Transcript
A (0:00)
Today we are uncovering the insane story of Miyamoto Musashi, the samurai who never lost a fight and became a living legend. And today, we're going through his entire journey as an orphaned child just living in Japan, to becoming the greatest samurai of all time. From his wild teenage years, to moving to Kyoto, to the battle that almost broke him, to eventually defeating the Yoshiaka brothers and becoming the man we know today. But here's the biggest question. Was Musashi just a psycho killer that was trying to fight everyone that he came across? Or was there something deeper? Was he a philosopher that used his sword to find the meaning of life? So sit back, relax, and welcome to History Camp.
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A (1:43)
What's up, people? And welcome back to History Camp. My name is Mark Gagnon and thank you for joining me in my tent where every single week we explore the most interesting, fascinating, controversial stories from around the world throughout all history forever. That's right. This is my journey to try to understand everything that's ever happened. Trying to go through all the infamous and famous people in history that created the world that we live in today. As always, I'm joined by my dear friend, the Greek freak, the philosopher himself, the true student of Plato, Aristotle and. Who's the other guy? Socrates. And you follow all of your teachings? Absolutely. Including the relationships with men and boys? Except those. All right, Croesus, we don't have time to hear you yapping all day, all right? You do and you do agree with everything they've done. This is not the time to talk about Greek philosophy, all right? Because today we're going to Japan. We're looking at the life, teachings and wisdom of Miyamoto Musashi, one of the most legendary samurais to ever grace the island of Japan. Now, in order to understand this, you know, during Japan's time of feudal lords and, you know, warring clans, there was one samurai who became a legend that has still captivated people, I mean, to this very day, myself included. And that man is Miyamoto Musashi. He was a masterful swordsman who traveled from place to place and would challenge opponents and perfect his fighting technique. His incredible battles and, you know, pursuit of just mastery basically created stories that blended reality and myth. And for hundreds of years, people have been drawn to his duels and his dedication to becoming this perfect warrior. The solitary fighter became one of Japan's most famous cultural figures ever through his devotion to, you know, his basically his passion, like, to his calling in life, to his desire to perfect the sword. Yet there are still questions that remain about his true nature. Was Musashi simply a deadly fighter who, you know, tried to get famous by defeating his enemies, or was there something actually deeper? Was he truly the thoughtful, philosophical warrior who saw sword fighting as a way to find inner peace and wisdom? Well, we're gonna figure it all out today, but in order to do that, we gotta go all the way back to 1584, when Japan was torn apart by constant fighting. So you have these different powerful warlords basically, that are battling each other for control of territory. You know, this is the story throughout most of human history, and Japan is no different. In the small, peaceful village of Miyamoto, there was a child that was born that would one day become famous. And the baby was named Benosuke. And his birth brought, you know, joy and sorrow in different ways. You see, his mother, Omasa, died from problems during childbirth, leaving this tiny infant without a mother from the very beginning. So growing up without a mom changed Benosuke in profound ways. You see, his father, Miyamoto Munasai, was a skilled sword fighter who took care of him. And along with some help from his uncle, who was a monk, the boy learned to live with, you know, sort of a conflicting feeling about his life and who he was. Right. He had this sort of sadness from not having a mother and, you know, as a result of that, became very self reliant and in a lot of ways just kind of kept to himself. And this early hardship taught him to, you know, have grit and sort of fortitude and never really give up, despite how difficult things can become. Because for Benosuke, things were difficult from the get go. And these qualities of strength and determination would later help him become one of Japan's greatest samurais ever. But without this, you know, mother's love, so to speak. Benosuke was raised by his father, who was again a demanding teacher and also a famous samurai in his own right. And he was known throughout the region for his sword skills. So his father, Munasai, was determined to train his son in everything a warrior needed to know. So from a young age, Benosuke showed that he was a natural fighter and quickly picked up the combat methods that his father taught him. His father, Munasai, was especially good with the juri, which is a hooked iron weapon, and he passed the skill on to his son. So Benosuke developed his own fighting approach that mixed a, you know, a power and an aggression with this perfect, careful technique. However, learning to fight wasn't the only part of Bunosuke's upbringing. You see, his uncle Doran, who was also a Buddhist monk, constantly tried to teach him about kindness and self control and understanding who you are and knowing thyself better. But Benosuke was a stubborn child who didn't always like to listen. His relationship with his father was complicated. Right. He respected Monasai, but also wanted to rebel against