Sasaki

Sasaki Kojiro (??? ???, (also known as Ganryu Kojiro) died April 14, 1612) was a prominent Japanese swordsman, born in the Fukui Prefecture, from the Sengoku and early Edo period. He is most remembered for his death while battling Miyamoto Musashi in 1612.
History
He went by the fighting name of Ganryu (??), which was also the name of the kenjutsu school he had founded (the name translating to "School of Rock"). It is said that Kojiro studied the Chujo-ryu style of sword fighting from either Kanemaki Jisai or Toda Seigen. Toda Seigen was a master of the kodachi. If Kojiro had indeed learned Chujo-ryu from Seigen, he would have been his master's sparring partner. Due to his master's use of the kodachi, Kojiro used a katana against him, therefore eventually excelling in its use. It was after defeating his master's younger brother that he left and founded the Ganryu. The first reliable account of his life states that in 1610, because of the fame of his school and his many successful duels, Kojiro was honored by Lord Hosokawa Tadaoki as the chief weapons master of the Hosokawa fief north of Kyushu.
The duel
Sasaki Kojiro was a long-time rival of Miyamoto Musashi, and is considered the most challenging opponent Musashi ever faced.
There are a number of accounts of the duel, varying in most details except the essentials like who won.
The age of Kojiro is especially uncertain- the Nitenki says that after from childhood he:
"...received the instruction of Toda Seigen, a master of the school of the short sword, and having been the partner of his master, he excelled him in the wielding of the long sword. After having defeated his master's younger brother he left him to travel in various provinces. There he founded his own school, which was called Ganryu."
This account initially seems trustworthy, until it gives the age of Kojiro at the time of the duel as 18 years old, which since it is known he was two years earlier a head weapons master for a fief, is obviously wrong. A further complication is that Toda Seigen died in the 1590s. This time problem means Kojiro's age could have varied anywhere from his 20s to as late as his 50s. Even worse, a number of scholars contend that indentifying Seigen as Kojiro's teacher is a mistake, and that he was actually trained by a student of Seigen's, Kanemaki Jisai.
Apparently, the young (~29) Musashi heard of Kojiro's fame and asked Lord Hosokawa (through an intermediary, Nagaoka Sado Okinaga, a principal vassal of Hosokawa) to arrange a duel. Hosokawa assented, and set the time and place as 13 April 1612, on the comparatively remote island of Funajima (in the strait between Honshu and Kyushu). The place was so remote probably because by this time Kojiro had acquired many students and disciples, and had Kojiro lost, they would have attempted to kill Musashi.
According to the legend (it is disputed how much of the story is based on fact), Musashi arrived more than three hours late, and goaded Kojiro by taunting him. When Kojiro attacked, his blow came as close as severing Musashi's top-knot. He came near to victory several times until, supposedly blinded by the sunset behind Musashi, he was struck on the skull with a bokken (wooden sword) over ninety centimeters long, which Musashi had fashioned by shaving down the spare oar of the boat in which he arrived at the duel with his wakizashi (the wood was very hard). Musashi had been late for the duel on purpose in order to psychologically unnerve his opponent (an often-used tactic of his). When Musashi finally arrived, Kojiro shouted insults at him, but Musashi just smiled. Angered even further, Kojiro leapt into combat, blinded by rage. Leaping into the air, Musashi killed Kojiro with one stroke to the skull from his oversized bokuto. Musashi then hastily retreated to his boat and sailed away.
Among other things, this conventional account (drawn from the Nitenski, Kensetsu, and Yoshida Seiken's account), has some problems. Would Musashi only prepare his bokuto while going to the duel site? Could he even have prepared it in time, working the hard wood with his wakizashi, tiring him as well? Why was the island then renamed after Kojiro, and not Musashi? Other texts completely omit the arriving late part, or change the sequence of actions. Harada Mukashi and a few other scholars believes that Kojiro was actually assassinated by Musashi and his students- the Sasaki clan apparently was a political obstacle to Lord Hosokawa, and defeating Kojiro would be a political setback to his religious and political foes.
The debate still rages today as to whether or not Musashi cheated in order to win that fateful duel or merely used the environment to his advantage.
Clothes-Drying Pole
Kojiro's favored weapon during combat was a straight-edged nodachi with a blade-length of over ninety centimeters (three feet) long. As a comparison, the average blade-length of the regular katana seldom surpassed 70 cm. It was called the Monohoshi Zao (Clothes-Drying Pole). Despite the sword's length and weight, Kojiro's strokes with the weapon were unnaturally quick and precise.
Swallow cut
His favorite technique was both respected and feared throughout feudal Japan. It was called the "Tsubame Gaeshi" (Turning Swallow Cut), and was so named because it mimicked the motion of a swallow's tail during flight as observed at Kintaibashi Bridge. This cut was reputedly so quick and precise that it could strike down a bird in mid-flight. There are no direct descriptions of the technique, but it was compared to two other techniques current at the time, the Itto ryu's kinshi cho ohken and the Ganryu kosetsu to; respectively the two involved fierce and swift cuts downwards and upwards. Hence, the Swallow cut has been reconstructed as a technique involving striking downward from above and then instantly striking again in an upward motion from below. This strike's second phase could be from below toward the rear and then upward at an angle, like an eagle climbs again after swooping down on its prey.
Sasaki Kojiro in fiction
* The epic historical adventure fiction novel Musashi, by famed Japanese author Eiji Yoshikawa, features a separate parallel plotline and various sub-plots highlighting the exploits of Sasaki Kojiro Ganryu. Eventually the Musashi and Kojiro plotlines intertwine, with the pair's famous duel the climax and final chapter of the novel. * The male half of Team Rocket in the Pokémon anime (Kojiro) was named after him (in English, he is known as James). * In the game Brave Fencer Musashi, the title character's sworn rival was named after Kojiro. And in Musashi: Samurai Legend, the main villain was named Gandrake, named after 'Ganryu'. * Ukyo Tachibana, a character in SNK's Samurai Shodown series of games, is based on Sasaki Kojiro. His rival, Haohmaru, is based on Kojiro's rival Miyamoto Musashi. * The birth and growth of Sasaki Kojiro is also featured in Vagabond (manga) by Takehiko Inoue, a manga dedicated to the life of Miyamoto Musashi. * The character Assassin from TYPE-MOON's game Fate/stay night is based on Sasaki Kojiro. * Onimusha Blade Warriors features both Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi as bonus characters. * Sasaki Kojiro appears in the anime Kenyuu Densetsu Yaiba as a ghost of himself.
Reference
* Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings, Kenji Tokitsu (trans. Sherab Chodzin Kohn), Shambhala Press, 2004. ISBN 1-59030-045-9 * Miyamoto Musashi, Eiji Yoshikawa (translated as Musashi by Charles S. Terry ISBN 4-7700-1957-2)
I edited my profile with Thomas’ Myspace Editor V3.6 !