The Goblin of Adachigahara

First Published: November 1984 by Thoughts and Images

• Miyamoto Usagi
• Lord Mifune
• Toda Buichi
• Lord Hikiji

It is late at night, and a lone samurai trudges through the snow. Spying a hut he asks for and is granted shelter by the hut's sole occupant, an old woman.

The samurai introduces himself as Usagi, and over a meal, the old woman tells him that her husband was killed years ago on Adachigahara in a bloody battle. Usagi reveals that he too was in that battle and he recounts the story. His forces may have been victorious had General Toda, a trusted ally, not turned traitor. The old woman nods knowingly.

With a goblin rumoured to be haunting the area, Usagi tells the old woman that he was surprised to see her light on. She laughs off the rumours and offers him a spare futon to sleep on.

Footsteps approach the hut from outside. Goblin talons rake through the front shoji and rend the futon that the samurai was offered. Finding nothing, the beast sees the Samurai standing to one side and a fierce battle ensues. Usagi's years of military training show through as the monster is wounded and finally gutted in the snow. To Usagi's surprise, the old woman appears and begins to weep for her husband - the goblin that Usagi just killed.

She tells him that he was in fact, Toda, the general who betrayed Usagi's lord Mifune. She tells him the story of his banishment by Lord Hikiji after the battle of Adachigahara and how he chose to live in this hut, going into the mountains, tortured by his memories. Eventually, he did not return and became the monster that was slain. His lord avenged, Usagi leaves the old woman, telling her to call a priest for the repose of her husband's soul.

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.