him, like a lot of young men do, always wanting to learn more and gain respect. Benosuke began to challenge his father's methods and actually tried to create his own way of fighting instead of just following the old traditions. So Munazi believed in doing things the traditional way and saw his son's bold ideas as, you know, disrespectful, basically. And the two would argue and argue and more and more frequently they would get into these fights. And eventually these fights got worse because Munasai was a bit of a drinker. Eventually, the father and son became so distant that they could barely even talk to each other. They couldn't even be in the same room at certain points. And feeling like nobody understood him and desperate to prove what he could do, Benosuke made the difficult choice to leave home and start on his own journey. He even changed his name to Takezo as a way to show his independence and his sort of life mission of becoming this respected samurai through his own efforts. When Benosuke chose the name Takezo, it meant he was basically starting his life over. He was leaving behind the old life and everything his family had taught him, hoping to build something great and new for himself. And now, free from, you know, these old rules and these traditions, this young fighter was, you know, more or less ready to just take on whatever the world wanted to throw at him. And he had literally his own weapon and this sort of unshakable will to just make it. Whether that meant he was going to be the greatest or die trying, he didn't care. So Benosuke, now Takezo, began living in the wilderness almost like a. Like an animal. He had no place to go, he knew no one else. And as a result of that, he became kind of aggressive and angry. And whenever he crossed paths with other young warriors, these meetings typically turned into fights. Driven by this intense need to prove that he was better than everyone, Takezo threw himself into battle after battle, using each fight as a chance to improve his abilities and try to get better. His strength and his courage were obvious to anyone that was unfortunate enough to confront him. And every time he won a duel, he would feel more and more confident about himself. And this success fed into his ego, into his pride, and made him even more determined to become the greatest samurai ever. So by the time Takezo turned 13, his desire to become famous was already burning inside of him. Word spread that Arima Kahai, a well known samurai who was an expert in a specific traditional Shinto to ryu fighting style, was traveling across Japan looking for people to fight. He was challenging other swordsmen to duels as a way to kind of build up his own reputation and test his own skills in combat. Knowing his son wasn't ready for such a dangerous fight, Mudasai forbade Takeo from even accepting this challenge at all. But Takezo, driven by this teenage recklessness and this pride, ignored his family's orders and signed up for this duel anyway. And when people heard about this, they were kind of shocked and they couldn't believe that such a young person would dare face this experienced warrior like Arima. So when Arima Kahai found out that this 13 year old had accepted his challenge, he went to go speak with the boy's uncle, the Buddhist monk. And he told this monk that when the time came, Takezo should simply show up and say sorry in front of everyone for acting, you know, so bold and so foolishly. And the monk agreed to talk to the boy, but warned Arima that Takezo wasn't like other kids. He had this like, wild spirit, like an animal. And you know, people even said that he would practice fighting with mountain spirits like he was unlike any other fighter the people in the town knew. So on the day of the duel, crowds gathered in the town to watch what seemed like an impossible fight and a legal fight. No one knew what was going to happen. Arima appeared wearing this impressive black robe and carried his katana with him. And Takezo showed up in plain Clothes with only a wooden practice sword. And he looked small and helpless compared to this. Like seasoned samurai, right? It was literally like Dave and Goliath. It was like a giant fighting a child. But Takezo didn't come to apologize. He wanted a fight. And the battle began with Arima attacking him, trying to end things quickly since he couldn't afford to, like, lose to a kid. However, Takezo was fast and he was smart, and he was dodging these attacks and using his speed and his size to his advantage. And he fought with a surprising intensity and determination. Takizo launched his own attack, catching Kihai completely off guard. And this experienced samurai hadn't expected so much aggression fighting someone so young, and quickly found himself having a difficult time defending. Tako managed to knock the weapon from Kai's hand and delivered a blow to the head. The duel ended with Arima Kehai dying from the head injury, giving this future Musashi his first victory in a fight to the death. This victory made Takezo and his already, you know, inflated ego even larger. This duel changed his life forever. Beating this skilled and experienced swordsman boosted his confidence in a way that he never could have even anticipated, and basically started him on the road to becoming the legend we know today. However, even though Takezo was proving himself as a fighter, he was still, you know, sort of possessed by this wild, uncontrolled spirit. And unless he could learn how to control his anger and his emotions, he would never actually reach the true greatness. So after this win and this victory against this, you know, skilled samurai, word