was a Japanese samurai of the early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

. Famed for his skill in swordsmanship. Sōzaemon, along with both

Terao Magonojo is a Japanese former sumo wrestler. He was born in Tokyo, but brought up in Kajiki, Aira District, Kagoshima, Japan. He fought out of Izutsu stable. The highest rank he reached was ''sekiwake.'' Despite his relatively light weight he had an ex ...

, and his younger brother

Terao Motomenosuke was a famed swordsman during the Edo period (17th century) of Japan. Motomenosuke would become rather famous for being the first successor to the School of Musashi that had been established by the legendary Miyamoto Musashi. When Musashi was aware ...

would be the legendary

Miyamoto Musashi , also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship a ...

's three chosen successors.丹治峯均筆記
/ref> After their master's death, Sōzaemon had borrowed Magonojo's

Gorin no sho is a text on ''kenjutsu'' and the martial arts in general, written by the Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi around 1645. Many translations have been made, and it enjoys an audience considerably broader than other martial artists and people ac ...

(given by Musashi) for a few days, in which he made a copy of this book and gave it to Lord

Hosokawa Mitsuhisa Hosokawa (typically ja, 細川, meaning "narrow river" or "little river") is a Japanese surname. People with the name include: *Bill Hosokawa (1915–2007), Japanese American author and journalist *Chieko Hosokawa (born 1929), a Japanese manga a ...

through his orders. Furuhashi himself would also make another copy of the book which was later transmitted to his disciples, which went by the name of ''Ihon gorin no sho''. The following copy ends with this notice: *''The twelfth of the fifth month of the second year of Shoho 1645 *Shinmen Musashi no kami Genshin *For the Honorable Terao Magonojo *For the Honorable Furuhashi Sōzaemon'' Overall, in the end, it is known that people as of today would not have the capacity of being able to read the Gorin no sho if Sōzaemon had not have copied it through his master's orders. Due to this fact, Sōzaemon is largely responsible for the fame of Musashi's work.

References

''Miyamoto Musashi - Life and Writings'' Japanese swordfighters of the Edo period {{Japan-martialart-bio-stub