Musashi

By: Eiji Yoshikawa, Charles S. Terry - translator

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

Length: 53 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

The classic samurai novel about the real exploits of the most famous swordsman.

Miyamoto Musashi was the child of an era when Japan was emerging from decades of civil strife. Lured to the great Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 by the hope of becoming a samurai - without really knowing what it meant - he regains consciousness after the battle to find himself lying defeated, dazed, and wounded among thousands of the dead and dying. On his way home, he commits a rash act, becomes a fugitive, and brings life in his own village to a standstill - until he is captured by a weaponless Zen monk.

The lovely Otsu, seeing in Musashi her ideal of manliness, frees him from his tortuous punishment, but he is recaptured and imprisoned. During three years of solitary confinement, he delves into the classics of Japan and China. When he is set free again, he rejects the position of samurai and for the next several years pursues his goal relentlessly, looking neither to the left nor to the right.

Ever so slowly it dawns on him that following the way of the sword is not simply a matter of finding a target for his brute strength. Continually striving to perfect his technique, which leads him to a unique style of fighting with two swords simultaneously, he travels far and wide, challenging fighters of many disciplines, taking nature to be his ultimate and severest teacher and undergoing the rigorous training of those who follow the way. He is supremely successful in his encounters, but in The Art of War, he perceives the way of peaceful and prosperous governance and disciplines himself to be a real human being.

He becomes a reluctant hero to a host of people whose lives he has touched and by whom he has been touched. Inevitably, he has to pit his skill against the naked blade of his greatest rival.

Musashi is a novel in the best tradition of Japanese storytelling. It is a living story, subtle and imaginative, teeming with memorable characters, many of them historical. Interweaving themes of unrequited love, misguided revenge, filial piety, and absolute dedication to the way of the samurai, it depicts vividly a world Westerners know only vaguely. Full of gusto and humor, it has an epic quality and universal appeal.

©1971 Fumiko Yoshikawa (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Good Historical Novel

Musashi is a good historical novel. It recounts in great detail the life of Miyamoto Musashi the famous samurai. The story often feels as if it were cowritten by Charles Dickens and Akira Kurosawa. That’s a good thing. There’s a huge cast of interesting characters that cross paths in surprising was over many years. The path of Musashi from a young, irresponsible hothead into the great swordsman of legend is a wonderful journey to follow.

Yet in my opinion it’s about 10 hours too long. At a certain point it seemed that storylines were being recycled and tedious, irrelevant events were being given too much time. As the story ended villainous characters suddenly had magical, positive changes of heart that seemed to have more to do with a diminishing page count than an actual moral enlightenment. And much of the cast of characters don’t have a satisfying resolution to their arcs. You just don’t really know what happened to them. After fifty some hours of prose I expect to know what their fates are in some way.

I also didn’t go for the preface that pretty much denigrates a better book, Shogun, in an effort to cast this book in a positive light. You shouldn’t knock down a peer to make yourself look better.

This book is good, but it’s got problems. I would actually recommend watching the Samurai Trilogy that stars the great Toshiro Mifune that was adapted from this novel instead of reading or listening to the book as it’s a better constructed piece as a whole.

Amazing book!!!

I was so engaged throughout and the narrator did an incredible job capturing the vibe of each scene. As far as the author, words could not do this book any justice. One of the best books I’ve ever read! I’m a martial artist (*jiu Jitsu) so this book spoke to my soul! Great book!

EXCELLENT! Bravo! Encore!

I was a bit intimidated by the enormity of 53 hours and 24 minutes of read time and never having had a pleasure of encountering another work by the translator, I had my doubts. I have read enough written works translated from one language to another to know that sometimes things get lost in the translation. In any case, it must have been a daunting task for the translator, but lucky for me, he delivered the story in English flawlessly and with fluidly. Eiji Yoshikawa wrote this fantastic and fascinating book and the translator, Charles S. Terry, gave it a life in English.

When the story began, I was immediately transported to my youth watching the movie version of the book. As a child, though I did not speak nor understand Japanese, I absolutely loved the movie. I did learn a bit of Japanese words here and there, but that was many years ago and unfortunately those words remained in the distant memories. The book sprung back to life as soon as I started it, and I was totally devoured by it. This is one of the best books I have purchased.

I gather that the narrator, Brian Nishii must be a master of both English and Japanese. His annunciation of both Japanese and English words seamlessly combined and his vivid rendition of each character brings the book to life. He is a very gifted voice actor indeed. It is simply impressive that he did this fully in control, delivering each word evenly and succinctly from beginning to the end, all 53 plus hours through the book. As if this is not enough, he also chants, albeit for a short time!

This is an excellent example of a book done very well; the author, the translator and the presenter. Thank you!

Good story

It was difficult for me to know who was who because of the Japanese names. But week well spent.

Amazing

you really get hooked with the characters in the story. You get so involved you don't notice how much time has passed by.

Heeeyaaaah

Exquisite portal into the life of a ronin and the everyday commoner of feudal Japan.

Pales in Comparison

Musashi as a story is not something to take light of. The historical figure of Musashi is one of the upmost importance in Japanese history.

That being said, the book opens with an introduction of the story and the author. After the introduction, the book directly attacks the story of Shōgun and details how it is not a true japanese tale but one of european qualities, which is true. BUT! after attacking Shōgun, i expected the book to be at least on par with the critically acclaimed book.

I will not get into details as to not spoil but here is the reasons i have given the book a low review.

Characters will have devout ambitions or goals that they are willing to die for and suddenly when faced with the ability to reach their goal they give up. Or even worse do the exact opposite of their goal. This happens many times with different characters throughout the book. Musashi is the only character with resolve.

Characters in the book blindly believe fallacies without a second thought, and i am not talking about country bumpkins but highly intellectual and very travled characters that should have much more sense.

Lastly, the kicker is that characters will outright just change their entire life on a whim without a second thought or notice. Example (near the end of the book) one of the charaters devouts to make a name for themselves like Musashi about 50 chapters before. Then near the end of the book, they drop everything they worked for and do something else in about 4 sentences. I mean i listened to this character talk about changing their life for 40 hours and in 30 seconds they just give up for no reason.

To conclude. Read Shōgun.

I love this book!

Great storytelling and the voice acting really brings the characters to life. It gives a good perspective on life off the time and how people lived. I highly recommend this book.

Awesome!!! Awesome!

I love every money of this book it was great start to finish . Highly highly recommend it

a journey through Japanese culture and mindset

if you've watched Samurai Shamploo, this book takes the characters on a similar journey around Japan. The narrator always describes some history, surroundings and customs of villages and regions at the time. as for Musashi, this is not an action packaked novel, and that might confuse some. It's more of a self growth journey following the way of the samurai. just like learning stuff from coaching books in a zen-like style with swords beside you. If personal growth and japanese culture is your thing, this book is magic.

My criticism might be around the dialogues. I think the translation from Japanese to English makes it sound weird. I also felt most of the characters had the same personality, all talked in the same manner. Just trying to say the book could have used more character creation.

but a classic hero story that follows all elements perfectly