about Takezo spread throughout the region. And people knew that he was a gifted fighter, but they also learned about his bad attitude and his arrogance, which created enemies everywhere he went. Takizo was both, you know, proud, but also quick to anger and hot headed, and he refused to walk away from any challenge. He saw every fight as, you know, a chance to get better, but also an attack on his identity or his ego. And he wanted to prove to everyone that he was better than them, earning respect by intimidating people with, you know, his strength and his aggression. And the streets and open areas around Kyushi became places where Takezo would fight spontaneous duels whenever his anger flared up. Until one day, his luck ran out and he was caught. You see, his captors brought him to Taekwond Soho, a respected Zen Buddhist monk who promised he could basically control this young warrior's energy and a lot of his aggression. And this monk tied Takezo up with ropes and suspended him from a tree branch. And Takezo screamed and he cursed at the monk and he hurled insults and everything that he could think of. He was so pissed off. But Takuan was calm and unaffected by any of these attacks. And basically, Takezo, this young warrior, hung on this tree branch by these ropes, just helplessly, just completely tied up, and there was nothing he could do. And he was powerless, but he was, more importantly, embarrassed. And this quiet forest made the isolation even worse and basically forced him to face the dark parts of his personality. And for several days, he remained tied to that tree while Takwan came to visit him occasionally, not to set him free, but to challenge him with questions and lessons. He would basically walk up to him and just be like, what's up? And Takezoa was pissed off. He'd be like, what the do you want? He'd go. Literally, he would say, this real strength doesn't just come from physical power, but from mental discipline. A sword is a mighty weapon, but it can be used to help people or hurt them. A genuine samurai seeks balance and peace, not chaos and violence. And then homeboy just walked away. I mean, Takazo, I would. I would be so pissed if I was just tied up to a tree, just bound, and some dude just came up to you, started saying riddles. So that was the turning point for Takeo in his life. He was forced to basically see his own arrogance and just contemplate what was happening in his life and his reckless behavior, you know, entirely. And he started to realize how these qualities like patience and planning and self discipline were actually fundamental to his success in any way, whether it was to be the greatest fighter or just to be a, you know, happy human being. And so from that day forward, Takwan became like a mentor to Takezo, helping him navigate, you know, difficult personal times and guiding him as he worked to become a better human being. Now, for context, this is an interesting moment in Japanese history because you see, Japan is approaching basically this giant conflict between two of its most powerful families, the Toyotomi and the Tokugawa. And these two clans basically were getting more intense as they battled for control over the entire nation. And stories about the coming war traveled from town to town through traders and merchants and other travelers. And samurais everywhere were preparing their weapons, and, you know, the local sort of warlords were gathering armies. And people felt both excited but also kind of terrified about what was coming. And even though Takezo was still young at this time, he could feel this pull of the war sort of calling for him. He saw this conflict as a chance to prove himself on a bigger scale than ever before. This was a way for this young warrior to actually test his fighting abilities in serious battles and earn the fame and the sort of admiration that he desperately wanted. He had grown up hearing tales about these legendary warriors, and he was convinced that his future was on the battlefield. And that's where he would be known, where he could fight beside other samurai and make his own place in Japan's history. What's up, guys? We're gonna take a break really quick because you need to stop choking your chicken, slapping your salami, beating your meat, doing a little five knuckle shuffle, shaking hands with the unemployed, or squeezing the stress. You get what I'm saying? All right, we're talking about no fap. Yeah, I'm sure you've tried probably for like a week, maybe three days, maybe you went on a family vacation, you're like, you know what? I'm not gonna tug it. Then you got back home, you got back in your routine and you're like, damn, dude, I should probably try to stop doing this, right? And that's where Relay comes in. Because Relay isn't just an app. It is a community. Think like a group chat where everyone is rooting for you, trying to help you become your best self, trying to master all of your vices and your urges. And that includes the old, you know, spanking the monkey, right? So whether it's, you know, specifically your proclivity for seeing that sweet stuff on your screen or it's, you know, booze, weed, whatever, Relay is a place where people actually have your back. So if you are looking to continue on your journey not using willpower, but using community, download the Relay app today. The best way to do it is go to join Relay. That is J O I N R E L a Y dot app app slash camp that is join Relay app camp and use the code Gagnon for a seven day free trial. I'm telling you, this is the best way to find a like minded group of people who will help you become the best version of you. Now let's get back to the show.
