Musashi Miyamoto

Miyamoto Musashi is one of the main protagonists of the Vagabond manga.

Musashi is a historical figure considered one of the greatest swordsmen in Japanese history. As a young man he embarks on a journey to become the strongest samurai after being exiled from his village.

He was born under the name "Shinmen Takezo" but later changed it to Miyamoto Musashi.

Appearance
His appearance changes as the series progresses. As an adult he is a tall man around 180 cm(5'11").

As a young man, he tied back his hair. People often compare his hair to an explosion.

After the Yoshioka arc, he is about 28 years old and he doesn't tie his hair back. He is covered with scars from the 70 Yoshioka students.

In the Last Manga exhibition, Inoue Takehiko had painted an older version of Musashi. This version is very similiar to the self portait of the real Musashi.

Personality
In the beginning of the series, Musashi was portrayed as a hot headed young man driven by his desire to become strong.

One of the foremost reasons that drives Musashi to excel in sword-fighting, is his desire to overcome his father for all the harsh treatment given during his childhood and Musashi's incapability to rebel. This desire made him violent and feared by others, however Otsu was the only person who didn't fear him.

In Vagabond he was obsess with being "Invincible under the Heavens" until he realise that it was simply an empty title and how limited he was. When he was asked the definition of "Invincible under the Heavens", he compared it to a heat haze where it gets hot when one strives towards it but it fades when one reaches it.

After destroying the Yoshioka clan, he becomes more gentle and peaceful but he understands he can't escape the spiral of death and killing. As he figured out that he's stuck in the spiral of death and killing, he felt killing others was like stabbing himself.

Abilities
At a young age, his father would teach him Jutte which helped him to create the two sword style.

Musashi is unique in terms of his sword-skill for the unfamiliar movements and lack of style he use. This is due to the fact that he spent most of his entire time in the forest having been labelled as a demon child by his village for his demeaning and wicked nature. Frankly, the forest is his home and where his master resides.

He is known for his arm strength, in the Yagyū arc he was able to cut a steel sword with one hand.

Swordsmanship: Niten Ichi-ryū (literally meaning Two Heavens as One Style) - He created the two sword style by wielding a katana on the offensive right hand while the Wakizashi on the defensive left hand. He questioned himself why japanese swordsman only use one sword during fights. He displayed full use of the two sword against Tsujikaze Kōhei/Shishido Baiken.

One of the secrets of the technique is to throw the wakizashi blade like a shuriken/Kunai.

Equipment
As a young man, Musashi often carved and carried Bokken (wooden swords) to use in fights. the lethality of these weapons varied, and while Musashi manged to kill many of his opponents with Bokken, a number of his more skilled opponents managed to survive their bouts with only minor injuries.

He was later given a set of sword by Inei; a Katana and wakizashi.

Trivia

 * Musashi's faced time and again with the meaninglessness of his desire to become invincible, along with the fact that his search for strength has cost him the lives of hundreds of people for no reason whatsoever  and  separated him from the one woman he truly held any affection for. But Musashi never backs down; even when confronted with how small he is in the grand scheme of the endless universe, and no matter how many times his ideals get insulted or proven false, he always picks himself back up and does his best to learn from his past mistakes.
 * This iteration of Musashi retains his real-life counterpart's infamous tendency to arrive extremely late to set duels; here, it's explained that Musashi doesn't do so intentionally. In his rematch against Inshun, he was late because he literally overslept; in his duel against Denshichiro, he was threatened at gunpoint by Ueda Ryohei on the way there.