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jasonben10 's review for:
Musashi
by Eiji Yoshikawa
Really solid the whole way through. It was like reading Stephen Fry's retelling of myths; a retelling of a story that has clear impact on the culture of a country and therefore a little of the world. All people were real and most events really happened.
Got many pieces of Japanese wisdom, probably the best part of the book aside from reading something culturally significant. Much meditation on the Way of the Sword and what it meant to be a samurai - much more that proficiency of the sword but an enriched soul (This was the difference between Musashi and Kojiro). Another overall theme was the difference between Musashi and Matahachi, the former spending years, a decade by the end, constantly growing and pushing himself along his path even if the progress was extremely slow. Matahachi took Kojiro's name and was always looking for shortcuts to becoming a "real human".
Some of my favorite excerpts:
"[Musashi] knew well that to live was more than merely to survive. The problem was how to imbue his life with meaning, how to ensure that his life would cast a bright ray of light into the future, even if it became necessary to give up that life for a cause. If he succeeded in doing this, the length of his life - twenty years or seventy - made little difference. A lifetime was only an insignificant interval in the endless flow of time." p.509
"...by painting a picture of carving an image of the Buddha, [priests] draw closer to him. A swordsman can purify his spirit in the same way. We human beings all look up at the same moon, but there are many roads we may travel to reach the top of the peak nearest it. Sometimes, when we lose our way, we decided to try someone else's, but the ultimate aim is to find fulfillment in life." p. 533
"'It'll be a test of strength between a man who's a genius, but really somewhat conceited, and an ordinary man who's polished his talents to the utmost, won't it?' [Koetsu]
'I wouldn't call Musashi ordinary' [Gonnosuke]
'But he is. That's what's extraordinary about him. He's not content with relying on whatever natural gifts he may have. Knowing he;s ordinary, he's always trying to improve himself. No one appreciates the agonizing effort he's had to make. Now that his years of training have yielded such spectacular results, everybody's talking about his 'god-given talent'. That's how men who don't try very hard comfort themselves'[Koetsu]." p. 926
"The little fishes, abandoning themselves to the waves, dance and sing and play, but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows its depth?" p. 970
To be anything or anyone takes effort. Relying on shortcuts and natural ability means nothing. Musashi began his effort towards becoming a real human by reading all day for three years and then traveled and challenged himself for a decade. Including woodcutting, farming, calligraphy, being a sensei, painting and of course fighting. His meaning came from the fight to be something, follow a path of betterment and not give it up. Living exactly how he wanted to with no compromise.
Got many pieces of Japanese wisdom, probably the best part of the book aside from reading something culturally significant. Much meditation on the Way of the Sword and what it meant to be a samurai - much more that proficiency of the sword but an enriched soul (This was the difference between Musashi and Kojiro). Another overall theme was the difference between Musashi and Matahachi, the former spending years, a decade by the end, constantly growing and pushing himself along his path even if the progress was extremely slow. Matahachi took Kojiro's name and was always looking for shortcuts to becoming a "real human".
Some of my favorite excerpts:
"[Musashi] knew well that to live was more than merely to survive. The problem was how to imbue his life with meaning, how to ensure that his life would cast a bright ray of light into the future, even if it became necessary to give up that life for a cause. If he succeeded in doing this, the length of his life - twenty years or seventy - made little difference. A lifetime was only an insignificant interval in the endless flow of time." p.509
"...by painting a picture of carving an image of the Buddha, [priests] draw closer to him. A swordsman can purify his spirit in the same way. We human beings all look up at the same moon, but there are many roads we may travel to reach the top of the peak nearest it. Sometimes, when we lose our way, we decided to try someone else's, but the ultimate aim is to find fulfillment in life." p. 533
"'It'll be a test of strength between a man who's a genius, but really somewhat conceited, and an ordinary man who's polished his talents to the utmost, won't it?' [Koetsu]
'I wouldn't call Musashi ordinary' [Gonnosuke]
'But he is. That's what's extraordinary about him. He's not content with relying on whatever natural gifts he may have. Knowing he;s ordinary, he's always trying to improve himself. No one appreciates the agonizing effort he's had to make. Now that his years of training have yielded such spectacular results, everybody's talking about his 'god-given talent'. That's how men who don't try very hard comfort themselves'[Koetsu]." p. 926
"The little fishes, abandoning themselves to the waves, dance and sing and play, but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows its depth?" p. 970
To be anything or anyone takes effort. Relying on shortcuts and natural ability means nothing. Musashi began his effort towards becoming a real human by reading all day for three years and then traveled and challenged himself for a decade. Including woodcutting, farming, calligraphy, being a sensei, painting and of course fighting. His meaning came from the fight to be something, follow a path of betterment and not give it up. Living exactly how he wanted to with no compromise.