A question about Gen for Sakai-Sensei

[feihong]

Hello, Sakai-Sensei and forum members,

As a teenager I followed Usagi Yojimbo relentlessly, though I was unable to afford a subscription. I collected sporadically (the last issue I collected was I believe one in the "Circles" storyline). Now that I'm in my twenties, I have fallen in love with this wonderful story once again, and I've collected all of the graphic novels. Recently, I'm happy to say, I've been able to take in almost all of the Usagi tales to date, in sequential order.

I have a question about Gen that I have been wondering about since my early days of collecting. In Usagi Yojimbo Book Two, during part 9 of the "Samurai" storyline, Gen tells Usagi, "some day I'll tell you how I became masterless." Since I first read this story, I wondered how it was that Gen became a ronin. But later, in Book Seven, during "Gen Chapter Two: Sins of the Father," we see Gen leaving his father and falling almost immediately into bounty hunting. When recounting his past, Gen never mentions becoming a samurai.

I thought perhaps that Gen might have pretended to be a samurai, in order to appear as a member of his social class for the first time (since he seems so haunted by his poor upbringing, it could have been a chance to reinstate his trampled pride, being afforded the privelidges and status normally given his social class, albeit through deceit rather than through honest means). But at the end of the Dragon's Bellow Conspiracy, Gen again gives reference to his own samurai past, saying to Usagi that they are ronin, and that they are neither of them samurai any longer. Also, I noticed that even though Gen changes clothing numerous times in the early storylines (a graphic detail of the stories that I really like), he always wears the same crest; so I take it that the crest he wears is really the crest of a clan he served, as opposed to being a crest he appropriated somewhere to give people the illusion that he had served a lord. So it seems more likely that he actually did serve a lord than it would be for him to pretend that he had.

That being the case, then is Gen's past as a samurai going to be part of a future storyline? That's what I was wondering.

[Tounian]

That would be cool, I'd love to see a Gen one-shot. Or maybe Gen and Usagi together again, like the old fantagraphics days. They made the perfect pair, and I think it would be really interesting to see Usagi, Jotaro and Gen together.

[Robert Wetherelt]

Yo'; I'd love to see a story with just Gen! And really delve into his motivations for becoming a Bounty Hunter. And maybe why he hangs around Usagi so much. Let's hear it for a Gen solo adventure!!! Abayo! :}

[Robert Wetherelt]

Yo'{me again}; And how about a solo"Lone Goat & Kid" adventure?! That would be SO COOL!!! Just a thought anyway. Ja mata...Abayo! :}

[Akahige]

Hi, Feihong! Well, the gourd crest on Gen's kimono was the crest of the Asano clan. Gen's father was General Murakami, a retainer of Lord and Lady Asano. So as a young child, Gen was a member of the samurai class. When his father took him and his mother on the road to find Lord Asano's killer, they no longer served a lord, so were considered ronin. Interesting comment about Gen wearing the crest. I doubt he'd ever admit to it, but maybe he wears it in memory of his father and mother. Or maybe having a crest on his kimono distinguishes him from the many anonymous ronin we've seen wandering throughout Japan. "I may be a ronin now, but I once served a lord and I haven't forgotten it. (like Usagi)"

[feihong]

Hi, Akahige!

Well, I don't have the books in front of me, but I remember looking specifically for that, and the Asano clan crest is, I believe, different from the crest that Gen wears. The crest that the Asano retainers wear in Lady Asano's flashback is a triangle with a hollow circle in the interior.

Gen's own crest looks more like a fleur-des-lis (don't know if I spelled that correctly).

"I may be a ronin now, but I once served a lord and I haven't forgotten it. (like Usagi)"

But what I am wondering about is whether Gen did indeed serve a samurai lord. In his own flashback when Gen leaves his father behind, he wanders wearing no crest at all. It seems as if he acquired his crest somewhere, and since it is unique so far in the series, and he transfers it from costume to costume, I think it must be the crest of a clan he served. Then he would be considered a ronin once he left that clan. That makes the most sense to me. I wonder though, what clan he served, and how did he become a ronin?

[Stan Sakai]

Gen did serve under a lord after he left his father. That's a story in the far future.

[feihong]

Great! I love how Gen's character has developed over the years; he becomes more complex all the time. Though they both become more prickly when they're around each other, it seems like Usagi's friendship brings out the best in Gen. It'll be really interesting to get more insight into this part of Gen's past.

Thank you, sensei!

[feihong]

Great! I love how Gen's character has developed over the years; it seems as if he becomes more complex all the time. Though they both seem to become more prickly when they're around each other, it seems like Usagi's friendship brings out the best in Gen. It'll be really interesting to get more insight into this part of Gen's past.

Thank you, sensei!

[Akahige]

D'oh!! You're right about the crests, Feihong! I had forgotten that. So Gen actually DID serve a lord at one point? Hard to believe, since he's such an independent grouch. (Can you see him serving in a castle? tee hee) That'll be an interesting story to read.

[Shugoyasha Jubei]

yeah i was about to comment on gens Mon* (crest)

[Akahige]

Actually, I just checked those issues of UY, the "Gen" three-parter (Fantagraphics UY #34-36). In #35, during Gen's flashback about his father, we see General Murakami wearing the same daikon crest on his kimono as he and Gen travel the countryside. And it is different from the Asano clan crest, so it must be the mon for Gen's family, the Murakami clan.