The people

Characters

Musashi and the men he fought. Each page tells what the record says, marks how sure it is, and lists the sources.

How sure is the record?

Every chapter on a character page carries one of these five grades.

  1. Evidence grade: Confirmed

    On the record

    Strong evidence from the time: the person’s own writing, inscriptions, letters, official records, surviving objects.

  2. Evidence grade: Probable

    Most likely

    A reasonable conclusion from several reliable sources that agree, or strong evidence plus sound reasoning.

  3. Evidence grade: Traditional

    Later accounts

    Found in later chronicles, family records, biographies or local tradition. Useful, but far from the event.

  4. Evidence grade: Legend

    Told, not proven

    Culturally important, but weakly evidenced or clearly embellished.

  5. Evidence grade: Dramatised

    Our reconstruction

    Our own reconstruction for the film — movement, dialogue, weather, faces — where no source speaks. Never presented as fact.