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is a Japanese
sports manga is a genre of Japanese manga and anime that focuses on stories involving sports and other athletic and competitive pursuits. Though Japanese animated works depicting sports were released as early as the 1920s, sports manga did not emerge as a di ...
series written and illustrated by Motoka Murakami that focuses on
kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords ( shinai) as well as protective armor ( bōgu). It began as samurai warriors' customary swordsmanship ex ...
. It was serialized by
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...
in ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, making it ...
'' between April 1981 and October 1985. ''Musashi no Ken'' received the 1984
Shogakukan Manga Award The is one of Japan's major manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is ...
for manga. The manga was adapted as a 72-episode
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series by Eiken. The manga was also adapted into a Famicom
platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...
called . The game was developed and published by
Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...
. It was released in Japan on August 8, 1986.


Plot

The manga tells the story of Musashi Natsuki, an aspired
kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords ( shinai) as well as protective armor ( bōgu). It began as samurai warriors' customary swordsmanship ex ...
swordsman. He was born to Eiichiro and Kayo Natsuki, in
Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...
of the Northeast region. Both his parents were acclaimed kendo swordsmen, especially his father Eiichiro who was nationally famous. After Eiichiro's death accidentally caused by his rival Kunihiko Tōdō's tsuki, Musashi vowed to defeat Kunihiko one day. Unfortunately, Kunihiko retired from kendo out of guilt, and Musashi then aimed to beat his son Shura Tōdō instead. There was no hard feeling between them, however, and they remained good friends. Musashi trained hard as a child under the guidance of his mother Kayo, who had retired from professional kendo and now only did her day job as a full-time grade school teacher at Musashi's school, but he also got more practice from the local dojo with Ranko Todoroki, who later became one of his closest friends. From volume 13, after Musashi finally defeated Shura at the national championship, the story jumped forward to when Musashi was 15 and the started. Musashi went to Kaiyo High and met new friends and stronger fellow kendo swordsmen. But during the time there, he realized his shortcomings, and wanted to be stronger and learn more from various schools of kendo in Japan. Thanks to Kayo's words of encouragement, he made up his mind, halted his high school education, traveled from dojo to dojo and challenged their best swordsmen, just like his legendary namesake
Miyamoto Musashi , was a Japanese swordsman, strategist, artist, and writer who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 62 duels. Miyamoto is considered a ''Kensei (honorary title), kensei'' (swo ...
did (he even learned Miyamoto Musashi's double-katana technique from a reclusive old man and tailored it to suit his kendo), until he was ready to face off very strong opponents at the final national championship. The story takes place in the Northeast region, therefore the characters spoke their local dialect and accent, and
furigana is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana (syllabic characters) printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters to indicate their pronunciation. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also know ...
is frequently used to gloss obscure dialectal words.


