Vagabond (manga)

The story starts in 1600, in the aftermath of the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. Two 17-year-old teenagers who joined the losing side, Takezō Shinmen and Matahachi Hon'iden, lie wounded in the battlefield and pursued by survivor hunters. They manage to escape and swear to become Invincible Under The Heavens (天下無双, Tenka Musō). They find housing with two women, but are soon attacked by the Tsujikaze gang, and in the confusion of the fight their paths separate: Takezō decides to become a vagabond and wander the world challenging strong opponents, and Matahachi chooses to stay with the women. Takezō returns to his hometown, the Miyamoto village, to tell Matahachi's mother, Osugi Hon'iden, that his son is alive. However, Osugi reacts hostile because the village detests Takezō for his extremely violent and antisocial tendencies, and because the future of the Hon'iden gentry family is compromised now that their heir Matahachi is missing. Osugi pulls strings to accuse Takezō of being a criminal. Takezō fights his pursuers but is eventually caught by the monk Takuan Sōhō, who makes him reconsider his purpose in life. Takuan frees him and, to make him start his life anew, renames him Musashi Miyamoto. Thus begins a story that will show how the legend of the acclaimed sword master Musashi Miyamoto was forged.

Takehiko Inoue started Vagabond having wondered what the character was like when he read Musashi. Having come off of drawing a sports manga, he wanted to create a series about more basic concepts, such as "life and death, the human condition, etc." Rather than portray Musashi's later life in his "enlightened state", which has been written about often, the author chose to depict the lesser known "young man reaching that point of enlightenment when he comes from a place of being so like an animal." In 2009, he stated that he made his weekly deadline thanks to only having to draw the people, with his five assistants drawing the backgrounds.[6]

In April 2009, Inoue told Nishinippon Shimbun that he suspected Vagabond would be ending "within one or two years." Claiming that he did not know how it would end, but that it had entered its final stages.[7] In January 2010, he confirmed it would be ending within the year.[8] However, in September during a hiatus due to health concerns, Inoue announced that the ending had been delayed until 2011.[9] Inoue posted an update on his website in December 2010, stating that Vagabond would not return until he regained "enthusiasm" for the series.[4]

After eighteen-months, Vagabond returned to Weekly Morning as a monthly series in March 2012.[10] The manga went on what was supposed to be a four-month hiatus in February 2014, with the reason stated being for Inoue to work on research.[11] However, it was not until January 2015 that the series resumed.[12]

The series is currently in an extended hiatus, with the latest chapter, chapter 327 "The Man named Tadaoki", released in May, 2015.

Written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue, Vagabond is based on Eiji Yoshikawa's 1935 novel Musashi. It started serialization in the 1998 40th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Morning, published on September 17, 1998.[13][14] He began the series Real in Weekly Young Jump in 2001, and serialized it alongside Vagabond. As of July 2014, the Vagabond chapters have been collected into 37 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha.

Viz Media began releasing Vagabond in English in North America in 2002.[15] Their release retains the color pages from the series' magazine run, and the company has published 37 volumes as of April 21, 2015.[16] Viz's release is distributed in Australasia by Madman Entertainment.[17] In 2008, Viz began re-releasing the series in a format that collects three of the volumes into one.[18] There are currently 12 VIZBIG editions released.[19]

Two art books for the series were released on October 23, 2006; Water containing the manga's colored art and new pieces, and Sumi (墨) containing the black and white art as well as early rough sketches. Both were published in North America by Viz on September 16, 2008.[20][21]

Vagabond has sold 82 million copies worldwide.[22] Vagabond won the Grand Prize for manga at the 2000 Japan Media Arts Festival. The following is an excerpt from the speech congratulating Takehiko Inoue: "From Toyotomi to Tokugawa. Musashi Miyamoto grew up amidst the turn of two great eras. Mr. Inoue has taken the powerful Musashi who was sometimes called a 'beast' and drawn him as a vagabond. The artist brags about boldly challenging the national literary work of Eiji Yoshikawa, even so, the sense of speed that he creates is impressive. I send my applause to the artist for creating a new image of Musashi."[23] The same year, the series won the 24th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category.[24] Vagabond also received the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002, and the North American version earned Inoue a nomination for the 2003 Eisner Award in the Best Writer/Artist category.[11]

• Solomon, Charles (October 2, 2011). "'Vagabond': Takehiko Inoue creates a samurai masterpiece". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 20, 2015.

• Vagabond on the official Morning website (in Japanese)
• Takehiko Inoue official website
• Vagabond at Anime News Network's encyclopedia