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USAGI YOJIMBO LETTERS COLUMN
Send comments to: Usagi Yojimbo ~ Letters Column c/o Dark Horse Comics
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UsagiYojimbo
Dojo: http://www.usagiyojimbo.com
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STORY NOTES Spider Goblins, sometimes called Earth Spiders, are not uncommon in Japanese folklore. Minamoto no Yorimitsu (944-1021 A.D.) had fallen ill and was brought medicine every midnight by an unfamiliar youth. As his illness worsened, he began to suspect the servant of some evil. One night he attacked the boy, who fled, but not before throwing a sticky spider web at him, entwining him. Yorimitsu's four loyal lieutenants tracked the servant to a cave, where, in his true guise of a Spider Goblin, he battled them. The monster was killed, and Yorimitsu immediately recovered. In another story, Kurogumo-oji (Prince Black Spider) was taught magic by the Spider Goblin of Katsurayama to prepare himself for an assassination attempt. There are two major inspirations for the creation of Sasuké: Chung K'uei had vowed to the Chinese Emperor Kao-tsu that he would free the world of demons and monsters. The legend was imported to Japan during the Kamakura Period (1185-1392 A.D.) and was integrated into Japanese folklore as Shoki (the Japanese reading of Chung K'uei's name). Early woodcut prints depict Shoki as a huge, bearded figure dressed as a Chinese scholar with a double-edged sword, subduing demons. The other source was Sarutobi Sasuké, a legendary ninja whose exploits are shrouded in mystery and magic. Sasuké, a farmer's son, studied ninjutsu, the art of invisibility, under the mountain hermit Tozawa Hakuunsai. Japanese folklore took the art of invisibility literally and imbued the ninja with magical powers such as transformation, weather manipulation, and, of course, invisibility. Toads and frogs are often associated with these ninja/wizards. They [the toads] have the ability to hypnotize and to belch deadly gas from their mouths. References
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Dear Mr. Sakai,
I am a great fan of Usagi-san! Apart from the great stories you tell, I am always impressed with the amount of detail and background you provide. So imagine my astonishment when, in [Vol. 3] issue #34, part one of "The Mystery of the Demon Mask," I stumbled over an apparent mistake!
But let me explain. I am an enthusiastic player of Go, having finally reached 1st Kyu and hoping to become better. So imagine my delight when my rabbit-hero was invited to do battle on the Go board! Finally, my favorite game appeared in one of my favorite comics, and everything appeared to be perfect, even up to the "click" sound one uses to punctuate determined play. But then, on page 16, Kojo wins the game by placing "five [stones] in a row"? That's the winning condition for Gobang, not Go! I hesitate to bring this matter to your attention, but apart from being played with the same game material, Gobang and Go are totally different from one another.
Please explain this to me, and if the mistake is mine I will accept correction and commit honorable seppuku if permitted (figuratively speaking – ahem!).
Marcus Spitzenberg
Braunschweig, Germany
The error was mine and will be corrected when the story is reprinted in Book 14 next year. My apologies.
Dear Mr. Sakai,
I've enjoyed your work for years, and would like to first off congratulate you on your consistency and high quality when it comes to your Usagi Yojimbo comic book.
I was first introduced to the world of Usagi Yojimbo when I played the Commodore 64 game Samurai Warrior. It was an extremely old copy, and I took my life in my hands every time I played it, as the ribbon threatened to break at every turn. That was over ten years ago, and since then I've not seen that much of Usagi about, computer game-wise anyway.
I like the "Demon Mask" story [UY Vol. 3, #34-36] you're running at the moment. It reminds me of Murder, She Wrote for some reason or another.
Just a few questions before I go. Is Usagi the only rabbit in all of Japan? And are you going to introduce any foreigners into your future stories, like some pirates or some dandy Spaniards? My final question is: are there any figures in existence apart from Usagi and Spot? I would personally kill for a Gennosuké or Jei doll! You could do an entire range...
Jack Gilmour
jikgilmour@hotmail.com
There have certainly been other rabbits. Kenichi and Mariko come to mind, as well as that bandit chief in "Horse Thief" [Critters #3 and UY Book 1].
As I mentioned in a previous letters column, foreigners were restricted to designated areas of a trade city, such as Nagasaki. It was an act of treason, punishable by death, for unauthorized persons to have any interaction with a gaijin. The samurai mystery novel, The Way of the Traitor by Laura Joh Rowland, deals with this very issue.
Besides the Usagi figure from Antarctic, there were Usagi and Space Usagi figures released as part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line in the early nineties.
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"Usagi Yojimbo", including all prominent characters featured in the stories and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Stan Sakai and Usagi Studios. Usagi Yojimbo is a registered trademark of Stan Sakai. Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric content, is coincidental.