him to be late. Trying to catch up with Musashi, he keeps thinking of what Kojiro said to him, and then when he finally sees Musashi, [[GreenEyedMonster he's with Otsu...]]

* TheWoobie: Akemi. She was forced by Oko to pilfer dead bodies as a kid, [[spoiler: raped by Seijuro and, if she was telling the truth, Kojiro]], and abandoned by [[spoiler: Matahachi]].

* YamatoNadeshiko: Otsu; patient, devoted, not a push over and, of course, japan.

* ImStandingRightHere: After Musashi's last fight with the Yoshiokas, Kojiro denounces him to a crowd of people. He accuses Musashi of depravity for killing Genjiro and of cowardice for running away. Sure, Musashi was able fend off and kill dozens of Yoshioka swordsman while escaping, Kojiro says to the crowd, but a ''real'' swordsman can fight several times his own number, especially when they are as weak as the Yoshioka School was. After he finishes making his speech, noted to be a slight exaggeration of what he sincerely believes, he makes to leave and is chilled to notice Musashi smiling at him. Musashi kindly thanks him for his critique and tells him that he won't forget his words. Kojiro, catching the drift, politely tells Musashi that he wouldn't want him to.

* MartialPacifist: Musashi, at the end. Several of the old masters are this.

* VillainProtagonist: Due to the BlueAndOrangeMorality and the fact that his single-minded quest for mastery selfishly causes pain to third-parties, Musashi is arguably this, at least until he hits his MartialPacifist stride about two-thirds of the way into the novel.

* YamatoNadeshiko: Otsu.

* HopeSpot: Things start looking up for Matahachi after Musashi convinces him to become a scholar. He's about join Musashi on a trip, but he runs into Kojiro, who plants somes seeds of doubt in him and causes him to be late. Trying to catch up with Musashi, he keeps thinking of what Kojiro said to him, and when he finally sees Musashi, [[GreenEyedMonster he's with Otsu...]]

* SerialNovel:
* NotAfraidToDie: One warrior temple actually has challengers sign a disclaimer before fighting them. Musashi thinks it is absurd, as a swordsman should always be prepared to die. He later reflects that it isn't really that hard a thing to do, given that we're all going to die eventually.

* SingleStrokeBattle: Most people only get hit once. As far as major fights go, the only one where both sides only take one swing at each other is the fight between [[Musashi and Seijuro.]]