This massive and massively popular book, first printed in Japan as a newspaper serial in 1935 and written by Eiji Yoshikawa, chronicles a fictional version of the life of Miyamoto Musashi, as he strives to become the greatest swordsman who ever lived, taking nature as his most severe teacher.
The book later became the basis of director Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai trilogy, starring Toshiro Mifune as Musashi.