Samurai Musashi's Japanese Retreat Garden

This build represents a Japanese zen garden in which Miyamoto Musashi can relax between sword training sessions, meditate and practice his various forms of art.

Miyamoto Musashi was a very famous Japanese swordsman, strategist, artist, and writer who became renowned through stories of his unique double swords techniques.

The garden features a river coming down a hill and into a pond, a bridge over the river, a deer scarer, a pagoda, a rock garden, a water feature, bamboo and a maple tree located by the stone entrance. A turtle rests by the pond and a bird stands on the wall. Musashi's quiet corner includes a stand to rest his 2 swords, and a hut where he can read, write, draw and paint. Books are stored into the rock face, under the river.

I build this set as a testimony to Japanese landscape architecture, culture and historical heritage, all of which I find fascinating since they are so different from western cultures. The set would appeal to many: it combines details of a pretty oriental garden, with the history of this undefeated samurai with unique two swords technique. It is quite easy to build so it would appeal to all ages and only requires common pieces making its manufacture easy. It is approximately 23cm long x 14cm wide x 11cm high. This Lego model could feature in the "Tribute to" (Miyamoto Musashi) series which is a great fun educational tool for all ages.