Terao Magonojō

Terao Magonojō (寺尾 孫之允, 1611 – November 8, 1672) was a famed swordsman during the Edo period (17th century) of Japan. Magonojo was the elder brother of Terao Motomenosuke, the successor to the School of Musashi. Magonojo had been noted as Miyamoto Musashi's favorite student, to whom Musashi entrusted his Gorin no sho (Book of Five Rings) before his death. Throughout Magonojo's earlier years, he had trained with the kodachi (short sword) with Musashi throughout many times. At one time when they were both training, Musashi had attacked Magonojo with a large wooden sword, in which Terao then parried with his short wooden sword and had counterattacked. After several repetitions of this action, Terao's sword had unfortunately broke while Musashi was in the middle of striking his sword downward from above. However, Musashi's sword had stopped just minutely from hitting the skin of Terao's forehead. Thus, Magonojo had received no injury. This degree of control had reflected well on Musashi's skills. Before the death of Magonojo's master, he had assumed the role of successor (which would go to his younger brother). It is thought that Magonojo had burned the original Gorin no sho through Musashi's orders because the complete original version cannot be found.

References

Miyamoto Musashi - Life and Writings