Musashi Miyamoto- Meaning of Strength Explained with Growth 03-09-2024, 03:57 PM
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Musashi Miyamoto from Vagabond is my favourite protagonist, and character in general. His development was truly one of the most fascinating and eye opening literature I had read thus far. Musashi’s character journey is one of the greatest in anime and manga, and the only characters who come close to him (from what i have read yet) are Eren, Thorfinn and Johan. Even then however, he is still my favourite and the best character I have read. This answer is an essay to Musashi Miyamoto- a Vagabond who found the meaning of strength, with growth.
When we first see Musashi in Vagabond, he is known as “Shimen Takezo”. When we were first introduced to him, we knew that he was “strong”. He could kill samurais with ease. Takezo, along with Matahachi wanted to make a name for themselves. He pursuits to be strong, stronger than anyone else. To be invincible under the sun, he decided to be stronger than anyone else. He was like… a beast. A demon child. From his teenage years, he was said to be a “demon child”. He took away lives of countless people, just so he could be known as the one unirvalled under the heaven. For Takezo, the sword was his life itself. He had nothing else in his life to aspire for, it was his whole life.
When Takezo is on the run from the village elders, we see a monk who is going to be the most influential person in Takezo’s development- Takuan. Takuan says something to Takezo which pretty much sums up his character at that point. “You have the heart of a cat”. No matter how strong Takezo is physically, he is not a “strong” person. Takezo doesn’t understand what Takuan is saying, and he won’t understand it in a long time.
Takezo is captured and is hanged from a tree. At that time, he asks Takuan to kill himself. Kill or be killed is the philosophy of Takezo, there is no in between. There is no “path of the middle”. There is no reason to keep on living if he doesn’t have the sword. He has a worthless life. Which is exactly right. However, Takuan gives him a chance. He takes him to a mountain and explains that his life indeed does have value. Kill or be killed, this mindset, is not worth it. However- he doesn’t understand the true essence of it until much later. As of right now however, he is renamed as “Musashi Miyamoto”.
Musashi, somewhat went out of his way of “kill or be killed”. He will continue pursuing the sword and become invincible under the sun, however he won’t throw his life away in a worthless manner. Musashi was previously under the idea that this way will grant him true strength, but he understood that it won’t.
Then enter the second time where Musashi is developed as a character. In the Hozoin temple.
At the start of the Hozoin temple arc, we see him thinking that the old man, who is known as Inei, to “kill” him. However that wasn’t the intention of him at all. When Inei looks at Musashi, he tells him that “You do not look graceful”. Confusing now, will be explained later down in the manga on what Inei meant by “You do not look graceful”.
Musashi fights with Inushin, the successor of the Hozuin. Inushin… is strong. He is one of the, if not the strongest man Musashi had fought with yet. Inushin was someone who never had experienced what it is like to face fear in battle. The fear of life. And if someone doesn’t possess that fear, they are indeed weak. When Musashi faced that fear of life within him, he ran. He ran for his life. He didn’t conciously run for his life however, because he did not mind dying with the pride and honour of a warrior. However, his unconcisous mind, the mind connected with the heavens, the mind which is invincible under the son- decided to run. Why? Musashi will learn about it, years later.
When Musashi came back to Inei, he felt insignificant. Musashi questioned himself, was his strength just an illusion? What does it mean to be strong? Musashi had always aspired to be stronger, to be invincible under the sun, but what does it mean to be strong? He hadn’t known that yet. To not feel insignificant, to become stronger, Inei made Musashi train in the wilderness. Connected with the earth, Musashi had learnt. He had learnt to see. He had learnt to notice. He had tried to overcome his beast-like spirit. He, connected with the earth, grew. He became stronger.
In his fight with Inushin, we can see what his growth meant. He stared right at Inushin, whom he previoulsy feared. He tried to conquere that fear- and become stronger. Ignoring his fears wouldn’t amount to anything, so he needs to overcome them to become stronger. Becoming one with the sword, Musashi learns to see. He learns to accept death. The way he won was by becoming one with the sword, not by his spirit of a beast, which had the heart of a cat. He had started to not focus on the leaf, but rather focus on the tree. I like how, Musashi didn’t have full development in these chapters. He still has that beast mentality to him, as proven by him beating down Inushin, but he is still trying to grow and become stronger.
His victory against Inushin had made him become stronger. But that wasn’t consistent enough for him. Musashi had gotten closer and closer to being invincible under the sun, but he couldn’t completely grasp it. The more he gets closer, the further it strays away from it. I love this part of his character in the Hozoin arc. Musashi’s beast like spirit somewhat improves from this point on.
Next up, we have the Yagyuu arc. Where Musashi develops further. Musashi had came to meet Yagyuu, the one touted as “Invincible under the sun”. To learn what invincible under the sun means, he came to Yagyuu. When we are first intrdouced to Yagyuu, it’s the opposite of what someone would think as a strong man. He is old, not muscular, and he just seems like someone not… strong. Musashi is particularly confident in his skills. He dared to take down the swordsmen of Yagyuu, and even held his own against them. He could even overwhelm Yagyuu’s strongest swordsman with his skills. Musashi quickly ran away from the swordsmen and went to Yagyuu. He was sleeping.
Musashi went to Yagyuu to kill him. If he killed him, he’d be invincible under the sun. However he also wanted to know about something. What does it truly mean to be invincible under the sun?
Invincible is merely just a word.
Musashi had picked the sword in order to surpass his father. He was touted as unrivalled under the heaven. Musashi’s father shunned his own child, feared his own child because he was afraid that his title of being the strongest in the heavens is going to be challenged. His father holds that title dearly, but that’s what causes him, and everyone turn against him. The con of being invincible under the sun, is that it turns everyone against you. And if you look deeper into it, is there even a pro in being invinicible under the sun? After all, invincible is just a word. Musashi’s father was hailed as invinicble under the sun, but Yagyuu even in his old years was stronger than him. Musashi’s father slept with a sword out of paranoia, whereas Yagyuu defeated Musashi with just a backstracther. Musashi has realized that the man has something that he doesn’t. And… what is that?
Yagyuu, is infinite. Musashi isn’t.
The world is infinite. It encompasses everything. Musashi had yet again, felt insignificance. He felt insignificant to Yagyuu, because he was infinite. Musashi was not infinite. Musashi had realized that something was off about him. So Musashi went about for another way to become unrivalled under the heavens. Musashi would become unrivalled under the heavens not by becoming stronger and stronger, but by mastering the way of the sword. By becoming infinite. So that he doesn’t end up like his father. This is where his way of percieving strength, even if so slightly, changes.
And then enter the Baiken arc.
The Baiken arc is important for the growth of Musashi’s character. This is where Musashi decides his goal, his purpose. The meaning of strength, for upto the Yoshioka arc. Vagabond does this in a beautfiul manner.
The Baiken arc is when Musashi meets with his old enemy. The God of Death. Kohei, who is now known as the master of the chain and sickles, Shishido Baiken. They fight for the first time. Musashi and Baiken both have grown since their first encounter at the tree in the Miyamoto village. Musashi has grown from the beast he previously was. He grew to value his life, his perception on strength changed. Baiken has changed too, from the God of death who knew nothing but death- he had grown to develop connections with a girl. He looked at something past death. As the old enemies fight, the question becomes- will they give in to their past or they move on?
