This ambitious effort by Mr. Tokitsu is unfortunately riddled with contradictions and biases. He states that if Musashi "judged his adversary as potentially his superior, he avoided fighting him." Saying the "Sword Saint" of Japan would only fight inferior opponents is tantamount to calling him a coward. In most of his fights, including his first as a thirteen-year-old boy, Musashi did not even use a sword but a wooden stick while his opponents usually wielded razor sharp, perfectly balanced Samurai swords, arguably the finest hand-to-hand weapon ever created. In fact, in the latter half of his fighting career, Musashi didn't even strike his opponent with the wooden stick but merely neutralized the opponent's attack, yet still emerged victorious.

Mr. Tokitsu recounts the stories of Musashi's encounters with the Yoshiokas, sword masters to the Ashikaga shoguns and considered by many to be the best sword school in Japan. In one encounter, Musashi fought empty-handed and took the weapon from the head of the Yoshioka dojo and killed him with it! Mr. Tokitsu questions the veracity of that account as "inconceivable because it is necessary to have attained a very high level to be able to fight empty-handed against an armed adept." Is he referring to the same Musashi who during his next encounter with the Yoshioka school, took on and defeated "several dozen" students armed not only with swords but also guns and arrows?

Mr. Tokitsu goes so far as to assert that "several masters in the history of Japanese swordsmanship attained a level that was equivalent or superior to" Musashi. It seems reckless to make such a provocative statement without citing any names to back up his claim. (That is, unless there aren't any!)

In my own search for knowledge in the martial arts, I first encountered Miyamoto Musashi's writings some years ago in a book entitled "The Martial Artist's Book of Five Rings: The Definitive Interpretation of Miyamoto Musashi's Classic Book of Strategy", by Steve Kaufman. My immediate impression was that, in Musashi, I had at last found a true teacher of the Way of strategy. After some time paging through Kaufman's definitive translation, however, I soon began to notice some small inconsistencies which at first, I attributed to my lack of knowledge of the subject matter, but then later, as I continued paging through the book again and again, I recognized that consulting another translation might be of some help in easing my mind on certain matters. At any rate, I picked up another translation by Victor Harris, and was surprised to see that in fact, much of the previous translation was based upon Kaufman's own interpretation and application within martial arts, which incidently, tended to fall away from the original concepts which Musashi sought to convey. Mr. Harris's translation on the other hand, is beautifully contrived. It is a veritable work of art in its own right, and although the general essence of Musashi's thought passes through the translation, there were still certain matters of translation within my mind which still required clarification. Hence, I moved on, subsequently coming upon the translations of William Scott Wilson and Thomas Cleary. The latter's translation certainly hits the mark on a number of technical matters (for martial artists) which the previous translations miss, and although Cleary's style tends to be dry and at times a bit overwrought, as a whole he offers a solid translation of the material. However, as anyone will recognize in reading Musashi, particularly martial artists who are interested in understanding his work from a technical perspective, the material was still quite obscure.
At this point, I had all but settled upon the books I had found, and contemplating the possibility that in order to understand Musashi first hand I might actually have to learn Japanese, I fortunately came upon Kenji Tokitsu's book, "Miyamoto Musashi: His Life and Writings", wherein most of the work had already been accomplished for me. Thrilled at finding this book, together with the fact that Mr. Tokitsu is himself a martial arts practitioner, I can say in all honesty that this is the definitive translation, and there is no better. Mr. Tokitsu approaches Musashi's work as a scholar. He offers a veritable Japanese lexicon of the more technical aspects of Musashi's lexicology, looks to contemporary Japanese Master's who fall within the lineage of Musashi's school in order to assess the range and likeness of their techniques, and attempts, as best as possible, to offer a literal and exacting translation of the work. For martial artists interested in understanding Musashi, this is as close as one can approach to the actual Japanese text itself. Indeed, one actually acquires a certain vocabulary simply through noting the many comparisons which Tokitsu offers to the actual Japanese itself.

As a final side note, for readers not interested in this technical aspect, you should be happy to know that it is all contained in the Appendix and notes. The book itself, the story and history of Musashi, his writings and the writings of his students, are all well ordered and as readable as any novel.