Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi

Yagyū Mitsuyoshi (Japanese柳生 三 厳; * 1607 Yagyū ( part of present-day Nara ), Yamato Province, † April 21, 1650 ) better known as Yagyū Jube / Jubei (柳生 十 兵卫) was a Japanese sword master at the beginning of the Edo time.

Life

He was born the eldest son of Yagyū Munenori and was first Shichiro (七郎) and later called Jube Mitsuyoshi. The art of sword Shinkage - Ryu he learned from his father.

In 1619 he joined as a Page in the service of Tokugawa Iemitsu Shōgunerben. As a training partner, he earned his favor. After a falling out with Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1626 he went back to Yagyū. Little is known about the following twelve years. It is believed that he roamed the country in order to improve his skills. He trained occasionally in the dojo of his father and was frequently a guest at Takuan Soho. This phase led to a later romantic transfiguration of his person and to some legends. In 1638 he was once again in the service of the shogun, as at the time the best swordsman of Shinkage - Ryu.

1642 he completed his most famous writing Tsuki no shō (月 之 抄), which was the result of his comparative studies of technical and mental problem points of the sword art style founder Kamiizumi Hidetsuna, his grandfather and his father Yagyū Muneyoshi.

In 1646 he inherited from his father a feud with 8,300 Koku. However, only four years later, on April 21, 1650 he died unexpectedly at a falconry of a heart attack.

As a fictional character in the popular culture

Yagyū Jube is a well-known figure in Japanese popular culture. In particular, it is characterized by wearing an eye patch, usually in the form of a tsuba. The loss of the eye is generally explained by an accident while training with his father. However, the one-eyed is not historically secured.