Their lives are just among many. Countless lives are born, and countless lives fade away. The spiral of death and killing, and if you enter this spiral, you will only descend deeper. Kohei is the God of Death, he grew up in war and turmoil. He had descended deep into the spiral. But he stopped for a moment, because he lived a happy life with the girl. He doesn’t need to descend into the spiral no more. But tempted by Musashi, he gives in. He goes back to his old self, the God of Death. He descended even deeper into the spiral, so much so that he was willing to kill that girl if it means that he’d be able to kill Musashi. Seeing Kohei’s resurrection, Musashi had to decide between resurrecting the beast inside him, vs staying this way. Musashi looks forward to growth and improvement. He does not give in to his old self, but keeps moving forward to attain strength. He isn’t haunted by his father no more, he has accepted that his lives are just among many and you don’t necessarily need to be strong, you don’t need to descend into the spiral. But Musashi chose to descend into the spiral, the more deeper you go to the spiral, the stronger you become for Musashi.
At this point, Musashi also questions one thing. Would he be able to plead to his opponent if he wants to protect his dear ones? That question, will be answered long after this, in the farming arc.
Next up, the 2nd Yoshioka arc.
This arc is also extremely important for Musashi’s development. Here Musashi is going to experience an event that’s going to change his life forever.
In the beginning of the arc, we see Musashi in the new year. He has returned to Kyoto to fight the Yoshioka brothers as he had promised previously. However, instead of the previous time when he appeared in the Yoshioka temple, Musashi had grown stronger. He had grown out of his beastly spirit, he had grown stronger. But he still retained the spirit to fight and grow. That hunger of his didn’t fade away. He still wished to be stronger and grow more. After fighting with one of the Yoshioka brothers, he sufferes injury. To heal his injury he meets a swordsmith, but there he also meets someone else. That one is, Sasaki Kojiro.
Sasaki Kojiro is a swordsman who has perfected the way of the sword. He is one with the sword, and he is the peak of what a swordsman should be. He loves the sword, or moreso he loves the way of the sword. He could see the way of the sword even within a mere twig. The way of the sword is the only thing Kojiro lives for. He is one with the heavens with the sword. Musashi understood that Kojiro has something which Musashi no longer has. And that’s his connections with the heavens. Musashi had spent his life since chapter 1, to become stronger and invincible under the sun. While he had grown, he had lost something that he had as a kid. His connections with the heavens were lost. When Musashi looked at Kojiro, he looked at someone who he aspires to be. One with the sword, not like a beast, and strong.
Musashi would continue on his path, in search for strength. His meaning of strength has changed along the way, but his hunger for growth hasn’t. Instead of seeking concepts like being invincible, Musashi now seeks to perfect the way of the sword. And he can do that by reaching the end of the spiral of death and killing, if only he can do that he’d be invincible under the heavens.
With his awaited fight with Denshichiro, he ponders about something. Was it he that really won? Denshchiro had a happier look in his life, a look of satisfaction. But was he any happier? Was he the one who won? His self centeredness around him says that yes, of course he won. But was it really the truth? This will be answered in the later arcs, after a 70 men bloodbath.
With the death of Denshichiro, he needs to fight all of the Yoshioka school. All of the 70 men of the Yoshioka school- against him. Him alone. Just before this however, he says that he doesn’t want to fight and that it’s crazy. That shows his growth he had had until this moment, he is much more mature and kinder. But when he is forced to battle against 70 men, he fights them.
Instead of directly charging at them, Musashi tries to strategize. Not taking his old self take over him, he tries to perfect the way of the sword like Kojiro to slay 70 men. But no matter what he does, something is wrong with it. Musashi gave birth to corpses after corpes with seemingly no end. The spiral of death and killing showed its ultimate face in this 70 men bloodbath. Inoue shows us a few characters’ personality in this fight. We know that everyone’s personality is different. But to Musashi they all seemed the same. “Didn’t I just slay this man before?”, Musashi thought. He is slaying many men but they just do not end, just like… his life.
Musashi realized something, that his whole life had been of useless death and killing. He met someone, he fought him and killed him. That cycle repeated and repeated. He did all of it to gain strength. But Musashi reflected on his whole life, what Musashi is doing right now, he has done it before too. If what he is doing now is the same as what he did previously in his life, does the sprial of death and killing really mean strength? Because after all, the only time he grew stronger was when he learnt and matured as a person. Killing different men didn’t make him stronger at all. Musashi had descended deep into the spiral, but it didn’t make him any stronger than he was before.
Musashi had had enough. He was about to die, in this battle. He had lived his own life. He had done enough. He descended really deep in the spiral of death and killing, and he singlehandedly almost laid waste to the Yoshioka clan. But… has he really? He still has a strong will to live. His will to live made him even stronger and more frightening than previously. And then, he finally reaches the sense of invincibility. The soft air that surrounds him, as long as that air is around him he will never be slain. That was the feeling of being unrivalled under the heavens… just like a heat haze.
He attained invincibility under the sun, but at what cost? He was crippled. He got away with a deep wound in the legs, after the 70 men slaughter. Musashi reached the end of the spiral of death and killing. Every time he tries to pursue it more, the Yoshioka massaccre will occur. There is no longer a need to pursue reaching the end of the spiral, because he had already done that. But… it didn’t make him any happier. At all.
And with that, we enter the Post Yoshioka arc of Vagabond- which consists of two arc which I like to call the Prison arc and the Wandering arc.
Prayers. A sign of gratitude and hope. Musashi was crippled in the battle of the 70 Yoshioka men, and that was the result of his hunger for becoming stronger. This path he had taken left him crippled and ultimately, that very path was the reason he won’t be able to continue in this journey. When Takuan asks Musashi on what he prays for, he says the path he has travelled thus far. The way of the sword. But… is this path really worth it? Musashi has been heavily injured by him reaching the end of the spiral, and all it did was just hurt him even more.
Everyone knows that it isn’t right to take a human life. There is something wrong with that. “What is a human life?”, Musashi answers this question. Swordsmen are people who are willing and gladly choose the way of the sword, and they do not care if they are cut down. But we do know, from the Yoshioka battle, tht it is not correct. Everyone seeks purpose in life. They want to live content lives.We see that a random swordsmen from the Yoshioka battle lamenting the fact that he isn’t able to support his family, and pleads to his brother that he does. So at the end, is it really worth it to pick the way of the sword?
“It was me who won, right?”. Musashi ponders upon this question as his mind is finally free from the sword. The very core of Musashi knows the correct answer to this question, and as he is finally free from the sword he realizes that answer. There is, no winner in this battle. At the end, even after killing Kohei, Denshichiro and the 70 Yoshioka pupils- he wasn’t any happier. He doesn’t have any purpose in his life except the sword and when it’s take away from him, he doesn’t have anything. He doesn’t have a place, to return home to.
Build a home you could return to.
Takuan tells Musashi that. Musashi responds to this question with, How do you return to a place you have yet to create. Musashi’s only path was of the sword and when it’s stripped away from him, he has nothing to return to. Why people are born, is there salvation for us- people ask these questions. Everyone in this world seek purpose and a way. When that purpose is stripped away from them, they have nothing else to do. Commiting wrongs, Pain, Self Centeredness, all of it surrounds many. Was there even a meaning in being born, if the only thing human do is negative?
