History UsefulNotes / MiyamotoMusashi

* ''Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan'' aka ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}} Kenzan''. [[NoExportForYou Not that the game left Japan.]]

* Musashi is the hero of ''VideoGame/{{Ganryu}}'', a PlatformGame for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeo, and its sequel.

* ''VideoGame/BraveFencerMusashi'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/MusashiSamuraiLegend''. Both of them take his story very--''very'' loosely; the former goes for charming and light FunSize, the latter goes for attitude and good dose of Creator/TetsuyaNomura style.

* Musashi is the hero of ''VideoGame/{{Ganryu}}'', a PlatformGame for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeo and it's sequel.

* In an episode of ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', Tessa challenges Mao to an Arm Slave duel. Because she is a complete klutz and needs all the help she can get, she shows up late to the duel; Mao's irritation leads Kurz, who is spectating, to ask if she's ever heard of Musashi.

Musashi is well known for his strategic brilliance. One of his most famous strategies (which could even be considered his trademark) was his tendency to show up rather late to scheduled duels in order to upset his opponents, resulting in them not being able to fight at their best. In his final duel with Kojiro, it is speculated by some people that Musashi won the duel before he showed up. By timing his arrival so that he was not only late (infuriating Kojiro and taking the edge off his skill) but also so that upon finishing his duel he would leave as the tide was going out, he made a swift escape from Kojiro's followers and supporters who might have chased after him to avenge Kojiro's defeat.

* Musashi is the hero of ''Ganryu'', a PlatformGame for the UsefulNotes/NeoGeo.

Musashi was born Shinmen Bennosuke, the son of a low-ranking samurai named Munisai or Muninosuke, whose real surname was Hirata but had been bestowed his feudal lord's surname. Sometime later his father renamed him Harunobu. He later adopted the personal names Takezo and Musashi (both [[AlternateCharacterReading alternate renderings]] of the same [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseWritingSystem kanji]]), and the surname Miyamoto after his home village. He fought and won his first duel at the age of 13, and by the age of 16 he left his village to [[WalkingTheEarth wander Japan]] and develop his fighting skills. After being on the losing side of the Battle of Sekigahara, he eventually made his way to Kyoto, where he began a series of duels with that city's Yoshioka school.

Musashi was reportedly victorious in at least 60 duels during his lifetime, and by most accounts - including his own - was undefeated in all his duels. In one duel, Musashi is said to have been ambushed by most of the Yoshioka school's students at once, and defeated them all. Another duel prompted him to develop a DualWielding sword style, known as ''Niten Ichi-ryu'' ("Two Heavens As One" style), arguably developed from the preexisting ''Enemi-ryu'' ("Circling Bright-style"). However, his most famous duel was the one on Ganryū Island with UsefulNotes/SasakiKojiro, whom Musashi killed with a single blow with [[WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter a bokken (wooden sword)]] that he carved from an oar on the boat ride to the island where the duel took place (the day of which he overslept and arrived over an hour late).[[note]] There is considerable debate about the details of this duel. Some scholars even dispute that it ever occurred at all, and think that Musashi simply murdered Kojiro for political reasons. [[/note]]

Musashi was reportedly victorious in at least 60 duels during his lifetime, and by some accounts went undefeated. In one duel, Musashi is said to have been ambushed by most of the Yoshioka school's students at once, and defeated them all. Another duel prompted him to develop a DualWielding sword style, known as ''Niten Ichi-ryu'' ("Two Heavens As One" style), arguably developed from the preexisting ''Enemi-ryu'' ("Circling Bright-style"). However, his most famous duel was the one on Ganryū Island with UsefulNotes/SasakiKojiro, whom Musashi killed with a single blow with [[WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter a bokken (wooden sword)]] that he carved from an oar on the boat ride to the island where the duel took place (the day of which he overslept and arrived over an hour late).[[note]] There is considerable debate about the details of this duel. Some scholars even dispute that it ever occurred at all, and think that Musashi simply murdered Kojiro for political reasons. [[/note]]

* ''Samurai Reincarnation'', based on ''Makai Tenshō''.

* Musashi is one of the villains of the influential 1967 fantasy novel ''Makai Tenshō'' (''Hell Resurrection''), which features various resurrected historical figures like him and Amakusa Shirou who are magically summoned together and involved in a plot to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, with the resurrected Yagyu Jubei alone standing against them. It has a number of manga, anime and live-action adaptations and is an acknowledged influence on the Franchise/FateSeries.

* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', a GenderFlip version of Musashi is a Saber class Servant (voiced by Creator/AyaneSakura). Interestingly, she's from an alternate universe, as when she meets the Servant versions of her contemporaries, she becomes upset and comments that they are completely different from the ones she knows. She's also boy-crazy and occasionally gets annoyed whenever she meets a Servant who has been GenderFlip into a girl, commenting that in her home universe, they were a boy she could potentially date. "Occasionally" because Musashi also likes the ladies (fun fact: in Japanese the idiom "wielding two swords", as she literally does, is comparable to "swinging both ways" in English). Being a youthful adult, she represents the "drifting ronin" aspect of Musashi's life, as despite being a master duelist she's often in the red when it comes to food or money (and quickly blows whatever money she does earn on udon and alcohol). Her swordsmanship is described as an embodiment of "Zero" because it is meant to give the battle one outcome so her opponent has a zero percent chance of victory. [[spoiler:Parts of the Shimousa chapter shows that world's Musashi waiting in a cave to have his fight against Kojirou while thinking about his past, having been reduced to a terminally ill old man. After Kojirou comes to assure him that he was a great swordsman and that he already had a battle with the female Musashi, he is able to pass on in peace.]] She later has a LiteralSplitPersonality where the competitive side of her splits off to become Tenma Musashi and the rest becomes a Berserker class Servant. This Berserker is crazy in that she claims her name is Miyamoto Iori (Musashi's adopted son) and that she is American. She wears a swimsuit and later a FlagBikini / SamuraiCowboy combo, and wields firearms as well as swords.

