Circles Part 1

First Published: May 1991 by Fantagraphics Books

• Miyamoto Usagi
• Sensei Katsuichi
• Shunji
• Jotaro
• Jei

Nearing his home village, Usagi rescues an elderly woodcutter and his daughter from brigands only to learn that they were part of a much larger group said to be led by a demon.

Continuing onward, Usagi decides to pay his respects to the grave marker of his sensei Katsuichi and recites in his mind the sad tale of the fall of Katsuichi. Attacked by the students of the Dogora fencing school led by Higashimori, Katsuichi was driven to the edge of a cliff near his home. There, Usagi witnessed Higashimori dishonourably attack Katsuichi, taking out his eye and sending him over the cliff. Usagi slew Higashimori and routed the students of the fencing school, but this did not bring back his sensei.

Now as Usagi nears the home of his long gone sensei, he notices that the hut seems lived in and upon entering is attacked by a young bushi who mistakes him for a bandit. Demanding what the youth is doing there, Usagi almost keels over when Katsuichi himself tells him that the youth is Shunji, his new student.

Katsuichi, looking very Date Masamune with a tsuba over his ruined eye, takes Usagi inside and tells him of how he surived the fall from the clifftop. Shunji and his brother had nursed him back to health and he took them on as his students. Usagi and his old sensei talk long into the evening, catching up on time missed.

Nearby, Jotaro returns to his village, struggling to make it before the rain begins. In his path appears an ominous silhouette and as the rain begins, a flash of lightning reveals Jei standing in the boy's path...

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.