Does Musui think he lived a good life or a bad life?

Musui spends significant portions of the text, especially the first and last chapters, reflecting on his life and whether it has been a life well lived. In society's view, the answer is clearly no: he is a thief, a con man, a rabble rouser, and is constantly in debt. He disrespects his family, never gets a government post, and spends much too much time in the pleasure district. Musui demonstrates regret at his resulting poor reputation and the harm he has caused his family. He does not wish for any of his descendents to repeat his mistakes, and this wish is ostensibly a major reason why he endeavored to write his story in the first place.

At the same time, Musui believes the gods have favored him. Despite all his wickedness, all the fights, all the bad debt, at the time of the writing he is forty-two, in good health, he has a son who is virtuous and who takes care of him, and he is having a pleasant retirement surrounded by family and friends.

In the end, Musui is a reformed man who nevertheless still has a strong sense of pride and nostalgia for the rowdy life he lived. He lived above his means, and at one point he brags, "No other samurai with such a low stipend spent money as I did," (p. 156). His debt, like his fights or misadventures, is a sort of badge of honor, an indication that he packed a lot into his life.