Mine and your lives, upto now and in the future… according to the heavens our lives have been both perfectly decided. And on top of that, are completely Free.
The path that man takes have been perfectly decided by the heavens, and yet is completely free. Takuan has the path of the Buddha, his journey is to find the answer to “man”. Takuan looked at hundreds of men, ugly and beautiful. If he gave up, his journey ended. He said I can’t lead these men. But it came back to haunt him, and he needed to continue. And then he was forced to learn that, living while ignoring one’s connections to the heavens only result in pain. Men are creatures created by the heavens, so they must be beautiful. If there was a reason to being born, take it all in. Let the heavens guide you, only if you could do that you’d be completely free.
Musashi, right now is suffering a pain that’s not comprehendable by anyone else. He supposedly has lost connections with the heavens because he has lost his sword. That was the only thing that kept him connected to the heavens. However, even then he is connected to the heavens. However, as long as he wishes for that connection he must pray. Pray to the heavens, about anything he wants. It can be anything, even the way of the swords. But unless he prays and wishes for that connections with the heavens, he will only suffer in more pain. And as Musashi continues, Musashi says something.
There are times when Musashi prays, prays to the sword. When he is using the sword, at times, when he really loves the sword, his sword swings beccome stronger. And he wants to pray. The centre of his body glows, and he is firmly connected to the heavens when he is swinging the sword. Musashi hadn’t realized it yet, but he had already perfected the way of the sword long before he met Kojiro. He was already one with the sword, he just did not realize that. The sword is free, and infinite- but only if you firmly connect yourself with the heavens with it.
Being invincible under the sun is just a heathaze. Being surrounded by the soft air, an air of confidence. That is the feeling of being invincible. But when his enemies are surrounded in that air, he becomes invincible by human standards. Enemies surrounding him that he doesn’t know about, but he still needs to kill him in order to maintain that invincibility. And that’s what Musashi meant by “it’s just a heathaze.”
And then the second arc of Post Yoshioka, the Wandering arc. I love the name of the arc because it’s an amazing symbolism to Musashi. Musashi wanders around in order to learn the purpose of his life and once again be connected to the heavens.
Musashi wanders around to seek the middle path. The path where he isn’t killing people down, but is still firmly connected with the heavens. Musashi, when wandering around, draws a circle around him. Which is of course a strategy so that he doesn’t get killed, but also a symbolism that he has grown kinder. He doesn’t completely go and kill people who want to kill him, he draws a circle around him and lets the person choose whether or not he wants to go into the spiral or not. He has gotten kinder, and thus stronger.
Musashi had set off to Yagyuu. To understand something. Musashi had already undertood that “invincible under the heavens” was just a heat haze. They were just words. But Musashi still wanted to understand, what was the reason he kept swinging his sword. What was the reason he still kept it?
And when he is off to this journey, we see him battle with Ito Ittosai. Ito Ittosai, the demon swordsman. This fight was a test of his resolve, a test to prove whether or not he had actually grown or not. The self centeredness around Musashi wished to fight with Ittosai. A sensation that can not be resisted. As we see in this battle, Musashi’s self centeredness grew way larger. So large that he almost failed the test. But he came back to realization when he saw Yagyuu’s ghost fly away. In order to satisfy his war-hungry mind, he decided to act like he fought with Ittosai. When he satisfied himself, there was no reason to fight anymore. It showed that you can resist that self centeredness around you too.
The fact that being unrivalled under the heavens is a heat haze, disappeared from Musashi. “This me, is unrivalled under the heavens”, his self centeredness told him that. But because of that, he realized something is clearly wrong. Even though he was in a journey to find what his purpose was in life, he did not know how to pursue it. And before Yagyuu goes, he gives a final advice to Musashi. How to pursue what he is seeking right now.
Smile more.
After this, Musashi found memories of the middle path. Before he went away to make a name for himself. The Middle Path was where Musashi didn’t kill anyone, but was still one with the heavens and the earth by the sword. Musashi also had pondered upon a question and found answer to it. Why was he here in this world? Everyone is using a body, it’s like a vessel to something grander. If we assume that this is correct, then the water in front of him, the leafs around him- they are all him. Not only things too, people too. If we believe that everyone’s soul is the same, that everyone is one with the heavens and that the body is just a vessel, we don’t need to hate anyone.
And when he meets that poor family in a village, he asks the father of the family on how he can live without the sword. Without connections with the heavens? To Musashi it’s maddening. But the father answers it in a very simple manner. The sword isn’t the only thing that makes people connected to heavens. Even simple things like carving a Buddha, to grander things like taking care for your family gives you purpose and meaning. Surprised by this, Musashi sets on his journey again. This time, he fully knows what is the middle path, and how you can achieve this. That’s the reason he says- I do not need to wander anymore.
With that, we finally enter the Farming arc of Vagabond.
Farming arc was the arc that made me rank Musashi as the greatest protagonist of all time and rightfully so. It’s genius is, frightening. On how much deep Inoue went with his series’ philosophy and character development.
The arc starts with Musashi staying with Iori. Because when Musashi was so fatigued from wandering, Iori gave him food. Musashi stayed there, because… well he doesn’t know. Iori gave him a place to live, gave him food and gave him a break from endless wandering. When Iori and Musashi first meet, Iori shows a pretty big interest to the sword. Iori wanted Musashi to show him the sword. Musashi almost unsheathed the sword, but he didn’t at the end. Musashid doesn’t want Iori to live in and enter the spiral of death and killing, and unsheathing the sword will most probably let him enter that spiral. A sword is something to be sheathed, if not it will turn whoever you meet into an enemy. That’s why, instead of the sword Musashi picked up the hoe. In order to farm, and make Iori survive.
However, water floods the area. In order to undo this, Musashi takes a vow to win against the water. Let’s take a look back, why was he staying with Iori? Because that gave him purpose. Even trivial things such as winning against the water gave him purpose, and for the first time in his life Musashi found purpose- not from the sword but something else. Musashi is finally strayed away from the idea of the sword, and he can focus on other things. And that’s the reason, he finally understood what Takuan meant… by looking at a river.
Water is influenced by external factors, but it only obeys itself. The fate of the water is completely predecided by the riverbead, the wind and other external influences. But the water only obeys itself. Due to the terrain, water’s fate is predecided, but inspite of that it finds and identity of its own. Its fate is predecided, but its completely free. Water is only water, thoroughly water. Completely free. You can still find an identity of your own, even if you go down by the path the heavens have decided for you. If you do that, you’d be aboslutely free.
Musashi sees Yagyuu in the farming arc. Musashi went through many trials and tribulations, only to reach this place. Musashi will finally be able to understand the true meaning of strength and what it means to win. After he was free from the sword, without peer. And with the help of the villagers, he could finally win against water. Musashi had felt happy, for some reason or other, he had felt happy. The reason he felt happy was because… he finally took the first step into finding the meaning of true strength and the feeling of winning. However, it was only the first step.
