Reigando Cave

霊厳洞

Reigando Cave in Kumamoto is well known as the place where Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), one of Japan's most famous swordsman and thinkers, spent the final years of his life. Musashi was invited by Hosokawa Tadatoshi, a feudal lord of Kumamoto, as a guest to his castle town. Since Hosokawa himself was an avid swordsman, he wished to be instructed in Musashi's unique style of swordsmanship. However, the opulent lifestyle in Hosokawa's castle town was not the ideal place for Musashi to meditate and write. He instead retired to the cave to write "The Book of Five Rings" and said that a samurai should live a simple life without attaching himself to material things.