Sasaki was a great warrior for sure, but unlike most great warrior he was not remembered for his triumph, but rather for his loss. A brutal loss at that, Kojiro fought the legendary Miyamoto Musashi and lost. But before the loss, Sasaki was a prominent and famous swordsman, although he was like Musashi a bit odd when it came to weaponry choice. You see, he utilized a nodachi with a 90 cm straightedge blade. This weapon was also nicknamed the clothes drying pole because of its length. Surprisingly Sasaki was able to manipulate this sword in such a way that he fought with grace and speed. He was indeed a great warrior, and he was most certainly Musashi’s greatest challenge.

As a fighter, he went by the name of Ganryu, which literally meant large rock flow. This was also the name of the school that he taught at. Ganryu became famous at first, after he was honored by Lord Hosokawa Tadoki as the chief weapons master. Ganryu developed also, with his strange weapon, a unique style of fighting. It was called the Turning wallow cut, and was named after the animal. It was so called because the technique was an exact replica of the motion of a swallow’s tail in flight. His technique was quick and exact, and most likely involved a quick striking motion downward fooled by a quick strike upwards.

Soon, Ganryu had developed quite some fame, at the same time Musashi had developed into a famous warrior as well. Naturally the two were rivals, and as well Musashi wanted to challenge him to a duel. So he asked the lord Hosokawa Tadoki for permission to duel with Ganryu. Obviously, the lord agreed and the duel was set for April 13 1612 on the island of Ganryujima. This was a remote island, and was required so that none of Ganryu’s students would interfere.

As you may already know, Musashi arrived late, three hours late to be exact. At that he came gloating and taunting his rival. So naturally, Kojiro attacked first, but did nothing more than cause Musashi’s hair to swish in the air. Although, that is not to say that Kojiro did not cause any damage, because he came very close to victory several times. He lost it when Musaashi delivered a final blow to his skull with a wooden bokken.

This is not the only version of the story however; there are debates as to what really happened, but they generally run along the same lines. There are some that debate also that Musashi cheated in order to win, although we hope that this is not the case, as it is nice to think of the existence of a true Great among the warriors.