Is That Miyamoto Musashi Lurking in Ghost of Yotei?
Days after launch, Ghost of Yotei is everywhere—but the spotlight has shifted from its sweeping vistas and stacked arsenal to one enigmatic NPC: Takezo, The Unrivaled, who might be far more than he appears.
Ghost of Yotei just launched and the internet is already touring every scenic overlook and hoarding every shiny blade. But the NPC everyone keeps asking me about is Takezo, The Unrivaled. The running theory: he is basically the game tipping its hat to Miyamoto Musashi. And yeah, the receipts are pretty convincing.
Quick refresher: who was Musashi?
Miyamoto Musashi is the guy your favorite swordsman studied. He is widely remembered as a Sword Saint of Japan, a strategist, an artist, and a roving ronin who spent years walking the country and dueling anyone with a name. The tally most people cite: more than 60 victories. He is also the mind behind a two-sword style called Niten Ichi-Ryu, loosely translated as School of Two Heavens as One, and the author of The Book of Five Rings, which is less a how-to swing and more a playbook on strategy and mindset.
So is Musashi actually in Ghost of Yotei?
Not by name. But the game pretty clearly uses Takezo as a stand-in. Musashi used several names in real life, and one of them was Shinmen Takezo. That is not subtle. Takezo also gets his own mythic tale in the game, where you track down disciples before finally facing the master. If you are thinking 'pilgrimage of duels,' you are on the right wavelength.
And there is that much-memed setpiece duel: Atsu vs Takezo. Players are already calling it legendary for a reason.
- Takezo fights with two blades; beat him and you unlock the Dual Katana Spirit Attack. That is a huge wink at Musashi's two-sword technique.
- He is billed as The Unrivaled, which lines up with Musashi's never-lost-a-duel reputation.
- The questline that has you chasing Takezo's disciples across the map mirrors Musashi's early years wandering Japan honing his craft through constant duels.
Why the homage lands
Ghost of Yotei is from Sucker Punch Productions and rolled out in 2025, and it leans hard into the romance of the lone swordsman. When you finally lock katanas with Takezo, it does not feel like a random boss fight; it plays like a duel with a stylized echo of Musashi himself. The philosophy, the tactics, the discipline — all of it still feels overpowered centuries later.
So yeah, you are not just checking an NPC off a list. You are stepping into a long-running argument about mastery — and the game is having fun telling that story without saying the quiet part out loud.