That stable career was destroyed when a villainous rival lord, Lord Hikiji, sent ninja to assassinate the Mifune family. In his term of service, Usagi rose to become a trusted personal bodyguard of his Lord and his family. Kenichi and Mariko later married however, before leaving the village, Usagi and Mariko had a romantic encounter that resulted in a son, Jotaro, whose parentage was hidden from Usagi for years. Kenichi decided to stay, and would eventually become headman upon Usagi's father's death, which comforted Mariko somewhat against the loss of her other dearest friend. Together they returned to their village to free it from brigands that were threatening it. Before leaving to enter Mifune's service, Usagi returned to his village for a final farewell, where he found Kenichi had been staying at an inn in drunken despair, having sworn to leave the school due to his failure to win the tournament, but too ashamed to return home. The region's daimyō, Lord Mifune, was observing the contest and was impressed with Usagi's skill enough to offer him a position as a retainer. Usagi won the tournament, his final match being against his old "comrade" Kenichi, who by then was the top student of the Dogora school, and earned his own daisho: the katana named Yagi no Eda (en: "Willow Branch") and the wakizashi named Aoyagi (en: "Young Willow"). Before a blow could be struck however, Usagi's future lord, Mifune, intervened on his behalf, and upon sensing the rabbit's honorable nature, let Usagi go.Īt the end of his training, Katsuichi brought Usagi to a fencing tournament hosted by the Dogora school. Instead of summarily executing the young rabbit, they instead began the process of cutting his hand off. Upon his return to the battlefield to return the sword to its rightful owner, Usagi was caught by adult samurai and accused of theft. Fraught with guilt over the theft, Usagi began seeing the now dead soldier in numerous situations, at one point having a nightmare that involved Katsuichi morphed into the soldier. One of those misadventures involved a young Usagi stealing a dying soldier's wakizashi while walking through a battlefield with his teacher. Katsuichi initially refused, but relented when Usagi stood outside his home day and night through unpleasant weather long enough to convince the teacher of his determination.įor years, Usagi was the exclusive student of Katsuichi-sensei, and although he proved a mischievous pupil who got into various misadventures, he also excelled at his studies to become a formidable warrior. Although Kenichi was unimpressed by the display, Usagi pursued the departing sensei to petition him to become his student. In spite of their numerical advantage, the gang was quickly defeated by the sensei's unusual, but definitely effective, technique. Katsuichi had left the school years ago, dissatisfied with the poor calibre of the students. However, on the trip there the boys witnessed a confrontation where a gang of arrogant Dogora students attacked a lone traveler named Katsuichi. Eventually the trio went their separate ways when the boys were sent to be trained as samurai in the Dogora school of Bujitsu (en: arts of war). His two childhood playmates were Kenichi, with whom Usagi would have a less-than-friendly rivalry his whole life, and Mariko, one of the reasons for the boys' rivalry. Usagi was born the only son of a village headman. Usagi is a highly skilled swordsman and one of the best in the land. Originally intended to be a human, Sakai was inspired to anthropomorphize the character after doodling a rabbit with its ears bound in a style reminiscent of a samurai topknot. Miyamoto Usagi is the main protagonist of Usagi Yojimbo, whom Sakai has said was inspired by the life of legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. He also placed 31st in The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters in Empire. In May 2011, Miyamoto Usagi placed 92nd on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time. The character has frequently crossed over with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Usagi is an anthropomorphic rabbit ( Usagi is Japanese for "rabbit") and a ronin now walking the musha shugyo (warrior's pilgrimage). Miyamoto Usagi ( Japanese: 宮本 兎) is a fictional character, who appears in the American comic book Usagi Yojimbo, a Dark Horse Comics book created by Stan Sakai. Art by Stan Sakai.Īlbedo Anthropomorphics Vol 1 #2: The Goblin of Adachigahara (1984) Cover art of Usagi Yojimbo Volume 3, Issue 93.
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