pan at the time.

Musashi started his warrior career early in life with a dual against a samurai named Arima Kihei. The samurai had posted an open challenge for any takers and Musashi signed up to fight the warrior.

Musashi’s uncle, hearing that his 13 year old nephew had volunteered to fight to the death ran to prevent the fight. Musashi did not want

I guess every kid, regardless of where they are from, at one time or another bangs a couple of sticks together and pretends he’s a swordsman.

Back in my ‘hood, I was always Zorro, my buddy Scott was always Robin Hood, and my buddy Larry was always Lancelot. Then Max showed up.

A Japanese boy by way of California, Max came out to play wielding 2 pieces cut from a broomstick. We were amazed. After all, who the heck uses 2 swords? Zorro needs his free hand for his whip, Lancelot his shield, and Robin Hood his bow…this 2 sword thing was blasphemous!

Even worse, Max began to call himself Musashi and insisted on wearing his bathrobe as we trekked through the woods.

Now as a kid you just don’t ask too many questions or for explanations (from other kids at least). We liked Max, so we just accepted his “weirdness”, and went on with our adventures as usual.

Fast forward 15 years to when I made the changeover from Korean Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido, to Japanese Karate, Judo, and Jujutsu. And wouldn’t you know it? That very first day, Sensei began class with a quote from “The Book of Five Rings” -- The premier text of Japanese philosophy on close-combat – written by…Miyamoto Musashi! (I almost shit my pants as I quickly pieced everything together)

Musashi was born in 1584 in the village of Miyamoto in Southern Japan. His father Hirata Munisai was a renowned samurai and considered by many to be the best swordsmen in Japan at the time.

Musashi started his warrior career early in life with a dual against a samurai named Arima Kihei. The samurai had posted an open challenge for any takers and Musashi signed up to fight the warrior.

Musashi’s uncle, hearing that his 13 year old nephew had volunteered to fight to the death ran to prevent the fight. Musashi did not want t

cut from a broomstick. We were amazed. After all, who the heck uses 2 swords? Zorro needs his free hand for his whip, Lancelot his shield, and Robin Hood his bow…this 2 sword thing was blasphemous!

Even worse, Max began to call himself Musashi and insisted on wearing his bathrobe as we trekked through the woods.

Now as a kid you just don’t ask too many questions or for explanations (from other kids at least). We liked Max, so we just accepted his “weirdness”, and went on with our adventures as usual.

Fast forward 15 years to when I made the changeover from Korean Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido, to Japanese Karate, Judo, and Jujutsu. And wouldn’t you know it? That very first day, Sensei began class with a quote from “The Book of Five Rings” -- The premier text of Japanese philosophy on close-combat – written by…Miyamoto Musashi! (I almost shit my pants as I quickly pieced everything together)

Musashi was born in 1584 in the village of Miyamoto in Southern Japan. His father Hirata Munisai was a renowned samurai and considered by many to be the best swordsmen in Japan at the time.

Musashi started his warrior career early in life with a dual against a samurai named Arima Kihei. The samurai had posted an open challenge for any takers and Musashi signed up to fight the warrior.

Musashi’s uncle, hearing that his 13 year old nephew had volunteered to fight to the death ran to prevent the fight. Musashi did not want

ny questions or for explanations (from other kids at least). We liked Max, so we just accepted his “weirdness”, and went on with our adventures as usual.

Fast forward 15 years to when I made the changeover from Korean Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido, to Japanese Karate, Judo, and Jujutsu. And wouldn’t you know it? That very first day, Sensei began class with a quote from “The Book of Five Rings” -- The premier text of Japanese philosophy on close-combat – written by…Miyamoto Musashi! (I almost shit my pants as I quickly pieced everything together)

Musashi was born in 1584 in the village of Miyamoto in Southern Japan. His father Hirata Munisai was a renowned samurai and considered by many to be the best swordsmen in Japan at the time.

Musashi started his warrior career early in life with a dual against a samurai named Arima Kihei. The samurai had posted an open challenge for any takers and Musashi signed up to fight the warrior.

Musashi’s uncle, hearing that his 13 year old nephew had volunteered to fight to the death ran to prevent the fight. Musashi did not want

from “The Book of Five Rings” -- The premier text of Japanese philosophy on close-combat – written by…Miyamoto Musashi! (I almost shit my pants as I quickly pieced everything together)

Musashi was born in 1584 in the village of Miyamoto in Southern Japan. His father Hirata Munisai was a renowned samurai and considered by many to be the best swordsmen in Japan at the time.

Musashi started his warrior career early in life with a dual against a samurai named Arima Kihei. The samurai had posted an open challenge for any takers and Musashi signed up to fight the warrior.

Musashi’s uncle, hearing that his 13 year old nephew had volunteered to fight to the death ran to prevent the fight. Musashi did not want

pan at the time.

Musashi started his warrior career early in life with a dual against a samurai named Arima Kihei. The samurai had posted an open challenge for any takers and Musashi signed up to fight the warrior.

Musashi’s uncle, hearing that his 13 year old nephew had volunteered to fight to the death ran to prevent the fight. Musashi did not want to back down and entered the ring to fight Kihei armed only with a bokken -- a wooden training sword. When the bigger, older, and more experienced samurai charged, Musashi dodged, grabbed, and brutally threw the man to the ground and beat him to death with his stick.

He would go on to win over 60 duals defeating or killing all that came before him in combat regardless of weapon. His challengers would use staffs, swords, and a variety of other weapons while he would use his katana or bokken. While many samurai used only their katanas, Musashi pioneered two-sword combat by using his wakizashi and katana together.

Eventually he would be honored with the rank of Kensei or “Sword Saint” because so many believed his swordsmanship to be perfect. When he later penned his philosophy of combat in “The Book of the Five Rings”, he would attain literary immortality as countless martial artists, scholars, and executives would hang on his every word for generations to come.

Musashi left an impressive legacy and should be a model for all warriors today and in the future. Killing without reason was pointless to the old samurai and he cautioned against reckless behavior. If a warrior had mastered close combat skills, he would be better able to achieve victory on a larger scale. Strategy was nothing without tactics and the right weapons, so a warrior needed to train regularly and choose his weapons wisely... Victory was life and he never w