Soceity, it’s a manmade concept that man has built. However, if you inhale the mountains, become one with the earth and the wind- the emptiness inside you expands. And in the farming arc, after many, many years- he is finally free with the sword. He finally became infinite with the sword and found what was lacking in him during the Yoshioka arc. Everything is connected with the heavens, everything is you yourself. And “I” doesn’t exist. If you give in to that ideology of you being everything, then you are infinite. Within you, exist everything. Keep the flow. He had finally became infinite once again… but it was only with the sword.
In the next chapter he realizes why he wasn’t satisfied of winning. Because he only tried to show that he was stronger than his opponent, not that he was truly stronger. It was just a reiteration. The same thing happened again and again. But when 18 bandits try to raid the village, he picks up the sword. Now, fully trying to win. And he did that without killing anyone. He picked up his sheathed sword and fought. Injuring them the least, he was able to win. However, something bad happens soon after.
Locusts eat up the harvest of Shusaku, leaving the villagers to almost starve. If they do not fight back, they will indeed starve. They need to sustain themselves until the winter. When the swordsmen ask Musashi to go, he declines. Because only the sword doesn’t give him purpose anymore. This farm, this village, the wanting to win against nature is what gives him purpose. If he’d were to go back now, he would lose. And he can’t do that. Not only because it is the worse thing morally, he also wants to win.
Musashi sets on to harvest rice. But the ground he tries to harvest in can’t become a paddy field. Musashi thinks that he himself can make a rice field. But he realized that he can not. He can’t understand the difference between Iori’s soil and Shusaku’s soil. Because afterall, he was only infinite with the sword. He wasn’t completely infinite. The sword was a bridge to heavens, not the heavens itself. Shusaku tells him the difference between his soil and Iori’s soil… is that Shusaku’s soil isn’t made alone. His predecessors, insects, microorganisms- all of it is what make Shusaku’s soil, his soil. No voices come out of Iori’s soils.
However, things change. In desperate need of food, villagers come along. But they decide that it’s still worthless. Musashi never knew anything but the sword, so he is still ignorant about many things. Musashi thinks that he can do all things alone because that’s the way of the sword. But his opponent isn’t another person anymore. It’s the earth. Things won’t go that way as if he used the sword.
You can’t do anything alone. The thieves stole the food, and Shusaku forced them to share the food to villagers so that they can survive. Shusaku was willing to help the villagers at a time like this. But even the weak and starving villagers were willing to help one another. A villager gave his food to a starving mother and baby, because they need it more than him. And only if people come together, would they be able to win. Villagers came together to farm food, to survive. And with the help of others, Musashi finally achieved something. He went back to the old man cave, to the middle path by farming. He was able to reach to the middle path, not by using the sword but something else. He, finally had something else he could live for.
Musashi had reached utmost devotion to farming just as he had utmost devotion to the sword. Even after the paddy field was a failure, when Musashi realized that there was hope of success, he immediately went back to plowing. That same determination he had towards the sword- he had towards farming. That same devotion was about to save lives.
Even at the end of their lives, people want to pray. Prayers to supporting other lives. The village elder would rather change the water of the shrine. He would rather help the village by becoming a corpse. What I find interesting is that, both Musashi and the village elder wanted to die. Musashi wanted to die because that’s his way of the sword way back in the Takezo arc. The village elder wanted to die to support the villagers. However, Musashi isn’t fully grown just yet. He is very close, but not just yet.
Musashi says why so easily would they give in to a stranger. Why would they not trust their own strength and plead to a stranger. Musashi still hadn’t realized it yet, and he won’t till… a few days later. When Musashi woke up, the villagers were helping him. They were fixing his house, giving him food etc etc. Musashi should smile more. Smiling would give him salvation, it would ease his journey.
You can not live if you do not seek help and help each other. This is the way of the heavens. Shusaku’s earth, the earth that has the spirit of generations and hundreds of insects supporting it. You can not rule the earth with the way of the sword, you need to do it by the way of the heavens. Help each other, only then will we able to attain sole salvation. Only then will we be completely free. The paddy field was completed, by the spirits of generations, the kindness of Shusaku, then combined effort of the villagers and the help of the organisms that live in the soil. Only with that were they able to make a paddy field. They were finally able to win against the soil.
And then, the ultimate test of Musashi happened. In the winter of that year, Chapter 315. The chapter starts on a happy note, Shusaku holding the child as he is his “lifesaviour”. Shusaku is happier, and has a feeling of fulfilment and pride. The feeling that he had won against the earth. That winning is what filled him with pride. Musashi didn’t have any feeling of fulfilment after killing, and “winning” against people with his sword. That is the meaning of winning, and Musashi finally understood it. However, nothing always remains good. The village starts to die because of lack of food. They have eaten everything that’s edible, and theres no place for them to go to. The village is going to die. And then, after a long long time- the God of death, Kohei appears. Musashi had been looking for the place to die, and was it here? He thought that he only came here by the drift of chance. But was this village really going to be the place he dies? No matter what, even if he dies it has already been decided by the heavens. He still has time- what is he going to do with it? Musashi says… I want to become stronger. The self centeredness around him still exists, and it tells him that is’ the perfect choice. But in the end, he rejects it. Musashi asks the samurais to help him.
Musashi finally realized what strength is. Strength is kindness. Being able to help someone else, support another person’s life is what makes life valuable. That’s the only thing that gives life purpose. If you aren’t kind, you aren’t strong. No matter how strong you are physically, if you have the heart of a cat- you are not living by the way of the heavens. You are ignoring your connection to the heavens, and thus you are limited. You are enslaved.
Musashi has reached the peak. He has become the strongest, he has became invincible under the sun. Musashi had finally realized the way of the heavens, he had finally reached the middle path. To the point where it all began, in the middle path. He had reached it.
AND LIFE HAS NO VALUE!
Truly right, it has no value. Only if you think of yourself… it has no value.
Why am I here?
You are here to support lives.
If you don’t go against how life should be, you are already… completely… Free.
You are here to support lives. Supporting lives will give you purpose. The sword will give you purpose too, but it will be limited. The reason the sword is beautiful is because it gives purpose to a man. But having purpose with the sword isn’t the end, because it will only support you yourselve. It will only hurt someone else, and at some point it will end up hurting you. That’s why the sword needs to be sheathed, because you can use it to support lives at times. But that is a rare sight. In order to not turn anyone into an enemy, you must grip the sword like mad. Sheathe the sword like mad. The villagers are fragile, and Musashi helped them. It gave him purpose, it gave him meaning. It made him infinite. It made him stronger, kinder. Our lives have been perfectly decided by the heavens, and yet is completely free. Our purpose and path have been decided by the heavens, and if you don’t ignore that path- you are absolutely free. You will have a purpose, meaning, you will be free from the spiral of death and killing.
A farmer’s job is to support lives. The grass that gets trampled on by people, it still supports lives. It makes the ridges sturdy, which in turn lets farmers flood the paddies with water. Which in turn supports human life. Even if an insignificant grass dies, it makes sure to support lives. And thus life lives on. A plant is insignificant, weak. It’s the job of the farmer to listen what that guy likes and don’t likes. The only thing he thinks of is how to make this frail guy survive. Killing men? Who would do that? Why would someone do that? If you can find purpose by supporting lives, is there even any point in living the way of the sword? The weight of a frail life, is infinite. The spiral of life, it is.
