Legends say that
he fought with his sword when he was 13 years old for the first time,
and had never lost any duels for 17 years.
He fought Sasaki Kojiro at the Ganryu island in 1612,
for his last fight.
There are many legends about the duel at the island.
It is believed that he delayed to get to the island over an hour
from the promissed time.
Kojiro got angry to wait for Musashi,
and couldn't recover his composure when Musashi finally appeared.
When Kojiro drew his sword, he threw his sheath away.
Then Musashi said ``You are lost, Kojiro.
Those who need no sheath are those who will die.''
And the words were true.
He became the guest of a major daimyo, Hosokawa Tadatoshi in 1640. After then, he lived in Mt. Iwato , and wrote the famous book Gorin-no-sho . He died in 1645 after he finished the book.
Musashi is also known as a brilliant sculptor, calligrapher, and painter. There are some his works such as Buddhism statues and sumie .
In 1637, the daimyo who ruled Amakusa raised tax, and collected severely from farmers. Amakusa was located on the west edge of Japan, so was influenced the western culture, such as Christianity, deeply. Famers suffering hunger rebelled against the daimyo , and hold a castle. The daimyo couldn't handle the revolt, and called the help of shogunate. Then the crack army of shogunate arrived the next year, and crashed the farmers. The rebel farmers and their families were slaughtered to the last child.
The leader of the rebel farmers was a 16 years old boy, Amakusa Shiro . Some Legends say he was the gifted boy blessed by the god, leading the farmer with his superior tactics. Some other legends say about miracles invoked by him. Though, recent historians think Shiro was merely a symbol of the revolt set up by the farmers.
When the shogunate army defeated the rebel farmers, Shiro was crucified and executed, too. Some legends say that the wraith of him bring a curse on the daimyo to kill (in fact, it is recorded that the shogunate ordered the daimyo to commit suicide, blaming him for the revolt).
He was blind of one eye, so he is often portrayed with a black eyepatch on his left eye. He was born in 17th century, so didn't met Miyamoto Musashi . People often argue about which of the both swordmasters was the stronger.