Miyamoto Musashi was born in 1584, in a Japan struggling to recover frommore than four centuries of internal strife. The traditional rule of the emperorshad been overthrown in the twelfth century, and although each successiveemperor remained the figurehead of Japan, his powers were very muchreduced. Since that time, Japan had seen almost continuous civil war betweenthe provincial lords, warrior monks and brigands, all fighting each otherforland and power. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the lords, calleddaimyo, built huge stone castles to protect themselves and their lands andcastle towns outside the walls began to grow up. These wars naturally restrictedthe growth of trade and impoverished the whole country.