The spiral of death and killing gave Musashi purpose, but it didn’t make him any happier. The spiral of life, made Musashi smile. Made him happier. Made him a kinder, stronger person. Let’s pray to the fragile lives that are born in this very second, celebrating the spiral of life.
When we first see Musashi in Vagabond, he is known as “Shimen Takezo”. When we were first introduced to him, we knew that he was “strong”. He could kill samurais with ease. Takezo, along with Matahachi wanted to make a name for themselves. He pursuits to be strong, stronger than anyone else. To be invincible under the sun, he decided to be stronger than anyone else. He was like… a beast. A demon child. From his teenage years, he was said to be a “demon child”. He took away lives of countless people, just so he could be known as the one unirvalled under the heaven. For Takezo, the sword was his life itself. He had nothing else in his life to aspire for, it was his whole life.
When Takezo is on the run from the village elders, we see a monk who is going to be the most influential person in Takezo’s development- Takuan. Takuan says something to Takezo which pretty much sums up his character at that point. “You have the heart of a cat”. No matter how strong Takezo is physically, he is not a “strong” person. Takezo doesn’t understand what Takuan is saying, and he won’t understand it in a long time.
Takezo is captured and is hanged from a tree. At that time, he asks Takuan to kill himself. Kill or be killed is the philosophy of Takezo, there is no in between. There is no “path of the middle”. There is no reason to keep on living if he doesn’t have the sword. He has a worthless life. Which is exactly right. However, Takuan gives him a chance. He takes him to a mountain and explains that his life indeed does have value. Kill or be killed, this mindset, is not worth it. However- he doesn’t understand the true essence of it until much later. As of right now however, he is renamed as “Musashi Miyamoto”.
Musashi, somewhat went out of his way of “kill or be killed”. He will continue pursuing the sword and become invincible under the sun, however he won’t throw his life away in a worthless manner. Musashi was previously under the idea that this way will grant him true strength, but he understood that it won’t.
Then enter the second time where Musashi is developed as a character. In the Hozoin temple.
At the start of the Hozoin temple arc, we see him thinking that the old man, who is known as Inei, to “kill” him. However that wasn’t the intention of him at all. When Inei looks at Musashi, he tells him that “You do not look graceful”. Confusing now, will be explained later down in the manga on what Inei meant by “You do not look graceful”.
Musashi fights with Inushin, the successor of the Hozuin. Inushin… is strong. He is one of the, if not the strongest man Musashi had fought with yet. Inushin was someone who never had experienced what it is like to face fear in battle. The fear of life. And if someone doesn’t possess that fear, they are indeed weak. When Musashi faced that fear of life within him, he ran. He ran for his life. He didn’t conciously run for his life however, because he did not mind dying with the pride and honour of a warrior. However, his unconcisous mind, the mind connected with the heavens, the mind which is invincible under the son- decided to run. Why? Musashi will learn about it, years later.
When Musashi came back to Inei, he felt insignificant. Musashi questioned himself, was his strength just an illusion? What does it mean to be strong? Musashi had always aspired to be stronger, to be invincible under the sun, but what does it mean to be strong? He hadn’t known that yet. To not feel insignificant, to become stronger, Inei made Musashi train in the wilderness. Connected with the earth, Musashi had learnt. He had learnt to see. He had learnt to notice. He had tried to overcome his beast-like spirit. He, connected with the earth, grew. He became stronger.
In his fight with Inushin, we can see what his growth meant. He stared right at Inushin, whom he previoulsy feared. He tried to conquere that fear- and become stronger. Ignoring his fears wouldn’t amount to anything, so he needs to overcome them to become stronger. Becoming one with the sword, Musashi learns to see. He learns to accept death. The way he won was by becoming one with the sword, not by his spirit of a beast, which had the heart of a cat. He had started to not focus on the leaf, but rather focus on the tree. I like how, Musashi didn’t have full development in these chapters. He still has that beast mentality to him, as proven by him beating down Inushin, but he is still trying to grow and become stronger.
His victory against Inushin had made him become stronger. But that wasn’t consistent enough for him. Musashi had gotten closer and closer to being invincible under the sun, but he couldn’t completely grasp it. The more he gets closer, the further it strays away from it. I love this part of his character in the Hozoin arc. Musashi’s beast like spirit somewhat improves from this point on.
Next up, we have the Yagyuu arc. Where Musashi develops further. Musashi had came to meet Yagyuu, the one touted as “Invincible under the sun”. To learn what invincible under the sun means, he came to Yagyuu. When we are first intrdouced to Yagyuu, it’s the opposite of what someone would think as a strong man. He is old, not muscular, and he just seems like someone not… strong. Musashi is particularly confident in his skills. He dared to take down the swordsmen of Yagyuu, and even held his own against them. He could even overwhelm Yagyuu’s strongest swordsman with his skills. Musashi quickly ran away from the swordsmen and went to Yagyuu. He was sleeping.
Musashi went to Yagyuu to kill him. If he killed him, he’d be invincible under the sun. However he also wanted to know about something. What does it truly mean to be invincible under the sun?
Invincible is merely just a word.
Musashi had picked the sword in order to surpass his father. He was touted as unrivalled under the heaven. Musashi’s father shunned his own child, feared his own child because he was afraid that his title of being the strongest in the heavens is going to be challenged. His father holds that title dearly, but that’s what causes him, and everyone turn against him. The con of being invincible under the sun, is that it turns everyone against you. And if you look deeper into it, is there even a pro in being invinicible under the sun? After all, invincible is just a word. Musashi’s father was hailed as invinicble under the sun, but Yagyuu even in his old years was stronger than him. Musashi’s father slept with a sword out of paranoia, whereas Yagyuu defeated Musashi with just a backstracther. Musashi has realized that the man has something that he doesn’t. And… what is that?
Yagyuu, is infinite. Musashi isn’t.
The world is infinite. It encompasses everything. Musashi had yet again, felt insignificance. He felt insignificant to Yagyuu, because he was infinite. Musashi was not infinite. Musashi had realized that something was off about him. So Musashi went about for another way to become unrivalled under the heavens. Musashi would become unrivalled under the heavens not by becoming stronger and stronger, but by mastering the way of the sword. By becoming infinite. So that he doesn’t end up like his father. This is where his way of percieving strength, even if so slightly, changes.
And then enter the Baiken arc.
The Baiken arc is important for the growth of Musashi’s character. This is where Musashi decides his goal, his purpose. The meaning of strength, for upto the Yoshioka arc. Vagabond does this in a beautfiul manner.
The Baiken arc is when Musashi meets with his old enemy. The God of Death. Kohei, who is now known as the master of the chain and sickles, Shishido Baiken. They fight for the first time. Musashi and Baiken both have grown since their first encounter at the tree in the Miyamoto village. Musashi has grown from the beast he previously was. He grew to value his life, his perception on strength changed. Baiken has changed too, from the God of death who knew nothing but death- he had grown to develop connections with a girl. He looked at something past death. As the old enemies fight, the question becomes- will they give in to their past or they move on?
