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A few years ago, I read the so-called warrior’s trilogy. The informal series consists of Machiavelli’s The Prince, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and the lesser known but equally important Miyamoto Musashi’s Book of Five Rings. Musashi is mentioned in many samurai films and is considered to be one of the greatest swordsmen to have ever lived. His fluid tactics and sound advice mirror many of the lessons from Sun Tzu’s earlier work.

Musashi duelled more than 60 times over the course of his life but it was not until he was in his sixties that he thought of himself as a master martial artist. Musashi is most famous for his two-sword technique and later in life for being able to defeat opponents without lifting a weapon. It is a mystery whether Musashi’s fearsome aura was rooted in his understanding of psychology, his reputation, or his reported unwillingness to bathe.

The Lonely Planet failed to mention that Kumamoto was the final resting place of Musashi as well as the location where he meditated on and wrote his famous treatise. Although the cave where Musashi prepared himself for 90 days is many kilometres from public transportation, his grave site is a little bit easier to get to.

I was very lucky to be travelling with a local Japanese speaker who made it much easier to find the site. We were also pleasantly surprised by the caretaker who let us into the traditional tea house located on the grounds and showed us around. The tea house consisted of several large rooms separated by sliding panels and was surrounded by a garden. The entire experience evoked memories of the tea ceremony described in James Clavell’s Shogun.