宫本武藏

宫本武藏 is how Chinese reads the kanji - Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), Japan's most legendary swordsman, undefeated in 60+ duels and inventor of the two-sword Niten Ichi-ryū style. He wrote 《五轮书》 (The Book of Five Rings, Go Rin no Sho) shortly before his death - still widely read today as a classic on strategy. Yoshikawa Eiji's novel and Inagaki Hiroshi's Toshiro Mifune film trilogy made him a worldwide icon.

Japanese kanji names are usually read with their Mandarin readings character-by-character, not phonetically. So 宫本 (Miyamoto) becomes Gōngběn ('palace-root') and 武藏 (Musashi) becomes Wǔzàng ('martial-storehouse'). Don't expect the Japanese sound - read the characters.