Daisho Part 2

First Published: February, 1995 by Mirage Publishing

• Miyamoto Usagi
• Murakami Gennosuke
• Inukai (Stray Dog)
• General Fujii
• Hanako

Ronin

Masterless samurai were called ronin, literally "men of the waves", because they were subject to the ebbs and flows of life without a lord to anchor them. They were looked upon with fear and suspicion because many of these ronin were desperate men trying to earn a living any way they could. Also, even after the great "Sword Hunt" of 1587, which had supposedly disarmed everyone outside of the samurai class, there were still criminals who wore the two swords and passed themselves off as samurai. There were also groups such as the Otokodate (Chivalrous Men) who were feudal Japans' equivalent of today's street gangs and who walked about openly in defiance of the laws forbidding anyone outside of the samurai class to wear swords.

Usagi, though still technically a ronin, fits more under the category of kengo (master swordsmen), samurai who voluntarily chose not to serve a lord but instead went on the Musha Shugyo (warrior pilgrimage) to hone their spiritual and martial skills. The Musha Shugyo can range from the lone wanderings of Miyamoto Musashi to the pilgrimage of Tsukahara Bokuden, who took along eighty attendants and had a procession as elaborate as any feudal lord's.

And if you like learning about Japanese culture, stick around for issue 14, which takes place during the Tanabata festival, and for issue 15, in which you'll learn more about seaweed farming than you would ever need to know.

In the conclusion of the Fujii story-line, Usagi, Gen and Stry Dog all turn out to be hunting the General. They agree to team up, with Hanako leading the way. Fujii is having trouble with his new troops, who try to claim leadership. He's also having nightmares of a vengeful Usagi.

That night, the three ronin attack. Usagi kills Fujii in a duel, and retrieves his blades. Stry Dog then holds Hanako hostage so he can take Fujii's head and the full reward. They capitulate, and Gen is left splitting the reward for the brigands among Usagi and Hanako, much to his disappointment.

Stry Dog, however, turns out to be quite a different character than he pretends to be because he uses the reward to help provide for the orphanage he patrons.

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.