Miyamoto Musashi - Myths & Legends

Q - The use of two swords?

A - It is not recorded that he used two swords at once in any of his duels except possibly during the final fight with the Yoshioka where we was engaged in a battle with numerous opponents at once.  In both the Go Rin no Sho and Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu, the practice of using two swords is always odachi (long sword) & kodachi (short sword).  It is a common misreading of a prominent (but erroneous) translation of Go Rin no Sho that Musashi is advocating the use of a long sword in each hand.  This is incorrect.  It is, however, possible that Musashi's use of the daisho (long and short swords together) came from his earlier study of odachi and jutte used as a paired weapon system - which was the core study in Enmei-ryu, the name of Musashi's swordsmanship before he renamed it Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu.