After enduring an interminably long blistering stare contest with his opponent, our hero Musashi finally dropped the stick wielding hobo with a single strike, and thus reclaimed the title of the most unkempt ronin in Japan.

"How did you read my attack?!" "You screamed like an idiot before you made it."

This is where the "80% talking and explaining fight mechanics and the strengths and weaknesses of the characters and 20% being actual fighting" rule in anime comes from.

2:22 Samurai: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 2:28 Samurai: ( ͡o ͜ʖ ͡o) 2:36 Samurai: ( ͡ʘ ͜ʖ ͡ʘ)

"The leaf let me in on it." And so, Katayama Yuuki died confused.

- Did you read my thoughts? - No, you screamed and lifted your staff, telegraphing your attack and exposing your centre at the same time...

Of course, when Musashi realized that his opponent could read his mind, Musashi knew instantly that he would be victorious in this battle. He knew this because Musashi never fights with a set plan or strategy: he reacts to his opponent spontaneously and naturally. Meanwhile, his opponent is fixated upon the external world for his cue when and how to attack. In a strange way, his opponent's greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. When the leaf touches the ground, Yuki strikes but Musashii instantly counters. The leaf is simply a symbol of the external world. Yuuki's strategy depends on studying his opponent, while Musashi employs the no-mind of Zen which is a mirror. Yuuki never had a chance. In his last seconds of consciousness, Yuuki asks if Musashi read his mind. Musashi replies that no, the leaf told him, meaning that it was Yuki's penchant for waiting for an external cue, i.e. reading someone's mind, that determines the outcome.

At 1:31 he didn't really say "An extraordinarily strong demon." He said "人の道から外れた鬼だ。" - "Hito no michi kara hazureta oni da." This means "A demon who has strayed from the path of humanity." I suppose he is saying Musashi has forsaken his humanity and has become a demon as well.

While Musashi and the master Katayama yuuki waited for each other to take action, a leaf fell between the two. Musashi was not distracted, but Katayama might be distracted, thinking that he would win first. But Musashi knew that when the leaf fell on the ground, Katayama would definitely take action, so he already knew of the best timing to deliver the killing strike.

"During training, train your eyes. You must be able to push your enemy back with your eyes. In a duel, focus everything to winning. Every bone, every muscle, your entire skin, every strand of hair..."

Every immortal in the Highlander universe is happy that Musahi wasn’t an immortal.

Even though it is drawn out how they make it intense with just the monologue and you know what’s coming next it makes you feel closer to the characters portrayed here. True art in choreography and performing display

I kinda admire how all his defeated opponents stand there and have a conversation after the strike. I'd be like "HOLY FUCKSHIT THAT HURT OW fuck you bitch!" *falls over

Wow, the Japanese made movies with this, all the way back in the (60s)? Having a voice explain what is happening inside the character's inner-world can turn such a simple scene into an epic world class event, if done right. Very creative, effective and inexpensive. I think I saw that used in anime, back when I watched alot of it.

Book of Five Rings is a perfect companion for The Art of War. Thanks for putting this on. 👍

"Did you read my thoughts?" 'Nope! I read the script...'

1:06 Chills, every fucking time. If you've never read the Book of Five Rings, you should. It's a super easy read. But even in the martial arts manual you knew Musashi didn't fuck around. Ever.

The actor playing as Musashi is also is a movie titled Hara-Kiri: Death of A Samurai. I strongly recommend it.

I played Ghost of Tsushima once and KZfaq already spamming me with these recommendations.

"When your spirit is not in the least clouded,when the clouds of bewilderment clear away,there is the true void" Shinmen Musashi(1645) Go Rin No Sho-The Book of the Void.

It was pretty cool how the tengu dude read Musashi's thoughts just from the expression on his face and then answered them vocally.

Now this... this right here is real life anime scene. 80% - background info 10% - inner voice 10% - fight

first part of fight, lets see who can stare at each other the longest without blinking.

This video was uploaded 7 yrs ago, and the stare down is still going!!!

In age of 8Jahrs was the firthst Time in TV see Musashi. Now i,m 63 Jahrs and still i Love this old Films.

