Essay 2-5: Secret of Kumamoto

I guess you know Reigando(霊巌洞) of Mt. Kimpo. It is a cave where Musashi Miyamoto wrote the Gorin no sho(五輪書) about 340 years ago, and is still remaining there. I have to tell a secret of Kumamoto to you, so I am going to talk about secret of Reigando. And it is based on 2 general information and 1 secret.

First of all, I should tell about Musashi Miyamoto briefly. He was a Japanese swordsman in the Edo Period famed for his duels and distinctive style. And Musashi became legend through his excellent swordsmanship in numerous battles, even from a very young age. He is the founder of the Hyoho Niten-Ichiryu style of swordsmanship and the author of Gorin no sho(五輪書: The Book of Five Rings), which is on strategy, tactics, and philosophy.

Second, about Reigando and Gorin no sho. Around the Reigando, there's a huge statue of Musashi. Actually, Raigando is in a temple, Unganzen-ji(雲巌禅寺), and to go to Reigando, you have to pay 200yen. After paying, you can see the things of Musashi such as wooden sword, picture, and so on. Then you can find many small statues of Buddha named Gohyaku rakan(五百羅漢) on huge rock. Finally, you can go to Reigando in the temple. About Gorin no sho, it's divided for 5 chapters; The Ground chapter(地の巻), The Water chapter(水の巻), The Fire chapter(火の巻), The Wind chapter(風の巻), and The Void chapter(空の巻). It's really hard to explain about each of them, so please check wikipedia. Here are the links to The Book of Five Rings(Eng.) and 五輪書(Jap.).

Finally, it's time to talk the secret of Reigando! Near the cave, Reigando, there is a really small park named Iwatonosato Park. People living in Kumamoto city know that there's no place to see the ocean from anyplace of the city, but it definitely exists. When I went there with a friend, we were really impressed because we could see the ocean, which was the Sea of Ariake with really beautiful sunset view. Can you imagine that? It's beyond description!

As a conclusion, I recommend to go there by bicycle or scooter. If you want to use a car, that's fine, and you can do that. But if you go there by bike or motorbike, you will be able to be impressed much more because it is really hard to go there. I really recommend you to go there once, even you use car. There's a sweet spot to see sunset and to know about the information of related to Musashi.

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