Usagi Yojimbo Dojo - Letters - Usagi Yojimbo Volume 3, Issue 63

	Dark Horse Comics Usagi Yojimbo #63 Komainu January 2003

	(Click on the thumbnails to view full size cover art)

USAGI YOJIMBO LETTERS COLUMN
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STORY NOTES by STAN SAKAI

The Komainu are a pair of stone dogs that face each other at the entrance to a Shinto shrine or the approach to the oratory on the shrine grounds. They are usually carved from stone but are sometimes made of wood or metal. One dog, named A, is breathing in with an open mouth, while his companion, Un, is breathing out with his mouth closed, suggesting the inhalation and exhalation of heavenly forces and the balance of yin and yang. The phrase, a-un-no-kokyu, or “A-Un breathing,” describes the relationship of people so close they can communicate without speech. The two protect the shrine against evil spirits with their fierce appearance.

The Komainu can be traced to India and that culture’s stylized representation of the lion. The Chinese adopted the lion and added attributes of their native tiger as well as the Pekinese dogs that were the pride of the Chinese Imperial family. It passed over to the Korean peninsula and on to Japan, where the lions were transformed into dogs. They are sometimes called Karashishi (Chinese lions). Okinawa has a similar creature called Shissa.

Dear Stan,

I’ve been reading Usagi Yojimbo since the very beginning, and I was terrified that you might kill off Katsuichi (as he’s my favorite character, along with the original Jei). Thankfully, you didn’t do so! Katsuichi seems to have mellowed out as a character, as he used to be the strong, silent type and very gruff in the beginning. Which makes me wonder: why did he feel he couldn’t discipline Shunji? I was also surprised that Usagi, out of desperation, didn’t blurt out the flaw he’d noticed in Koji’s technique.

Any chance the “Husband and Wife” woodcutters will appear again in a Usagi story, even as characters in the background of a panel?

Sandokan Solomon
kuna.chan@ntlworld.com

Katsuichi has matured as a character since he was introduced. It’s not that he couldn’t discipline Shunji, but that Shunji could not fit in with Katsuichi’s teaching methods, just as Katsuichi was not comfortable with his own teacher’s style.

Usagi did not blurt out the flaw, out of respect for both duelists. To do so would be considered rude and against the teachings of bushido. As Katsuichi said, he did the right thing.

The woodcutters will return, though only as cameos for a while.

Dear Mr. Sakai,

Thank you for being an inspiration to my students. I teach 5th grade, and I’m someone who feels that comics can help students to discover the joy of art and reading. In the classroom library I included a few compilations of Usagi Yojimbo. They were a big hit. Many of the students took an interest in them and started drawing Usagi. I thought I would share a few of these pictures with you.

Bret Crane
Alcott Elementary
Lake Washington School District
Redmond, WA

Thank you for using Usagi in your classroom. I try to include some insights into Japanese culture and history while telling a story. Among the awards I have received are a Parents’ Choice Award and a 2002 American Library Association Award. Thanks, too, for sharing your students’ art. The drawings are terrific.

5th Grade Student Art

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 authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric content, is coincidental.