What is the meaning of life?
I know, it’s a big question to ask, and this kind of existential
philosophical questioning is mainly considered as little more than an antiquated pastime…
a hobby shared exclusively by old men with a bit too much time on their hands; which, to be fair,
is a pretty good way to describe much of the manga vagabond’s central cast. what i love about manga,
is how many of them actually go into this question beneath the surface of the pages, raising
interpretations and hidden depths of meaning that give color to the black and white panels.
But I do emphasize that it’s beneath the surface, it doesn’t suffocate you, distracts from the action
and story to make it feel like some fluffy and lofty microcosm for our combined purpose as humans…
But it is always there. A small, but key part of the larger story.
And as someone who is partial to over-analyzing anime and manga, to put it lightly, these kinds of stories
are always my absolute favorite. Mushishi, and its innumerable morals about the small things in life,
Parasyte, and its questioning of humanity’s values
Inuyashiki, and its exploration of how emotions define people
And in particular, Vagabond, and how it questions one’s purpose
in life as we follow a reckless vagabond turn into a introspective philosopher.
Vagabond is a manga based on Eiji Yoshikawa’s epic novel Musashi, a fictional account of the
life of Miyamoto Musashi, arguably the most famous Japanese swordsman to have ever lived.
But moreso than being just a swordsman, perhaps being what western cultures would dub as a renaissance man,
Miyamoto was also revered for his ink painting, calligraphy, philosophy and writing. But of
course, he was not always this. Vagabond follows Miyamoto’s story starting at 17 years old
as he becomes a ronin, a warrior with no lord nor master,
and a vagabond, a wanderer with no job nor home. Miyamoto’s goal is initially simple, it's to become the
strongest… perhaps too simple for such a complex, revered, and acclaimed manga at first glance.
But as miyamoto continues on his travels and finds that he’s just a small part of this larger world,
along the way through his encounters with samurai and swordsmen of unparalleled strength
we learn that mastering the art of swordsmanship and becoming ‘strong’
can only be done after abandoning those shallow ideas of power and exploring the greatest depths
of philosophy and introspection. That true strength is far more than just physical.
And so what is that philosophy vagabond talks about? Returning to my very first question in
this video, how can questioning the meaning of life translate itself into the fluid movements
of a blade? If anything, intuition would tell us that bogging oneself down with such
deep and overbearing thoughts would distract from the simplicity that is swordsmanship. After all,
Musashi has no master; throughout the story, he hones his craft through battle, by living
constantly a mere swords length away from the cold embrace of death itself. A moments distraction or
second guess could be your demise in this manga; for many characters, it actually is.
And perhaps that contrast between the overarching theme and the reality of
battle and its intensity is exactly why Vagabond is so revered as a story…
the mangaka Inoue Takehiko challenges himself by detailing exactly how a young, fresh-faced,
and ambitious soul seeking to become stronger grew into Miyamoto Musashi, a figure who’s
philosophy in both battle, and life especially, would end up echoing across the rest of time to come.
I hope that my discussion and exploration into this can further both your understanding and
appreciation for this masterpiece of a manga, even if just a little bit. Let’s dig a little deeper.
Because Vagabond is a largely fictional retelling of Miyamoto Musashi’s story, it’s important to
understand the truthful aspects that it all, of course, came from. Most of Musashi’s legacy has
been preserved in two of the books he authored in the final years of his life, The Book of Five
Rings and the Path of Aloneness. Now, the Book of 5 Rings mainly deals with actual swordsmanship,
the niten-ichi-ryuu style that he became famous for, a unique double-bladed swordsmanship that
allowed him to go undefeated his whole life in duels. Going through this book is…
tiring. It is split into 5 books, actually, that of earth, water, fire, wind, and the void:
The Book of Earth spends its time discussing swordsmanship and leadership in terms of building
a house, a process almost as interesting as watching paint dry, the book of fire talks
about timing in battle, water talks about basic techniques, wind seems to just Musashi’s roast
session of a number of different sword styles that aren’t his own, and the void talks about
his mindset for life, and everything. I think, now, i get why i read manga over this stuff.
