A breathtaking fictionalization of the life of one of the world's greatest warriors and renaissance men. Yoshikawa takes us on a mezmorizing voyage to a crossroads in Japanese history that changed all the rules and gave birth to a legend. The book opens in the year 1600 at the end of the infamous battle of Sekigahara, where the armies of east and western Japan met to decide who would govern: Toyotomi or Tokugawa. In the end to Tokugawa emerged victorious and the 150 year period of civil war came [...]

wowat is the first thing that came to mind when i finished this book. it is easily the best historical fiction i have ever read. it is also the largest and most difficult book i have ever read. it is very japanese therefore some of the names and places tend to get mixed up in the nearly 1000 page epic. howeverat is the only negative i have after reading this book. it will go down as one of my favorite reads of all time. it focuses on the life (very dramatized by the fantastic eiji yoshikawa-san) [...]

Perhaps my expectations were too high but I was a bit disappointed by this book. I am really interested in (traditional) Japanese culture and looked forward to reading Musashi. Although it is an entertaining read and I did gain some inspiration from it, I found it really missed the depth you'd expect from such a saga.Apart from Musashi himself, all the other characters in the book are fairly one-dimensional and as a consequence, the story does not really seem to progress or unravel after the fir [...]

This is a quick read despite its length. The language is easy and there's plenty of action. Unfortunately I thought the characters are mostly two-dimensional and the plot repetitive. If you're interested in samurais and Japanese culture, give it a try.

5 stars for sheer enjoyment and immersion in another time and culture. This book has easily landed on my favourites list. Despite its nearly thousand pages I was fully immersed in the story of Miyamoto Musashi and never felt like I was slogging through an enormous tome. To be fair the beginning is a little rough, but Eiji Yoshikawa does an excellent job at keeping things moving as we follow the famous ‘sword-saint’ of early Tokugawa-era Japan in his growth from a callow, bullying youth into [...]

This is easily my favorite book. It's very long and translated from Japanese resulting in some rough spots, but nevertheless, I could not put this one down. I recommend this to anyonewell, anyone who loves sword fighting.

A very weighty historical novel about samurai. I thought I'd like this a lot more than I did. I might try again later.

I read this novel about four years ago. At the time, the teacher for whom I was doing a book report on this novel, thought I was insane for picking such a long and complex novel. I vaguely remember someone else in my class reading The Bourne Supremacy.I would have this tied with I, Claudius for the best historical fiction I've yet to read. Telling the tale of Miyamoto Musashi, the sword-saint of Japan, it begins with his rural boyhood and ends with a final showdown between the great warrior and [...]

I am a huge fan of the old Criterion Collection samurai movies and I loved Toshiro Mifune's portrayal of Musashi, so I thought I'd give this a read. I found it VERY slow at the beginning, but I powered through. It took me as long to read this as it did to read Don Quixote…incidentally, Musashi lived at the same time as Cervantes, so it was interesting to compare what was going on in Japan in the time of Shakespeare and Cervantes. The story is epic in scope and follows Musashi Myamoto's life fr [...]

I didn't like this book. It consisted of boring parts, punctuated by parts where the main character and maybe other characters, would go do something really stupid because of their bizarre moral codes or lack thereof. The book is old enough that the levels of sexism in it are absurd, and parts of it got me so annoyed that I was really distracted from the plot. I suppose it's interesting to get a perspective on a VERY different culture, but half the time I couldn't fathom any conceivable logical [...]

Ini buku pertama yang banyak memberikan inspirasi dalam hidup saya. Dimana perubahan 180° bisa terjadi dalam hidup kita.Buku ini tidak semata-mata darah dan pertarungan tapi lebih pada Semangat dalam pencarian dan pengembangan jati diri, Kesetiaan dan Kepasrahan Cinta, Keindahan dan Seni.Saya memberikan rating penuh untuk buku ini, bukan karena akan dusukai oleh semua orang. Tapi lebih banyak ke pribadi saya yang tidak akan melupakan sihir dari buku ini pada kehidupan saya.

As a fan of epic fantasy, I was surprised by how much this was right in my wheelhouse, and I think this should be better-known among SF fans. It's a classic bildungsroman with epic battles, tragic romances, fun if somewhat archetypal characters, and a tremendous amount of cultural flavor and historical information.It was published serially, and as a result is extremely episodic, which isn't a flaw precisely, although it does slow down the pacing and make it a trifle choppy. It's also got a bit o [...]

