Hachidai Shrine — Attraction in Kyoto

While walking in Ichijoji, Kyoto, I came across this famous swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi! Miyamoto Musashi is one of Japan’s most iconic and legendary swordsmen, not to mention one of the best. Musashi fought with two swords in the way of the Ni-ten Ichi Ryu, and he was also famous for throwing his swords and sometimes even shuriken. He was the author of The Book of Five Rings, and in his lifetime from the time he was thirteen, fought 60 duels undefeated, not taking into account the men he took down during wars or battles. Musashi adopted three sons and died in his sixties of natural causes, kneeling with his sword in his left hand, a cane...

Most of the guides said that this was the place where miyamoto musashi challenged the head of the prestigious yoshioka fencing school and won, birthing his famous 2 sword style. which is not 100 percent true it is very close to the site and also has a piece of the tree that musashi used to fight around but the original site is about 300m down the road which I found by accident. But to be honest there isn't much here unless you are a fan of musashi. It's pretty out of the way and there are a lot of shrines that I would consider better "bang for your buck" for lack of a better phrase. But if you are a musashi fan,...

Hachidai Shrine 八大神社 Next to Shisendo is Hachidai Shrine where Miyamoto Musashi had a big battle with a great samurai. Just go up the hill toward east is Tanukidani Fudo-in Temple. Going down the slope you will come to a place called Ichijyoji Kudari Matsu which is a place where Musashi made an arrangement of this battle under a pine tree. ( Kudari = go down + Matsu = pine tree ). Read this page for the detail. ( TGM Kyoto Guide...