[NEWER UPDATED VER. OF THIS](https://nyaa.si/view/1771057) in the compilation: https://nyaa.si/view/1771057 ___ I won't be seeding this for long, your help on that front would be appreciated. ___________________________________________________________________  ___________________________________________________________________  ___________________________________________________________________ Musashi By: Eiji Yoshikawa, Charles S. Terry - translator Narrated by: Brian Nishii Length: 53 hrs and 24 mins Unabridged Audiobook Release date: 08-28-18 Language: English Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc. ___________________________________________________________________ Musashi By Eiji Yoshikawa 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 left nor to 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 been touched by. And, 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 story telling. 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. ___________________________________________________________________ About the Author EIJI YOSHIKAWA was born in 1892 in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo. He began his literary career at the age of twenty-two. During his thirties he worked as a journalist while continuing to write stories and novels, reaching a large and appreciative readership through having his work published, often serially, in newspapers and popular magazines. At the time of his death in 1962, he was one of Japan's best-known and best-loved novelists. He received the Cultural Medal, the highest award for a man of letters, and other cultural decorations, including the Order of the Sacred Treasure. CHARLES S. TERRY, the translator, was born in Mississippi in 1926 and graduated from Duke University. He first studied Japanese in the U.S. Navy during WW II and after the war received a master's degree from Columbia University in Japanese history. Resident in Japan since 1952, he also received a master's degree in Chinese history from the University of Tokyo and has since been active as a translator of works on Japanese art, architecture and history. He died in 1982. ___________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS: Foreword by Edwin O. Reischauer BOOK I • EARTH The Little Bell The Comb The Flower Festival The Dowager's Wrath The Art of War The Old Cryptomeria Tree The Rock and the Tree The Birth of Musashi BOOK II • WATER The Yoshioka School The Wheel of Fortune Encounter and Retreat The Water Sprite A Spring Breeze The Hōzōin Hannya Plain The Koyagyū Fief The Peony Jōtarō's Revenge The Nightingales BOOK III • FIRE Sasaki Kojirō Reunion in Osaka The Handsome Young Man The Seashell of Forgetfulness A Hero's Passing The Drying Pole Eagle Mountain The Mayfly in Winter The Pinwheel The Flying Horse The Butterfly in Winter The Announcement The Great Bridge at Gojō Avenue BOOK IV • WIND The Withered Field A Man of Parts Too Many Kojirōs The Younger Brother A Mother's Love The Urbane Craftsman Reverberations in the Snow The Elegant People The Broken Lute A Sickness of the Heart The Scent of Aloeswood The Gate A Toast to the Morrow The Death Trap A Meeting in the Moonlight Stray Geese The Spreading Pine An Offering for the Dead A Drink of Milk Entwining Branches The Male and Female Waterfalls   BOOK V • SKY The Abduction The Warrior of Kiso Poisonous Fangs A Maternal Warning A One-Night Love Affair A Gift of Money A Cleansing Fire Playing with Fire A Cricket in the Grass The Pioneers Slaughter by the Riverside Shavings The Owl A Plate of Loaches Like Teacher, Like Pupil Mountain Devils First Planting The Flies The Soul Polisher The Fox An Urgent Letter Filial Piety Spring Shower in Red A Block of Wood The Deserted Prophet The Talk of the Town   BOOK VI • SUN AND MOON A Chat with the Men Buzzing Insects The Eagle Green Persimmons Eyes Four Sages with a Single Light The Locust Tree Tadaaki's Madness The Poignancy of Things Two Drumsticks The Demon's Attendant Brother Disciples The Pomegranate Land of Dreams The Challenge The Gateway to Glory The Sound of Heaven BOOK VII • THE PERFECT LIGHT The Runaway Ox Hemp Seed Sweepers and Salesmen A Pear Blossom The Port The Writing Teacher The Circle Shikama Blue The Mercy of Kannon The Tides of Life The Evening Boat A Falcon and a Woman Before the Thirteenth Day At Daybreak The Marriage The Soul of the Deep ___________________________________________________________________