Their lives are just among many. Countless lives are born, and countless lives fade away. The spiral of death and killing, and if you enter this spiral, you will only descend deeper. Kohei is the God of Death, he grew up in war and turmoil. He had descended deep into the spiral. But he stopped for a moment, because he lived a happy life with the girl. He doesn’t need to descend into the spiral no more. But tempted by Musashi, he gives in. He goes back to his old self, the God of Death. He descended even deeper into the spiral, so much so that he was willing to kill that girl if it means that he’d be able to kill Musashi. Seeing Kohei’s resurrection, Musashi had to decide between resurrecting the beast inside him, vs staying this way. Musashi looks forward to growth and improvement. He does not give in to his old self, but keeps moving forward to attain strength. He isn’t haunted by his father no more, he has accepted that his lives are just among many and you don’t necessarily need to be strong, you don’t need to descend into the spiral. But Musashi chose to descend into the spiral, the more deeper you go to the spiral, the stronger you become for Musashi.
At this point, Musashi also questions one thing. Would he be able to plead to his opponent if he wants to protect his dear ones? That question, will be answered long after this, in the farming arc.
Next up, the 2nd Yoshioka arc.
This arc is also extremely important for Musashi’s development. Here Musashi is going to experience an event that’s going to change his life forever.
In the beginning of the arc, we see Musashi in the new year. He has returned to Kyoto to fight the Yoshioka brothers as he had promised previously. However, instead of the previous time when he appeared in the Yoshioka temple, Musashi had grown stronger. He had grown out of his beastly spirit, he had grown stronger. But he still retained the spirit to fight and grow. That hunger of his didn’t fade away. He still wished to be stronger and grow more. After fighting with one of the Yoshioka brothers, he sufferes injury. To heal his injury he meets a swordsmith, but there he also meets someone else. That one is, Sasaki Kojiro.
Sasaki Kojiro is a swordsman who has perfected the way of the sword. He is one with the sword, and he is the peak of what a swordsman should be. He loves the sword, or moreso he loves the way of the sword. He could see the way of the sword even within a mere twig. The way of the sword is the only thing Kojiro lives for. He is one with the heavens with the sword. Musashi understood that Kojiro has something which Musashi no longer has. And that’s his connections with the heavens. Musashi had spent his life since chapter 1, to become stronger and invincible under the sun. While he had grown, he had lost something that he had as a kid. His connections with the heavens were lost. When Musashi looked at Kojiro, he looked at someone who he aspires to be. One with the sword, not like a beast, and strong.
Musashi would continue on his path, in search for strength. His meaning of strength has changed along the way, but his hunger for growth hasn’t. Instead of seeking concepts like being invincible, Musashi now seeks to perfect the way of the sword. And he can do that by reaching the end of the spiral of death and killing, if only he can do that he’d be invincible under the heavens.
With his awaited fight with Denshichiro, he ponders about something. Was it he that really won? Denshchiro had a happier look in his life, a look of satisfaction. But was he any happier? Was he the one who won? His self centeredness around him says that yes, of course he won. But was it really the truth? This will be answered in the later arcs, after a 70 men bloodbath.
With the death of Denshichiro, he needs to fight all of the Yoshioka school. All of the 70 men of the Yoshioka school- against him. Him alone. Just before this however, he says that he doesn’t want to fight and that it’s crazy. That shows his growth he had had until this moment, he is much more mature and kinder. But when he is forced to battle against 70 men, he fights them.
Instead of directly charging at them, Musashi tries to strategize. Not taking his old self take over him, he tries to perfect the way of the sword like Kojiro to slay 70 men. But no matter what he does, something is wrong with it. Musashi gave birth to corpses after corpes with seemingly no end. The spiral of death and killing showed its ultimate face in this 70 men bloodbath. Inoue shows us a few characters’ personality in this fight. We know that everyone’s personality is different. But to Musashi they all seemed the same. “Didn’t I just slay this man before?”, Musashi thought. He is slaying many men but they just do not end, just like… his life.
Musashi realized something, that his whole life had been of useless death and killing. He met someone, he fought him and killed him. That cycle repeated and repeated. He did all of it to gain strength. But Musashi reflected on his whole life, what Musashi is doing right now, he has done it before too. If what he is doing now is the same as what he did previously in his life, does the sprial of death and killing really mean strength? Because after all, the only time he grew stronger was when he learnt and matured as a person. Killing different men didn’t make him stronger at all. Musashi had descended deep into the spiral, but it didn’t make him any stronger than he was before.
Musashi had had enough. He was about to die, in this battle. He had lived his own life. He had done enough. He descended really deep in the spiral of death and killing, and he singlehandedly almost laid waste to the Yoshioka clan. But… has he really? He still has a strong will to live. His will to live made him even stronger and more frightening than previously. And then, he finally reaches the sense of invincibility. The soft air that surrounds him, as long as that air is around him he will never be slain. That was the feeling of being unrivalled under the heavens… just like a heat haze.
He attained invincibility under the sun, but at what cost? He was crippled. He got away with a deep wound in the legs, after the 70 men slaughter. Musashi reached the end of the spiral of death and killing. Every time he tries to pursue it more, the Yoshioka massaccre will occur. There is no longer a need to pursue reaching the end of the spiral, because he had already done that. But… it didn’t make him any happier. At all.
And with that, we enter the Post Yoshioka arc of Vagabond- which consists of two arc which I like to call the Prison arc and the Wandering arc.
Prayers. A sign of gratitude and hope. Musashi was crippled in the battle of the 70 Yoshioka men, and that was the result of his hunger for becoming stronger. This path he had taken left him crippled and ultimately, that very path was the reason he won’t be able to continue in this journey. When Takuan asks Musashi on what he prays for, he says the path he has travelled thus far. The way of the sword. But… is this path really worth it? Musashi has been heavily injured by him reaching the end of the spiral, and all it did was just hurt him even more.
Everyone knows that it isn’t right to take a human life. There is something wrong with that. “What is a human life?”, Musashi answers this question. Swordsmen are people who are willing and gladly choose the way of the sword, and they do not care if they are cut down. But we do know, from the Yoshioka battle, tht it is not correct. Everyone seeks purpose in life. They want to live content lives.We see that a random swordsmen from the Yoshioka battle lamenting the fact that he isn’t able to support his family, and pleads to his brother that he does. So at the end, is it really worth it to pick the way of the sword?
“It was me who won, right?”. Musashi ponders upon this question as his mind is finally free from the sword. The very core of Musashi knows the correct answer to this question, and as he is finally free from the sword he realizes that answer. There is, no winner in this battle. At the end, even after killing Kohei, Denshichiro and the 70 Yoshioka pupils- he wasn’t any happier. He doesn’t have any purpose in his life except the sword and when it’s take away from him, he doesn’t have anything. He doesn’t have a place, to return home to.
Build a home you could return to.
Takuan tells Musashi that. Musashi responds to this question with, How do you return to a place you have yet to create. Musashi’s only path was of the sword and when it’s stripped away from him, he has nothing to return to. Why people are born, is there salvation for us- people ask these questions. Everyone in this world seek purpose and a way. When that purpose is stripped away from them, they have nothing else to do. Commiting wrongs, Pain, Self Centeredness, all of it surrounds many. Was there even a meaning in being born, if the only thing human do is negative?
Mine and your lives, upto now and in the future… according to the heavens our lives have been both perfectly decided. And on top of that, are completely Free.
