– Customer review on 09/01/2012

Excellent book, a classical Japanese historical novel. It's a fictional account of the early life and career of Miyamoto Musashi, perhaps the best known of Japanese swordsmen and the author of the Book of Five Rings/Circles. It draws on what was known about Musashi, and adds a whole lot of extra stuff. This book is so well-known that a lot of the fictional stuff about Musashi has cycled back into other writings as "fact". Ends with the famous duel against Sasaki Kojiro.

– Customer review on 11/11/2006

The story of Musashi is great because of the development that this man goes through. Having read the book of five rings and been quite impressed with the wisdom of Musashi it is enlightening to see from what humble beginnings he came. Yoshikawa tells the story with ease and integrates a seemingly masterful understanding of battle strategies and spiritual philosophy into the story. This is one of those books that you do not want to end.