was a famed swordsman during the

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 ...

(17th century) of Japan. Magonojo was the elder brother of

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 awa ...

, the successor to the

School of Musashi A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

. Magonojo has been noted as

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 favorite student, to whom Musashi entrusted his ''

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 a ...

'' (''Book of Five Rings'') before his death. Throughout Magonojo's early years working alongside Musashi, he trained with the

kodachi A , literally translating into "small or short ''tachi'' (sword)", is one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (''nihontō'') used by the samurai class of feudal Japan. Kodachi are from the early Kamakura period (1185–1333) and are in the ...

, a type of

short sword The English language terminology used in the classification of swords is imprecise and has varied widely over time. There is no historical dictionary for the universal names, classification or terminology of swords; a sword was simply a double e ...

. On one occasion when they were training together, Musashi attacked Magonojo with a large wooden sword, which Terao parried with his short wooden sword and counterattacked. After several repetitions of this action, Terao's sword broke while Musashi was in the middle of striking his sword from above; however, Musashi's swing stopped just shy of hitting Terao's forehead. Magonojo received no injury, showing Musashi's skill with the weapon and high level of control. Before the death of Magonojo's master, he assumed the role of successor, which was subsequently passed on to his younger brother. It is thought that Magonojo burned the original ''Gorin no sho'' on Musashi's orders, because the complete original version cannot be found.

References

''Miyamoto Musashi - Life and Writings''

References

Further reading