Pertama kali melihat buku ini, kira-kira 2 tahun yang lalu. Ia begitu tebal, dan terusterang itu membuat saya terprovokasi untuk membacanya. Dalam benak saya apa gerangan Gramedia menerbitkan buku yang begitu tebal seperti ini, apa buku ini bagus dan terkenal? Perasaan itu mengemuka, tapi tidak cukup menggerakkan saya untuk membeli. Kemudian, beberapa bulan terakhir, di blog teman saya ada sebuah tulisan mengenai Musashi, kupikir, betapa hebatkah tokoh ini dan bila benar demikian, apakah saya la [...]

Ha! Tuhle knihu jsem koupil roku 2007, kdy vyšla… a od té doby jí často bral na dovolenou, s tím, že se tam do ní konečně pustím. Ale nakonec jsme vždycky sáhl po něčem, co nemělo skoro tisíc, hustě popsaných stránek. A teď, konečně, jsem to dokázal. Udělal jsem další pokrok na své Cestě Knihy. Musaši je legendární japonský román, zachycující část života Mijamota Musašiho, slavného bojovníka… a inspirace všech možných dalších knih, filmů (samoz� [...]

Juli 2005 lalu, sebuah buku terbit—judulnya Elang Retak. Ditulis oleh Gus Ballon, buku ini menceritakan tentang operasi sebuah pasukan Angkatan Darat TNI di pulau tak bertuan, dekat samudera Pasifik. Pada mulanya, seperti buku-buku baru lain, rasa-rasanya tak ada beda. Tapi ada yang mengusik. Sebuah kalimat terpampang menggelitik di sampul depan: "Mati bukan masalah, hidup itulah persoalan."Itulah kalimat yang pas untuk melukiskan kesan yang saya dapat setelah membaca Musashi. Seluruh apa yang [...]

Written in the early twentieth century, this indigenous Japanese novel recounts the life & times of old Japan's greatest swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi -- a man who began life as an over-eager and rather brutish young lout but who, through the discipline of Japan's "way of the sword," turned himself into a master of his chosen weapon. But this tale is not only one of a life spent in training to perfect the art of killing with a sharpened piece of steel. In the venerable Japanese tradition, it i [...]

Yoshikawa was reccomended to me by my uncle, a Japanese History enthusiast. I have an active interest in Japanese culture and ritual, but not even a working understanding of their history. Taiko, the actual novel that was reccomended to me, has a very similar tone and feel as Musashi, but what really interested me in this book is that the politics of ancient Japan is the backdrop for the novel, as Musashi, a maturing Samurai, wanders through the Japanese countryside. Taiko is much more focused o [...]

An incredible, sprawling masterpiece Yoshikawa tells the story of Japan's greatest swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi, in an awing bildungsroman that sees a young violent punk transformed into a masterful buddhist hero. Inspired the Hiroshi Inagaki Samurai films. Highly recommended.

"Мусаси" Ёсикавы, изданный у нас под названием "Десять Меченосцев", повествует об отрезке жизненного пути выдающегося японского фехтовальщика Миямото Мусаси. Хронологически, действие романа начинается практически там же, где заканчивается горячо любимый мною "Сёгун" Джей� [...]

Ambientato nel 1600 , il romanzo inizia subito dopo la battaglia di Sekigahara (15/09/1600) e termina con la tenzone fra il protagonista e Sasaki Kojiro (1612).Romanzo storico, ricco di personaggi , alcuni dei quali realmente esistiti e non celati da pseudonimi, narra le gesta del giovane Takezo che solo in seguito prenderà il nome di Musashi Miyamoto. Reduce e superstite dalla battaglia di Sekigahara diviene ronin. Inizialmente un samurai improvvisato, con il passare del tempo giunge alla cert [...]

Shinmen Takezo, che cambierà il suo nome nell'universalmente noto Musashi Miyamoto, è uno di quei personaggi destinato a diventare leggenda.Incarna l'ideale del vagabondo alla perenne ricerca di qualcosa. Un avversario, un'ispirazione, una sfida. Fondamentalmente, alla ricerca di se stesso.Troppo affascinante per non essere preso a modello.La sua "via", il suo lascito, è ben più spirituale che tecnico, a dispetto di quanto potrebbe pensare chi inquadra Musashi semplicemente come "guerriero". [...]

Penso questo sia uno di quei libri che parte un po’ in sordina ma che ti vince pagina dopo pagina, poi arrivi alla fine e non riesci più a staccartene. Pur essendo la storia di Musashi, il cast di personaggi è ampissimo, e copre tante tematiche. Ogni storia, anche la più piccola, s’intreccia poi in un disegno più grande. È un ottimo romanzo d’intrattenimento, ma anche un ottimo libro di storia; perché è pieno di particolari, notizie di costume e descrizioni sulla vita in Giappone. H [...]

Eiji Yoshikawa è l'autore di questo lungo, lunghissimo romanzo che mi ha tenuto impegnata per diversi mesi perché conta ben 840 pagine scritte con un carattere piccolo, piccolo, piccolo.Un libro che alle volte sembra quasi infinito, ma se amate il Giappone, quello delle tradizioni, quello della storia, quello dei Samurai, quello che era prima dell'apertura verso l'occidente, allora questa storia che non volgere mai verso la fine, non vi stancherà mai ed avrete sempre voglia di bere da questa [...]

Intimidated by its length for such a 7-book novel, I did not think I would finish reading this epic novel of a master samurai named Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645), one of the great Japanese swordsmen in 16th century Japan (enpedia/wiki/Miyamoto). However, it is not simply a novel of ruthless, gory and god-like fights we might have read in the same genre or guessed from its brutal-looking cover, rather it is a classic samurai novel penned brilliantly by Eiji Yoshikawa since its book titles may s [...]

Mi è piaciuto:- La trama: un intreccio che tiene incollati al libro, si vuol sempre sapere cosa accade dopo.- Affresco realistico della cultura giapponese non filtrato da occhi occidentali. Mi ha molto sorpreso la concezione dell' "onore" giapponese che traspare dal libro. Finora lo avevo sempre considerato un pregio, qualcosa da imitare e invece questo libro mostra le degenerazioni che tale sentimento può avere la filosofia e la profondità di alcuni pensieri che, di tanto in tanto, intervall [...]

No es un libro fácil. Su lectura se parece a la peregrinación del propio personaje, que camina en búsqueda de la perfección y de la iluminación. La dificultad que muchos pueden encontrar viene, por sorpresa, de la calidad de la traducción y del contenido traducido.Es un verdadero viaje al Japón antiguo. A través de sus detalles nos hacen ver más que los detalles históricos extremadamente apurados, pero también la complejidad del pensamiento y de la cultura del pueblo japonés.Es un li [...]

Novel ini bagaimana? Indah dan Keren!!! Dan akan saya taruh di urutan teratas dalam rak favorit.Ketebalan novel yang mencapai 1.247 halaman disertai dengan banyaknya tokoh di sana-sini, yang terpaksa harus saya catat, saking banyaknya, tidak membuat saya urung untuk melahapnya sampai tuntas.Semula saya menduga Musashi hanya menceritakan tentang peperangan dan teknik bertarung, ternyata novel ini lebih banyak memaparkan sifat-sifat manusia, dan semangat mewujudkan impian.Miyamoto Musashi sendiri [...]

Jujur, untuk versi ini terbitan Gramedia dan yang menjadi alih bahasa adalah Tim Kompas sementara J.B Kristianto sebagai penyunting, membuat saya benar-benar angkat tangan karena terjemahannya bikin saya kurang nyaman. Sepertinya memang publikasi sekitar tahun 80-an (mungkin). Karena bahasa yang dipilih dan digunakan sangat-sangat terasa kental khas melayu. Kiranya dua bintang ini karena saya memang menyukai cerita dari Lord Musashi, tapi terjemahannya membuat saya mempertimbangkannya lagi, mung [...]

Mostly this book is like Pokemon. A young man wandered around the wilderness in his quest to be the greatest samurai/Pokemon master and runs into others who he does battle with to increase his power. He gains new techniques from kindly old masters and visits temples where he participates in more battles. The story does start to be more engaging in about the last third of the book. You can tell that it was originally released serially and should probably be consumed with the attitude one has towa [...]

Amazing Japanese story about fighter's demeanor, patience, perseverance, rivalries, hard work, which always results in a pay off at a later time. Next to this, there is also love, which follows the characters in every move. Well written, hence, easy to read. Many gems of ideas in this one. Hope to read Shogun soon, expectations are pretty high after this.