I am a visitor from America, and in late October I traveled to Kumamoto in search of Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), the legedendary Japanese swordsman.
Kumamoto has a large bus terminal with 36 points of departure. After some assistance from the bus personnel, my daughter and I located the correct bus heading to Reigando Cave. This is where Musashi spent the last years of his life and purportedly wrote The Book of Five Rings.
We reached the bus stop in about a half hour. It is a 20 minute walk uphill to the cave.
After paying the entrance fee we passed by some modest displays before pausing to photograph the stone jizo figures covering the hillside. Then we climbed up to the cave and investigated. It was just as we had seen on the 2003 Taiga Drama, "Musashi." We each sat on the large rock and took in the view, as we imagined Musashi himself may have done in his private meditation.
The guide book recommended traveling by car to Reigando Cave, and if you have this option available I think it is a wise decision. The bus schedule isn't convenient at all. We had to ask a sympathetic middle-aged couple for a ride down the hill because we weren't going to make it to the bus stop on time. The man and his wife were so kind they ended up driving us to a local bus terminal. We were extremely grateful.
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Miyamoto Musashi Reigando Cave Miyamoto Musashi Kumamoto
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