[Review] Vagabond: Hozoin arc
Manga: Vagabond バガボンド
Mangaka: Inoue Takehiko 井上雄彦
Volumes: 4-8
Chapters: 33-76
What a fantastic arc! Musashi and Takuan go their separate ways but not before the latter leaves the young swordsman with some food for thought, the idea of truly ’seeing’ which is revisited later in the arc. A young boy, Jotarou, has also decided for himself that he will learn the ways of a samurai from Musashi, and thus follows the latter to the Hozoin temple, famous for their spear technique. Gion Toji, however, reaches the temple before they do and proclaims that he will come everyday to fight/maim a monk until Miyamoto Musashi shows up.
After a short encounter with a mysterious old men en route, Musashi finally shows up the temple, defeats Agon and gets into a brief scuffle with Gion before Inshun, the second-generation master of Hozoin temple, joins the fray. Inshun chooses to fight Musashi, leaving Gion to observe the battle until he leaves halfway, apparently daunted and disheartened by the sheer genius of Inshun’s combat abilities.
The fight between Inshun and Musashi is a new experience for both men. For Inshun, this is the first time he is forced to fight with his life on the line. Although his natural talent has made him a physically skilled fighter, the lack of any real challenge or peers with abilities on par with his own has hindered the complete mastery of the technique. He lacked the soul of a fighter. In contrast, Musashi has always bared his soul in a fight. Every blow, every parry carried the strength of his life itself. There’s also something darker in him which has been serving as fail-safe should his skills be insufficient to beat his opponent, except that this doesn’t work with Inshun and Musashi flees from the fight.
Musashi winds up in the care of the old man they encountered earlier, who turns out to be Inei, the first-generation master of Hozoin temple. Musashi’s defeat and shame is crushing, furthermore the fear he experienced during the fight with Inshun has been deeply ingrained into every fiber of his being. With Inei’s help (Inei believes that Musashi is the rival that Inshun needs to completely master himself), Musashi begins to reanalyze his own methods and reasons for fighting. As he remembers Takuan’s words, he realizes that he has been so focused on himself that he could not see what was around him. However, I personally think that his emphasis on ’self’ can be attributed to his childhood days with his father. It seems like his father (unwittingly perhaps) instilled a deep-seated fear in young Takezou as well as a sense of inferiority and weakness, hence Musashi’s desire to be strong.
Musashi and Inshun have a rematch which ends in the former’s victory, having managed to overcome his fear of Inshun and gained the ability to see the battle from a broader perspective. Inshun’s horrific childhood is also revealed. Although he cannot consciously remember it, his trauma is the cause for his distant attitude, he has covered all of his memories and feelings with the mastering of the spear technique. Both men recuperate at the Hozoin temple after the fight. Musashi is also given a new set of robes and a pair of swords, looking more civilized than before. (I wonder if he’ll miss using a bokken.) Then, Inshun and Musashi part ways with a promise (to try) not to kill each other on their next meeting.
In a parallel storyline, we see Matahachi’s latest effort to better himself. An encounter with a man who showed compassion for Matahachi’s predicament would lead him first on a wild goose hunt, to deliver what he presumes is that man’s swordsmanship certificate to his family, before he finds himself in Osaka where he decides to make a name for himself by assuming the identity of the person to which the certificate belongs: Sasaki Kojirou. Very ironic, and it adds to the increasing contradistinction between the two friends.
Final rating:: 9.3/10
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