Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

I've always been a little curious about the title "Usagi Yojimbo". We all know it means "Rabbit Bodyguard" but why is it the title of the comic? Usagi was bodyguard to Lord Mifune and, in many of his earlier adventures, he still seemed to see himself primarily as a servant to his dead lord, but I stopped getting a sense of that around the time of Circles, when he decided it was time to return home. Usagi doesn't seem to mention Lord Mifune all that often anymore (at least circa Dark Horse #32, where I'm up to in reading).

I originally thought the choice of title was because Usagi would try to sell his services as a rabbit bodyguard in order to get by, but he hasn't done that many times in his comics. More often than not, his income seems to come from rewards and (occasionally) bounties.

So why "Usagi Yojimbo"? Is it just too late to change the title to "Miyamoto Usagi" or "Usagi Ronin"?

Well, Usagi still sells his services as a yojimbo from time to time. In fact, that's the first favor he ever did for Tomoe and Lord Noriyuki. Gen also hired him when they first met (after all, who would need a bodyguard more?). Though, I'm not sure he does it very often these days.

tayocham wrote:Well, Usagi still sells his services as a yojimbo from time to time. In fact, that's the first favor he ever did for Tomoe and Lord Noriyuki. Gen also hired him when they first met (after all, who would need a bodyguard more?). Though, I'm not sure he does it very often these days.

Yes, those were pretty much the only times I could think of in which he served as bodyguard.

I guess "Usagi Ronin" would have been a much better title, but Yojimbo sounds much better. Besides, it's a tip of the hat to one of my favorite movies, by one of my favorite directors, starring one of my favorite actors.

Stan Sakai wrote:I guess "Usagi Ronin" would have been a much better title, but Yojimbo sounds much better. Besides, it's a tip of the hat to one of my favorite movies, by one of my favorite directors, starring one of my favorite actors.

Ah yes, the Kurosawa connection. I'd neglected to consider its importance