* Musashi is one of the villains of the influential 1967 fantasy novel ''Makai Tenshō'' (''Hell Resurrection''), which features various resurrected historical figures like him and Amakusa Shirou who are magically summoned together and involved in a plot to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, with the resurrected Creator/YagyuJubei alone standing against them. It has a number of manga, anime and live-action adaptations and is an acknowledged influence on the Franchise/FateSeries.

* ''Ninja Resurrection''.

* ''Samurai Reincarnation''.

Musashi was born Shinmen Bennosuke, the son of a low-ranking samurai, Munisai or Muninosuke, whose real surname was Hirata but had been bestowed his feudal lord's surname. Upon adulthood, his father gave him the name Harunobu. He later adopted the personal names Takezo and Musashi (both [[AlternateCharacterReading alternate renderings]] of the same [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseWritingSystem kanji]]), and the surname Miyamoto after his home village. He fought and won his first duel at the age of 13, and by the age of 16 he left his village to [[WalkingTheEarth wander Japan]] and develop his fighting skills. After being on the losing side of the Battle of Sekigahara, he eventually made his way to Kyoto, where he began a series of duels with that city's Yoshioka school.

Musashi was born Shinmen Bennosuke, the son of a low-ranking samurai. He later adopted the personal names Takezo and Musashi (both [[AlternateCharacterReading alternate renderings]] of the same [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseWritingSystem kanji]]), and the surname Miyamoto after his home village. He fought and won his first duel at the age of 13, and by the age of 16 he left his village to [[WalkingTheEarth wander Japan]] and develop his fighting skills. After being on the losing side of the Battle of Sekigahara, he eventually made his way to Kyoto, where he began a series of duels with that city's Yoshioka school.

* ''VideoGame/{{Onimusha}} Blade Warriors''

* ''VideoGame/ArenaOfValor'': In its original form, ''Honor of Kings'', where the roster is largely based on Chinese figures from history and myth, Musashi is added as one of the few heroes representing Japan, where he's once again a dual-wielding swordsman. When the game collaborated with ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown'', Musashi had the honor to receive the skin of the main character largely inspired by him, Haohmaru. In the international form, however, Musashi does not have someone who inherits his whole kit, the only thing that was originally his was the ultimate skill of Allain.

* In ''Comicbook/JasonAaronsAvengers'', Mushashi appears in a montage of Marvel's most long running {{Legacy Character}}s, as the [[Comicbook/GhostRider Samurai of Vengeance]].

* In ''Comicbook/JasonAaronsAvengers'', Mushashi appears in a montage of Marvel's most long running {{Legacy Character}}s, as the [[Comicbook/GhostRider Samauri of Vengeance]].

* In ''Comicbook/JasonAaronsAvengers'', Mushashi appears in a montage of Marvel's most long running LegacyCharacters, as the [[Comicbook/GhostRider Samauri of Vengeance]].

* ''VideoGame/ArenaOfValor'': In its original form, ''Honor of Kings'', where the roster is largely based on Chinese figures from history and myth, Musashi is added as one of the few heroes representing Japan, where he's once again a dual-wielding swordsman. When the game collaborated with ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown'', Musashi had the honor to receive the skin of the main character largely inspired by him, Haohmaru. In the international form, however, Musashi is not there. His kit is inherited by the kunoichi Airi.

Interestingly, some accounts describe him as a rather unkempt man (these claimed he didn't bathe often due to not wanting to be vulnerable) whose looks didn't age well, and the classic depiction of him with nearly [[HairColors blue hair]] might be a reference to hair dye. However, considering how hard it would be to maintain a position as a samurai[[note]]Historical accounts seem to show he was never a samurai, though he served many masters trying to be one.[[/note]] and never look presentable means that this is probably a myth.

* ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'' gives us a [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=40 slightly different take]] on his battle with Kojiro. Fairly accurate, actually, apart from omitting the whole "sharpening the boat oar into a bokken" thing. Essentially, he beat Kojiro in the head with a heavy piece of wood with a wedged end -- kind of like the equivalent of whacking him with a baseball bat.

* ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' -- In the original Japanese version, [[CulturalTranslation Jessie and James]] are named Musashi and Kojiro, with Musashi being Jessie.

* ''Anime/SailorMoon'', Episode 139: the villain fakes being a great sword fighter, of the “Miyamoto ''Tarezo''” style. When he’s informed that the name is really Miyamoto Musashi, he complains that there should have been furigana, giving the correct reading of the kanji name.

* A young Musashi is featured in the eight issue of ''Lilith'', trying to help the time-traveling protagonist... And [[NiceJobBreakingItHero continuously screwing up due having little idea of what's actually happening]]. He's still an absolute beast on the battlefield, as he proves when [[spoiler:he kills Kobayakawa Hideaki after slashing his way through three bodyguards [[HandicappedBadass after having already lost a thumb]] and finding himself unable to properly wield his sword]]-and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero not knowing Lilith needed to kill him personally]]. In the altered timeline, [[spoiler:he becomes a Buddhist monk, building a sanctuary around Lilith's sleeping form and guarding her until his death]].