Musashi



Origin: Japanese

武蔵 (Japanese/ Kanji) Musashi

むさし (Japanese/ Hiragana) 

ムサシ (Japanese/ Katakana

Meaning: the etymology behind the name seems to be uncertain but, if my research is correct, it most likely comes from an Ainu language, but it could mean "military/weapon" from  + "storehouse, possess". However, if it is from Ainu, it comes from muzashi from an older word munzashi which could be derived from Aini mun (grass, weeds), sa (open, exposed, a plain open field) and hi, a third-person possessive suffix, essentially meaning "grassy field/plain" or "weedy field/plain". 

The most famous bearer of the name is Miyamoto Musashi (Miyamoto being the family name), a famous samurai in the 16th or 17th century. He founded the two-sword style of swordsmanship and write The Book of Five Rings which is a book on strategy, tactics and philosophy which still seems to be popular today. Musashi was not his real name, believed to have been taken from a monk named Musashibō Benkei.

There was also a province called Musashi.

Though Musashi is primarily a masculine name, it has been used for women as well. 


Links:

http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/17989/etymology-of-武蔵


http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Miyamoto_Musashi


http://www.musashi-miyamoto.com

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