I love the music soooo much. I adore this dysonant melodys🤩 Alone this epic music is enough reason for me to watch this movie

Awesome video. It's been a while since I've seen a fight like this. Musashi is a true Legend. Thanks.

This is the series that was shown on pbs many decades ago. I remember in the duel with Kojiro, Musashi strategized making sure the oar he used was two inches longer than Kojiro's famously long sword giving him the reach advantage to strike him in the head without himself suffering a fatal blow.

Imagine beating someone so well the subtitles stop working

this is from the taiga drama " musashi" if you are interested.

Thanks for upload. Awesome.

"Yuuki was responding to musashi inner voice"

We did that in elementary school and called it a stare down. You look away, laugh or blink, you lost.

" Hey look, a movie that doesn't use the same narration types and rythme than the one I grew up with and therefore is more difficult for me to understand. Let's mock that strange thing ".

Thank you falling leaf. We wudda been here all night otherwise.

"How did u read my attack??" "I was aiming at that leaf, lol"

Really beautiful. So delicate and raw. A brutality and beauty as one. Japanese cinema just hits that spot perfectly.

I thought that Musashi was the guy on the left. I heard he was wild and didn't care for his appearance.

So much esoteric knowledge, I can't even.

I wanna say. I appreciate all of you whl commwnt these wonderful insights. You are the hidden gems that foster our world

I have ZERO idea what the context of this scene is, BUT HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, that was intense

Note to self: Never have a sword duel in autumn under foliage.

The point of the leaf is following intuition, the plane of action above reasoning. As timing is everything, this shows how far the soul travels once you "leave" the mind behind

Wow. 90% of the video is explanation 10% is the fight lmfao. So this is where anime came from

Shout out to @marko19914 who I think explains well the "the leaf let me in" sentence, my interpretation of it as follows (probably everybody knows this by now and I'm repeating myself and everything but, if so please bare with me): I think the leaf represents the principle of what in Aikido is called Irimi, which is the idea of getting into your opponents blind spot while stepping forward, outside the line of attack of the opponent. This is done in order to not receive the attack and move into the open spot of your opponent after the strike as an advantageous attack position(although in Aikido this is used to perform the technique, not to attack). The leaf highlights the attack line, which is being telegraphed as well by Katayama's pose. Musashi realizes about this and he decides to go outside the attack line and forward, striking Katayama. "The leaf let me in" is a poetic way of explaining this and adding drama ofc. If I'm wrong please let me know, thanks haha.

Musashi is a legend. Musashi Miyamoto. Subete no hyo Musashi!

after all that buildup it was decided by simultaneous over head swings where the challenger didn't even attempt to use his superior reach.

"The leaf let me in on it." (c) 😎

Never, ever, trust a leaf!

the fact that these dudes are blankly staring into one another before they kill each other is equivalent of 2 cowboys in a duel

- Did you read my thoughts? - No, I went for the cliche anime ending.

Preoccupied by a single leaf... And you can't see the tree

Flow State: The BOok of VOid nice

Quick!.... Somebody put some Robitussin on his head! 🗣️

Superbly crafted

Wonderful Kiri-Otoshi!

Admiral Nagumo must have known this story because he hesitated and hesitated waiting for leaf to fall during the battle of Midway. Unfortunately for Japanese this was middle of the ocean and the battleships were quickly set on fire by Americans, long before he was ready to act.

THE SUSPENSE! THE INTENSITY IN MUSASHI'S EYES! THE TENSEION IN THE OPPONENT'S EXPRESSION! THE ONLOOKERS WITNESSING SHEER SKILL AND POWER! THE LEAF! OH THE LEAF FELL FOR AN ETERNITY!

Legend has it that when he was a teenager musashi defeated a sword-wielding tough with nothing more than a knife. The guy was a true mutant. Just naturally badass.

Love the bird just going along in the back...

I love the legendary samurai Musashi

Musashi is the guy with good hair, Katayama is the demon with bad hair and bad moves that got his head bonked...Wonderful acting while fighting over a sentient leaf...