The path that man takes have been perfectly decided by the heavens, and yet is completely free. Takuan has the path of the Buddha, his journey is to find the answer to “man”. Takuan looked at hundreds of men, ugly and beautiful. If he gave up, his journey ended. He said I can’t lead these men. But it came back to haunt him, and he needed to continue. And then he was forced to learn that, living while ignoring one’s connections to the heavens only result in pain. Men are creatures created by the heavens, so they must be beautiful. If there was a reason to being born, take it all in. Let the heavens guide you, only if you could do that you’d be completely free.
Musashi, right now is suffering a pain that’s not comprehendable by anyone else. He supposedly has lost connections with the heavens because he has lost his sword. That was the only thing that kept him connected to the heavens. However, even then he is connected to the heavens. However, as long as he wishes for that connection he must pray. Pray to the heavens, about anything he wants. It can be anything, even the way of the swords. But unless he prays and wishes for that connections with the heavens, he will only suffer in more pain. And as Musashi continues, Musashi says something.
There are times when Musashi prays, prays to the sword. When he is using the sword, at times, when he really loves the sword, his sword swings beccome stronger. And he wants to pray. The centre of his body glows, and he is firmly connected to the heavens when he is swinging the sword. Musashi hadn’t realized it yet, but he had already perfected the way of the sword long before he met Kojiro. He was already one with the sword, he just did not realize that. The sword is free, and infinite- but only if you firmly connect yourself with the heavens with it.
Being invincible under the sun is just a heathaze. Being surrounded by the soft air, an air of confidence. That is the feeling of being invincible. But when his enemies are surrounded in that air, he becomes invincible by human standards. Enemies surrounding him that he doesn’t know about, but he still needs to kill him in order to maintain that invincibility. And that’s what Musashi meant by “it’s just a heathaze.”
And then the second arc of Post Yoshioka, the Wandering arc. I love the name of the arc because it’s an amazing symbolism to Musashi. Musashi wanders around in order to learn the purpose of his life and once again be connected to the heavens.
Musashi wanders around to seek the middle path. The path where he isn’t killing people down, but is still firmly connected with the heavens. Musashi, when wandering around, draws a circle around him. Which is of course a strategy so that he doesn’t get killed, but also a symbolism that he has grown kinder. He doesn’t completely go and kill people who want to kill him, he draws a circle around him and lets the person choose whether or not he wants to go into the spiral or not. He has gotten kinder, and thus stronger.
Musashi had set off to Yagyuu. To understand something. Musashi had already undertood that “invincible under the heavens” was just a heat haze. They were just words. But Musashi still wanted to understand, what was the reason he kept swinging his sword. What was the reason he still kept it?
And when he is off to this journey, we see him battle with Ito Ittosai. Ito Ittosai, the demon swordsman. This fight was a test of his resolve, a test to prove whether or not he had actually grown or not. The self centeredness around Musashi wished to fight with Ittosai. A sensation that can not be resisted. As we see in this battle, Musashi’s self centeredness grew way larger. So large that he almost failed the test. But he came back to realization when he saw Yagyuu’s ghost fly away. In order to satisfy his war-hungry mind, he decided to act like he fought with Ittosai. When he satisfied himself, there was no reason to fight anymore. It showed that you can resist that self centeredness around you too.
The fact that being unrivalled under the heavens is a heat haze, disappeared from Musashi. “This me, is unrivalled under the heavens”, his self centeredness told him that. But because of that, he realized something is clearly wrong. Even though he was in a journey to find what his purpose was in life, he did not know how to pursue it. And before Yagyuu goes, he gives a final advice to Musashi. How to pursue what he is seeking right now.
Smile more.
After this, Musashi found memories of the middle path. Before he went away to make a name for himself. The Middle Path was where Musashi didn’t kill anyone, but was still one with the heavens and the earth by the sword. Musashi also had pondered upon a question and found answer to it. Why was he here in this world? Everyone is using a body, it’s like a vessel to something grander. If we assume that this is correct, then the water in front of him, the leafs around him- they are all him. Not only things too, people too. If we believe that everyone’s soul is the same, that everyone is one with the heavens and that the body is just a vessel, we don’t need to hate anyone.
And when he meets that poor family in a village, he asks the father of the family on how he can live without the sword. Without connections with the heavens? To Musashi it’s maddening. But the father answers it in a very simple manner. The sword isn’t the only thing that makes people connected to heavens. Even simple things like carving a Buddha, to grander things like taking care for your family gives you purpose and meaning. Surprised by this, Musashi sets on his journey again. This time, he fully knows what is the middle path, and how you can achieve this. That’s the reason he says- I do not need to wander anymore.
With that, we finally enter the Farming arc of Vagabond.
Farming arc was the arc that made me rank Musashi as the greatest protagonist of all time and rightfully so. It’s genius is, frightening. On how much deep Inoue went with his series’ philosophy and character development.
The arc starts with Musashi staying with Iori. Because when Musashi was so fatigued from wandering, Iori gave him food. Musashi stayed there, because… well he doesn’t know. Iori gave him a place to live, gave him food and gave him a break from endless wandering. When Iori and Musashi first meet, Iori shows a pretty big interest to the sword. Iori wanted Musashi to show him the sword. Musashi almost unsheathed the sword, but he didn’t at the end. Musashid doesn’t want Iori to live in and enter the spiral of death and killing, and unsheathing the sword will most probably let him enter that spiral. A sword is something to be sheathed, if not it will turn whoever you meet into an enemy. That’s why, instead of the sword Musashi picked up the hoe. In order to farm, and make Iori survive.
However, water floods the area. In order to undo this, Musashi takes a vow to win against the water. Let’s take a look back, why was he staying with Iori? Because that gave him purpose. Even trivial things such as winning against the water gave him purpose, and for the first time in his life Musashi found purpose- not from the sword but something else. Musashi is finally strayed away from the idea of the sword, and he can focus on other things. And that’s the reason, he finally understood what Takuan meant… by looking at a river.
Water is influenced by external factors, but it only obeys itself. The fate of the water is completely predecided by the riverbead, the wind and other external influences. But the water only obeys itself. Due to the terrain, water’s fate is predecided, but inspite of that it finds and identity of its own. Its fate is predecided, but its completely free. Water is only water, thoroughly water. Completely free. You can still find an identity of your own, even if you go down by the path the heavens have decided for you. If you do that, you’d be aboslutely free.
Musashi sees Yagyuu in the farming arc. Musashi went through many trials and tribulations, only to reach this place. Musashi will finally be able to understand the true meaning of strength and what it means to win. After he was free from the sword, without peer. And with the help of the villagers, he could finally win against water. Musashi had felt happy, for some reason or other, he had felt happy. The reason he felt happy was because… he finally took the first step into finding the meaning of true strength and the feeling of winning. However, it was only the first step.
Soceity, it’s a manmade concept that man has built. However, if you inhale the mountains, become one with the earth and the wind- the emptiness inside you expands. And in the farming arc, after many, many years- he is finally free with the sword. He finally became infinite with the sword and found what was lacking in him during the Yoshioka arc. Everything is connected with the heavens, everything is you yourself. And “I” doesn’t exist. If you give in to that ideology of you being everything, then you are infinite. Within you, exist everything. Keep the flow. He had finally became infinite once again… but it was only with the sword.
