The Bridge

First Published: November 1990 by Fantagraphics Books

• Miyamoto Usagi

Ibaraki

THE DEMON CALLED IBARAKI

The story "The Bridge" was inspired by the Noh play "Ibaraki." As the story goes, in the year 976, the famous general Watanabe noh Tsuna accepted a dare to stay overnight at Kyoto's Rasho gate, which was known to be haunted by a demon named Ibaraki. The hours passed by and Watanabe began to doze. Suddenly he felt a powerful tug on his helmet. He slashed back with his sword and discovered he had cut off the demon's clawed hand. He took the hand home and put it in a box. Days later, as he was performing rites over the box, his old aunt Mashiba visited him. She begged to see the hand and finally he gave in and opened the box. Mashiba revealed herself as Ibaraki in disguise, grabbed the hand, and flew off with it. In 1883, the Noh play was turned into a Kabuki play of the same name.

- STAN SAKAI

Late at night in the middle of a raging storm, Usagi crosses a bridge that will take him into a small town and hopefully, shelter. Partway across the bridge and sensing danger behind him, he draws his katana and strikes - at nothing.

Putting it down to his imagination in the storm, he stumbles into the first inn he sees. The patrons, who at first ridicule him for stopping at the last inn are amazed to learn that he had crossed the bridge without being harmed by the demon that inhabits it. The truth of their tale is given weight by the huge gashes clawed into Usagi's clothes.

In the morning, a demon hand is found on the bridge and Usagi decides to wait until nightfall to see if the demon will return. As night falls an old woman enters the inn and asks to see the hand of the monster that killed her husband. Usagi reluctantly agrees and hands her a bundle. The old woman then changes into her demon form and only then discovers that the bundle is a fake. Usagi is no match for the demon and can only banish her temporarily by plunging her real hand into a fire.

Knowing the monster must be stopped, Usagi goes to the bridge followed by the inn's patrons and some other townsfolk. He demands that the demon return to her own world in exchange for her hand, however he does not bank on being attacked by one of the inn's customers who was posessed by the demon earlier.

Forced onto the bridge, Usagi is set upon by the demon and fights bravely, keeping both the demon and her severed hand at bay until finally he is overwhelmed.

All seems lost until the intervention of the inn's owner who attacks the severed hand with a torch. Seizing his opening, Usagi dispatches the monster and flee from the bridge as it is destroyed along with the demon. With the gratitude of the town, Usagi continues on his way.

Last change: 19. May 2003

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