I swear they could have a samurai movie set in space and the random leaf will always make an appearance

“Listening with the soul they call it martial artist, being able to read your opponent mind or behavior” from hxh, honestly I always thought it was more using the 5 senses and analyzing the opponent to predict his patterns

The man playing Katayama should have portrayed Musashi. Disheveled, unwashed and unkempt.

musashi never attacked twice he finish all the enemy just one attack that is why he become legend undefeated

Awsome fight. So many good points of eye contact.......

The greatest swordsman that ever lived!! I didn't know he went against Tengu... Now I know!! B.A.M.F.

I watched this entire series a few years back (except the second to the last episode which was not on the list, and which sucked because a big confrontation was being set up). It was amazing. I don't speak Japanese and still don't, but after watching 50 something hours, I was starting to understand what they were saying before the subtitles came up. I was not so much understanding the specific words as much as the sentiment and who the person was talking about. Did I mention this was amazing?

They're both great swordsman except Musashi because he's a strategist in kenjutsu and understands the advantages and the nature on its way.

I know the feeling, I hate being betrayed by leaves too!

Musashi: If he can read my thoughts then I won't think. Zen Leaf: :D

He got his wig split.

That leaf just reminded me of the Serenity scene - I am a leaf on the wind

this scene was great.

The silence was so deafening & unnerving that you could probably hear a pin drop on the other side of that building, the tension so thick that it became palpably oppressive & assumed a life force all its own, while the sense of anticipation was insanely heightened & riveting, yet if this sudden, huge & loud fart rang out such an otherwise hilarious distraction would have zero effect at breaking such fiercely unwavering, amazingly unshakable, powerfully maintained, virtually unbreakable & thoroughly Samurai conditioned focus, sustained mutually by those two above Sword Champions (their concentration was totally impervious to most external distractions, unfazed & borderline superhuman!). Unbelievable, un-fucking-believable!

Their staring contest was more intense than the actual fight 😂😂😂😂😂

Trying to add psychological depth with the reading thoughts and inner voice and so on. If you read Musashi's book, he is very unpretentious about his swordsmanship.

Staring contest, looked like they were trying to read each other's mind or waiting to see who would blink first.

Imagine making a 2 hour movie with this two staring at each other. And getting a best movie in grammys for crying out loud.

Have I just watched one of the greatest scenes ever?

The typical demonstration of: "omae wa mou shindeiro" "NANI!" *The wooden sword wrecks enemy's head*

It was pretty amazing how he got that last question out right before the concussive damage build up maxed out and killed him

The staredown alone could have its own movie.

Myomoto Musashi never lost any recorded sword fights, great swordsman.

Like if you own and have read " the book of five rings "

The guy on the left probably looked more like Musashi in real life.

Я уснул дожидаясь развития событий.

세키가하라 전투에서 서군에 가담했다가 입신양명의 길이 좌절됬지 그래도 후에 그를 알아준 다이묘가 있었다 밑바닥에서 자수성가한 좋은 케이스

nobita from doraemon was the reason why musashi is always late at every duel, hahahaha,anyone saw that episode of doraemon?

Two men fight for the entertainment of others. The clever man got the two men to fight.

Katayama; did you see it? Musashi; no. Katayama; the leaf winked at me. Musashi; the leaf distracted you, that is why you failed. I meet the leaf earlier this morning and we agreed on this strategy to kill you! Katayama; no shiiiiiiiiiiit; flop!

I've read the book. I thought Musahi to be the more unkempt one. Plus he would never fight from a frozen stance. You don't need to, so why put yourself at that disadvantage.

This is long before the incident with Yujiro

Well, that was better than the last 10 Hollywood films I've seen!

Yuuki: Stop undressing me with your eyes!

The problem with this is that miyamoto musashi was always known for being extremely scruffy and unkempt so in essence the wardrobe people got it backwards...

The 3 mins of build-up tho

it is the flaw of concentrated focus that restricts or even blinds the full use of sensory awareness an a wider view perspective

I love how he keeps killing people with a single bonk from a piece of wood