Child of Vengeance by David Kirk

For centuries Japan was closed to the western world; an insular world of war lords, rivalries, pride and murder, all in the name of honour.

Musashi Miyamoto (this is the western name style) is a legendary figure in Japanese history. He is believed to have been born in 1584 to Munisai Shinmen and his wife, Yoshiko. He was a ronin samurai (samurai without a master, or lord) who fought in many battles and wrote a treatise on strategy, tactics and philosophy titled "The Book of Five Rings" and a book titled "The Way of Walking Alone" which contained 21 precepts on self-discipline. 

Much of his early history is conjecture, although it seems likely that he was raised by his uncle, a Buddist monk called Dorinbo. David Kirk's book focuses on Musashi's adolescence, when he was known by his childhood name of Bennosuke, and what happened to him after he fought his first duel, aged about 13, defeating the champion of a local lord. This set his feet on the path to becoming a samurai, following in his famous father's footsteps. 

The boy, Bennosuke, became a common soldier and learned his craft of swordsmanship through battle, duels, hardship and solitary practice, in constant fear of being unmasked as the killer of the champion and seeker of justice after his father's horrific death. His chance to wipe the slate clean, and begin again, arrived during the infamous battle at Sekigahara in October 1600, where treachery and deceit wiped out the flower of a generation of Japanese warriors. 

David Kirk breathes life into the boy, Bennosuke, and seeks to explain why a warrior of such talent and, presumably, in much demand for a lord's retinue, should be a ronin. His scholarship about this period in Japan's history - it's code of honour, brutal battles, the tradition of seppuku (ritual suicide by self-disembowling then beheading by another warrior) and the samurai traditions - is exemplary. Bennosuke is a sympathetic character who captures the heart and imagination as he fights for survival in a world for which he is ill equipped.  I haven't read more comprehensive detailing of 16th century Japan since James Clavell's "Shogun". Like this earlier book, "Child of Vengeance" brings to life a fascinating period in the history of Japan's history.

Recommended

"Child of Vengeance" is published by Simon & Shuster, ISBN 978 1 47110 242 4 or Ebook 978 1 47110 243 1