The famous island for historical duels, Ganryu jima

Ganryu jima is a small island.
The island is located in Kanmon straits, the sea between Honshu and Kyushu.
Also it is near Dan no ura, the ancient offshore battlefield where the final battle of Genji clan and Heike clan occurred in 1185.

What made the name of ganryu jima famous is a duel.
It is the duel of between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro (or Sasaki Ganryu) in early Edo period.
According to a legend, island's name "ganryu" came from the sword style of Sasaki Kojiro "gan-ryu".
Both Musashi and Kojiro were great swordsmen at their times.
They had duel for the position of sword instructor for Daimyo Hosokawa family in Kokura domain.
There are various theories about the duel and we can't confirm how the duel really was like nowadays.
But Japanese people know famous episodes about duel from historical novels or drama programs on tv.

One of episode is like this.
Miyamoto Musashi arrived late to the scene of the duel on purpose, and as he planed, the opponent Sasaki Kojiro got irritated.
Nervous Kojiro's sword became a bit less stable than Musashi's, then Musashi could defeat him barely.
Also according to stories and legends, Musashi made a bokken (sword made by wood) from an oar on the boat to the island and he used it for the duel.
Kojiro was famous for his very long sword and his skill "hiken tsubame gaeshi (the swallow counter attack)", so Musashi needed to make longer weapon than Kojiro's.
This episode told us Musashi's wise attitude to duels.

The duel made that small island famous.
Moreover, there was another duel after the duel of Musashi and Kojiro.
In 1987, famous professional wrestler Antonio Inoki and Masa Saito had a "wrestling fight without audience".
It seemed they mocked the duel of Musashi and Kojiro.
This wrestling duel is also famous among fans of each wrestlers.

I have been to the island once.
I had no opponent to duel with, so I could enjoy the view of the straits and the sounds of waves.