In the next chapter he realizes why he wasn’t satisfied of winning. Because he only tried to show that he was stronger than his opponent, not that he was truly stronger. It was just a reiteration. The same thing happened again and again. But when 18 bandits try to raid the village, he picks up the sword. Now, fully trying to win. And he did that without killing anyone. He picked up his sheathed sword and fought. Injuring them the least, he was able to win. However, something bad happens soon after.
Locusts eat up the harvest of Shusaku, leaving the villagers to almost starve. If they do not fight back, they will indeed starve. They need to sustain themselves until the winter. When the swordsmen ask Musashi to go, he declines. Because only the sword doesn’t give him purpose anymore. This farm, this village, the wanting to win against nature is what gives him purpose. If he’d were to go back now, he would lose. And he can’t do that. Not only because it is the worse thing morally, he also wants to win.
Musashi sets on to harvest rice. But the ground he tries to harvest in can’t become a paddy field. Musashi thinks that he himself can make a rice field. But he realized that he can not. He can’t understand the difference between Iori’s soil and Shusaku’s soil. Because afterall, he was only infinite with the sword. He wasn’t completely infinite. The sword was a bridge to heavens, not the heavens itself. Shusaku tells him the difference between his soil and Iori’s soil… is that Shusaku’s soil isn’t made alone. His predecessors, insects, microorganisms- all of it is what make Shusaku’s soil, his soil. No voices come out of Iori’s soils.
However, things change. In desperate need of food, villagers come along. But they decide that it’s still worthless. Musashi never knew anything but the sword, so he is still ignorant about many things. Musashi thinks that he can do all things alone because that’s the way of the sword. But his opponent isn’t another person anymore. It’s the earth. Things won’t go that way as if he used the sword.
You can’t do anything alone. The thieves stole the food, and Shusaku forced them to share the food to villagers so that they can survive. Shusaku was willing to help the villagers at a time like this. But even the weak and starving villagers were willing to help one another. A villager gave his food to a starving mother and baby, because they need it more than him. And only if people come together, would they be able to win. Villagers came together to farm food, to survive. And with the help of others, Musashi finally achieved something. He went back to the old man cave, to the middle path by farming. He was able to reach to the middle path, not by using the sword but something else. He, finally had something else he could live for.
Musashi had reached utmost devotion to farming just as he had utmost devotion to the sword. Even after the paddy field was a failure, when Musashi realized that there was hope of success, he immediately went back to plowing. That same determination he had towards the sword- he had towards farming. That same devotion was about to save lives.
Even at the end of their lives, people want to pray. Prayers to supporting other lives. The village elder would rather change the water of the shrine. He would rather help the village by becoming a corpse. What I find interesting is that, both Musashi and the village elder wanted to die. Musashi wanted to die because that’s his way of the sword way back in the Takezo arc. The village elder wanted to die to support the villagers. However, Musashi isn’t fully grown just yet. He is very close, but not just yet.
Musashi says why so easily would they give in to a stranger. Why would they not trust their own strength and plead to a stranger. Musashi still hadn’t realized it yet, and he won’t till… a few days later. When Musashi woke up, the villagers were helping him. They were fixing his house, giving him food etc etc. Musashi should smile more. Smiling would give him salvation, it would ease his journey.
You can not live if you do not seek help and help each other. This is the way of the heavens. Shusaku’s earth, the earth that has the spirit of generations and hundreds of insects supporting it. You can not rule the earth with the way of the sword, you need to do it by the way of the heavens. Help each other, only then will we able to attain sole salvation. Only then will we be completely free. The paddy field was completed, by the spirits of generations, the kindness of Shusaku, then combined effort of the villagers and the help of the organisms that live in the soil. Only with that were they able to make a paddy field. They were finally able to win against the soil.
And then, the ultimate test of Musashi happened. In the winter of that year, Chapter 315. The chapter starts on a happy note, Shusaku holding the child as he is his “lifesaviour”. Shusaku is happier, and has a feeling of fulfilment and pride. The feeling that he had won against the earth. That winning is what filled him with pride. Musashi didn’t have any feeling of fulfilment after killing, and “winning” against people with his sword. That is the meaning of winning, and Musashi finally understood it. However, nothing always remains good. The village starts to die because of lack of food. They have eaten everything that’s edible, and theres no place for them to go to. The village is going to die. And then, after a long long time- the God of death, Kohei appears. Musashi had been looking for the place to die, and was it here? He thought that he only came here by the drift of chance. But was this village really going to be the place he dies? No matter what, even if he dies it has already been decided by the heavens. He still has time- what is he going to do with it? Musashi says… I want to become stronger. The self centeredness around him still exists, and it tells him that is’ the perfect choice. But in the end, he rejects it. Musashi asks the samurais to help him.
Musashi finally realized what strength is. Strength is kindness. Being able to help someone else, support another person’s life is what makes life valuable. That’s the only thing that gives life purpose. If you aren’t kind, you aren’t strong. No matter how strong you are physically, if you have the heart of a cat- you are not living by the way of the heavens. You are ignoring your connection to the heavens, and thus you are limited. You are enslaved.
Musashi has reached the peak. He has become the strongest, he has became invincible under the sun. Musashi had finally realized the way of the heavens, he had finally reached the middle path. To the point where it all began, in the middle path. He had reached it.
AND LIFE HAS NO VALUE!
Truly right, it has no value. Only if you think of yourself… it has no value.
Why am I here?
You are here to support lives.
If you don’t go against how life should be, you are already… completely… Free.
You are here to support lives. Supporting lives will give you purpose. The sword will give you purpose too, but it will be limited. The reason the sword is beautiful is because it gives purpose to a man. But having purpose with the sword isn’t the end, because it will only support you yourselve. It will only hurt someone else, and at some point it will end up hurting you. That’s why the sword needs to be sheathed, because you can use it to support lives at times. But that is a rare sight. In order to not turn anyone into an enemy, you must grip the sword like mad. Sheathe the sword like mad. The villagers are fragile, and Musashi helped them. It gave him purpose, it gave him meaning. It made him infinite. It made him stronger, kinder. Our lives have been perfectly decided by the heavens, and yet is completely free. Our purpose and path have been decided by the heavens, and if you don’t ignore that path- you are absolutely free. You will have a purpose, meaning, you will be free from the spiral of death and killing.
A farmer’s job is to support lives. The grass that gets trampled on by people, it still supports lives. It makes the ridges sturdy, which in turn lets farmers flood the paddies with water. Which in turn supports human life. Even if an insignificant grass dies, it makes sure to support lives. And thus life lives on. A plant is insignificant, weak. It’s the job of the farmer to listen what that guy likes and don’t likes. The only thing he thinks of is how to make this frail guy survive. Killing men? Who would do that? Why would someone do that? If you can find purpose by supporting lives, is there even any point in living the way of the sword? The weight of a frail life, is infinite. The spiral of life, it is.
The spiral of death and killing gave Musashi purpose, but it didn’t make him any happier. The spiral of life, made Musashi smile. Made him happier. Made him a kinder, stronger person. Let’s pray to the fragile lives that are born in this very second, celebrating the spiral of life.
![[+]](https://sinister.li/images/modern/collapse_collapsed.png)