I found the path of aloneness far more interesting than the book of 5 rings…
because, as implied in its title, i felt a strong connection between the precepts listed in this
book and the path musashi takes in the story of Vagabond itself. Be detached from desire,
never be saddened by separation, be indifferent to where you live, there’s plenty that you can
see in musashi’s character based on historical evidence. In the story he is always different from
other people, be it because of his deep-rooted animalistic rage that scares common folk or
his unpredictability in battle against rigid swordsmen. But on this long list from the path of aloneness,
there was one specific precept that I felt resonated very strongly with the larger idea that
Vagabond tries to invoke through Musashi’s story: think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
Musashi finds himself humbled constantly throughout Vagabond. He gets his ass handed
to him a couple times, and sometimes he loses before the fight even starts. And what is very
interesting is that though Musashi always comes back to the opponents he loses to and,
well, wins, he never really… trains. Or at least in the technical sense of the word. The
time other manga spend watching a character learn specific new techniques, or get weapon upgrades,
Vagabond instead invests in Miyamoto wandering through nature simply in his own thoughts.
It’s interesting that the time spent between arcs in Vagabond, what most manga use as forgettable
sections of simple filler or buildup to the next big arc, Vagabond instead uses to deeply enrich
Musashi’s character as he travels alone onto the next step of his journey. But now, why do the readers
just accept that Musashi continues to get naturally stronger and is able to beat his enemies on the
next try without any concrete evidence of him getting stronger? Why does it work in Vagabond?
Vagabond doesn’t spend all this time watching Musashi do strength training
or learn new techniques because when looking at the story overall,
the physical is not what manifested Miyamoto Musashi, the renowned philosopher and swordsman…
it’s his principles and beliefs about life that still remain to this day.
This isn’t to say that we never see Musashi adapt in battle or get stronger of course;
but the story is very purposefully left open-ended in almost every way. After returning to battle
inshun, aside from sitting under a waterfall for a while, little is known about how musashi’s time
spent in the wild allowed him to grow as a fighter and a person; if you were to describe how musashi
was different when rematching the yoshioka clan, 1 year apart in manga time, aside from
fighting a couple strong guys along the way, most of whom weren’t even swordsmen, there’s
not much to note physically aside from a couple extra scars on his face and a bit more hair on
his head. But it is obvious to tell that he is a completely changed man between these events, from
the beginning compared to the end of the story, and it’s because of how he thinks and how he acts.
Because the moments when we witness him traversing the world offer insight into exactly how his view
on swordsmanship and life constantly changes instead of just giving him shallow upgrades
each time he has to fight a new enemy. Coming back to that quote earlier- think lightly of yourself
and deeply of the world- it’s actually used by Takehiko but phrased in a much more poetic way,
I think, and one that is befitting when describing Musashi’s travels across Japan…
Preoccupied with a single leaf, you won’t see the tree.
Preoccupied with a single tree, you’ll miss the entire forest.
In Vagabond, there is no point to a new battle strategy or blade if it can be stopped by a mere
backscratcher, something we do see happen in the story
There’s no point for overflowing passion or animosity in battle if you can’t get
past a cool and collected man’s sword. As Musashi grows older and wiser, the only enemies he finds
that he cannot win against are those who he cannot actually fight, old former swordsmen who make
him realize that when everything is long gone and time has passed, as your body deteriorates, all
you have left at the end of the road is your mind. Musashi comes to realize he’s nothing compared to
these men wise beyond his comprehension, nothing compared to the forces of nature itself, nothing
the moment a blade ends up slicing his neck and he’s nothing more than food for the vultures.
At some point in the story, before you even realize, Musashi no longer shows signs of rage in battle
You find that he's actually note even the one starting the fights anymore.
He doesn’t blindly attack his enemies to keep slicing his way to the top.
He becomes… kinder. He isn’t necessarily in the pursuit of being kinder per say, but It all comes
back to the idea of the path of aloneness. What Musashi learns from these men is that he is simply
one small part of all that exists, and that the path of aloneness, life itself, means disregarding
unnecessary technique, rage, beliefs… but also understanding that once you leave all that behind,
amidst everything that exists- nature, people, swords, death- you are nothing.
Finding the strength within yourself to admit this is what Musashi realizes,
and what allows him to let go of his preconceived ideas of battle and ferocity. What formed Miyamoto
Musashi. What formed his heart. After all, “all truly strong people are kind”.
It's been a while since I've made a video, and if you've made it this far, thank you for watching
I've got a lot planned for 2022, and I'm excited to really get back into it
and...
As always this has been the Anime Culture Corner, I hope you enjoyed the video
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