Kensai

[|OCS|Virus]

In the game of STW, there are Kensai that you can train, however, does anyone know anything about the kensai? I have googled it and looked through hundereds of different addresses and have yet to see anything even slightly related to what I was looking for, I intend to go to the library and see what I can dig up, but if anyone has some information or a website I can visit? Thanks


-Virus

[Duke Malcolm]

Would this not be more suited to the monastery?

[Ser Clegane]

Indeed

I am sure the scholars in the Monastery will be able to help

Moved

[barocca]

Kensai
the name is mis-spelt in the game
it should be Kinsei
but is often also mis-spelt as Kensei


The following is (heavily) edited from the translators preface of a book called Go Rin No Sho written by Miyamoto Musashi and translated by Victor Harris.



THE Kinsei of legend, around which the unit Kensai is based, was a Ronin samurai (literally "wave man") at a time when the samurai were formally considered to be the elite, but actually had no means of livelihood unless they owned lands and castles.
Many ronin put up their swords and became artisans, but others pursued the ideal of the warrior searching for enlightenment.

Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin, or as he is commonly known Miyamoto Musashi, was born in the village called Miyamoto in the province Mimasaka in 1584.
Musashi is known to the Japanese as "Kinsei", that is, "Sword Saint", or his nom de plume "Niten".

"Musashi" is the name of an area south-west of Tokyo, and the appellation "No Kami" means noble person of the area, while "Fujiwara" is the name of a noble family foremost in Japan over a thousand years ago.
Musashi’s ancestors were a branch of the powerful Harima clan in Kyushu, the southern island of Japan. Hirada Shokan, his grandfather, was a retainer of Shinmen Iga No Kami Sudeshige, the lord of Takeyama castle. Hirada Shokan was highly thought of by his lord and eventually married his lord’s daughter.
When Musashi was seven, his father, Munisai, either died or abandoned the child. As his mother had died, Ben No Suke, as Musashi was known during his childhood, was left in the care of an uncle on his mother’s side, a priest.

Niten means "Two Heavens", said by some to allude to his fighting attitude with a sword in each hand held above his head. In some places he established schools known as "Niten ryu", and in other places called it "Enmei ryu" (clear circle).

Musashi was a cruel and unforgiving warrior who killed his first opponent at age of 13 using merely a Kendo Sword (made of wood)
He then went on to fight many more duels and killed almost everyone who fought him.
Musashi preferred using wooden swords over the real thing, regulalry defeating (and killing) men armed with real swords!
He once used a sword fashioned from the Oar of a boat!
(his opponents could use whatever they wanted - he simply did not care)

He used distraction to upset his opponents, such as arriving late for a duel, or arriving "unkempt" or his choice of weapon.

He had more than sixty contests before he was twenty-nine, and won them
all.

Musashi fought on the losing side at SekiGaHara

Musashi wrote Go Rin No Sho "A Book of Five Rings"
In Musashi's words "The book is not a thesis on strategy, it is a guide for men who want to learn strategy and, as a guide always leads, so the contents are always beyond the student’s understanding.
The more one reads the book the more one finds in its pages."


I can post excerpts from the book if you wish,
but strongly suggest find a copy (it available in libraries as well as the net)
all you really need are the prefaces and introductions - they explain Musashi's life in detail.

Cheers.
B.

[|OCS|Virus]

Sorry it took me so long to respond, but thankyou very much I will probably get a copy of this book in not to long, the kensai have fascinated me for quite a while now. Thankyou very much for the book name, I googled kensai and came up empty, I even went to my local library found NOTHING on kensai, or kinsei, which was thoroughly annoying. I must have check and skimmed 30 books.