japan Art: Miyamoto Musashi - Samurai

Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) is one of Japan's most beloved and admired heroes. The great warrior lived in one of the most troubled moments in Japanese history, that is, in the Sengoku-Jidai, or “States at War”, a historical period of transition in which the Tokugawa Era (1603-1868) began, a time when the traditional Samurai methods were gradually replaced by firearms, albeit primitive at the time.

Musashi symbolized the height of bushido (way of the warrior), in which a man wielding a sword represented the ultimate in individual achievement.