Characters

; :The protagonist. Born on June 3 at 4 (the "sixth" ('' mu'') month, the "third" (''sa'') day, "four" (''shi'') AM), he started out as a headstrong and kid who was taught kendo by his beloved father at a very young age. For the most part of his childhood, he never backed down from a duel and refused to give up even when he got beaten up. After his father's death, he was determined to perfect his tsuki in order to beat Shura and become the strongest swordsman in Japan. During the Youth Arc, he traveled to schools of kendo to better his skills and experience various styles of kendo. ; :Musashi's mother. She was known as one of the strongest and most acclaimed swordswomen in the Northeast region. Unlike Musashi's easy-going father, she was strict on his upbringing, especially after his father died. She helped with his practice at times, and coaching his team for the adolescent championship. She taught at Musashi's school as a day job and retired from kendo for a while. She encouraged Musashi to travel in the Youth Arc. With Musashi's encouragement, she practiced kendo again for one last championship, during which Musashi finally approved of her remarrying her coworker and his former teacher, Mikio Yaegashi, which he had hoped her not to do as a kid because of his love for his late father. ; :Musashi's father. He was a full-time salaryman, but also one of the strongest swordsmen nationally. He was easy-going and a bit of an alcoholic, but he sincerely loved his wife and son. He was capable of fending off muggers with just a toothpick as his "sword", and very quickly slicing holes through a waterfall. Despite his various accolades, he was determined to beat his eternal rival Kunihiko Tōdō, whose tsuki proved deadly and cost him his life. But even in death, he never stopped inspiring his son Musashi to be the strongest swordsman. ; :Musashi's dog. He was an abandoned puppy who seemed to be as headstrong as Musashi, and was adopted by Eiichirō to keep Musashi's company. He somehow got into a fight with feral dogs, but thankfully got saved by Musashi, although the fight resulted in Musashi critically injured and Toichi blind in his right eye forever. Toichi could understand human speak, and always ran along with Musashi for exercise during his childhood. He also had puppies with another dog without his family's knowledge, although one of them froze to death due to Ranko's neglectful adoption. ; :Musashi's first rival. He was very well-mannered being raised by a strict father. When Musashi tried to challenge his father and failed, he told him that only he could defeat his own father, and also promised to duel Musashi at the championship. He was, unfortunately, beaten twice by Musashi (both times during the final duel of a national championship, the second one is at the end of the series) even though he had really great potential as an almost unbeatable swordsman, and felt guilty that he failed his late mother for whom he fought. Shura is apparently named after
Asura Asuras () are a class of beings in Indian religions, and later Persian and Turkic mythology. They are described as power-seeking beings related to the more benevolent Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhist context, the wor ...
(exact same Japanese pronunciation and spelling) for some reason; this fact was highlighted only once, when Mr. Yaegashi's mentioned the title of
Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist, poet, and children's literature writer from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social ...
's ''Spring and Asura'' (''Haru to Shura'') in his class and caught Musashi's attention while he was otherwise being bored out of his mind. ; :Shura's strict father and Eiichirō's rival. He was in sharp contrast to Eiichirō's easy-going personality, in that he always appeared stiff and formal. His abusive way of training Shura kept his wife up at night because she always felt sorry for her son, which was the bane of their marriage. Kunihiko's tsuki was deadly, being able to pierce through hard wood at full force, and it is this tsuki that killed Eiichirō, whom he deeply respected. ; :Shura's mother. Shura's memory with his beloved mother was always what kept him going. Despite his stiff demeanor and abusive method, her husband really loved her and accepted her slapping as a punishment for his inability to express sympathy. ; :One of the few notable swordswomen in the series. Ranko had a lot of similarities with Musashi as headstrong kids who refused to back down. She was one of the few lesser swordsmen that could hold up against Musashi, and also his first female opponent ever. When Musashi moved to her town and obliterated her dojo, she was the only one who could fight him for long. After Musashi joined the dojo, she frequently got into fights with Musashi every time she lost, but they made good teammates. As Ranko got older and more feminine in the Youth Arc, she started to develop feelings for Musashi and ended up being with him. ; :A
Kagoshima , is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 583,966 in 285,992 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Etymology While the ...
("Kagomma" in his accent) resident, who followed the brutal and powerful Jigen style of kendo. Musashi got to know more about the tanned boy who beat him after his exhausting triumph at the national championship during his stay in Kagoshima, where he showed him how tenacious Kagoshima swordsmen could be with their practice routine. ; :One of Musashi's opponents, who saved Ranko from the gang that got Musha suspended after his fight with them along with Musashi. He was a wealthy boy, but actually a strong swordsman and not a bad, typical spoiled rich boy. However, the duel with Musashi resulted in his left arm broken, and permanently losing strength even if it recovers, which made him hate Musashi, and Musashi feel responsible. When Musashi learned about the dual-wielding technique by the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi from a reclusive old man, he told Monami to give Inui a hint. With this technique that doesn't rely on the raw strength of a single arm, Inui was inspired to practice kendo again. ; :Musashi's childhood sweetheart, with a mole on her glabella. As a kid, she crushed on Musashi and wanted to be his future wife. It took a long time since Musashi moved away from Iwate until they met again when he went to high school. She later empathized more and more with Inui (who almost raped her to revenge on Musashi) and his situation, and became more supportive of his determination. ; :A skilled sophomore swordsman and Musashi's perverted roommate. Despite his skills, he frequently slacked off, and at one time even brought Musashi on a "special crash course" to peep on girls in short skirts playing tennis, which helped Musashi reunite with Monami. He was actually a gangster, but decided to give up the delinquent lifestyle in pursuit of education. He helped Musashi fend off his old gang while they surrounded Musashi and Monami on their date and got suspended as a result, but thanks to Inui's influence, he was forgiven.


Media


Manga

''Musashi no Ken'' is written and illustrated by Motoka Murakami and serialized in ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, making it ...
'' from April 8, 1981, to September 25, 1985. The individual chapters of the manga were collected into 24 volumes published by
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...
between October 20, 1981, and November 18, 1985. The series was re-released in 11 volumes between May 16, 1992, and January 14, 1994, then again in 10 volumes between November 16, 2000, and July 17, 2001.


Anime

The manga was adapted into an
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series by Eiken, directed by Toshitaka Tsunoda. It was broadcast in 72 episodes on
TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Geneon Universal Entertainment (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise that is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, owned by American telecommunications/media company Comcast headquartered in Akasaka, Tokyo ...
over 13 DVDs between February 25, 2004, and July 28, 2004. 3 DVD boxes containing all 72 episodes were released by Geneon between February 25, 2004, and July 28, 2004. The opening theme is by Kousuke Shimoyama, and the ending theme by Kousuke Shinoyama.


Video game

is a 1986
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed and published by
Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...
in Japan. The gameplay and design in the one-on-one fighting parts resemble Taito's other fighting game, '' Great Swordsman'', especially its kendo mode. There are two different modes: single player and two player VS. mode. On single player mode, the player depicts Musashi in the middle of his training. He must run through several obstacle courses collecting swords and other items along the way. At the same time, his pet Akita will be running the course behind him. Musashi must not fall too far behind his dog. After completing three courses, Musashi will be entered into a 2D weapon-based versus fighting-style Kendo tournament. He must defeat five competitors to win the tournament. The swords that Musashi collects during the obstacle courses provide him with access to special strike moves if he has collected enough. If the player succeeds in winning, the game will continue from the beginning at a higher level of difficulty. After winning the championship a second time, the game is over. On two player vs. mode, each player selects from a roster of competitors, and selects them secretly by pressing different inputs on the control pad. The selections are revealed once five selections have been made. Each player then squares off in a Kendo match with each of their selections. Whoever gets three or more victories wins the game.


Reception

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...
's Justin Sevakis commends the unusual realism of the anime, stating "it refuses to sugar-coat the awful, dangerous and sad aspects of life, but attacks them with a smile, a sense of humor, and a resolute strength that's incredibly inspiring." He also commends the setting of the anime in "the idyllic small cities and towns among
Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...
, the poetry of
Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist, poet, and children's literature writer from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social ...
is often invoked, giving a strong sense of peace and nature that we seldom think of in anime."


References


External links


Official ''Musashi no Ken'' website
* {{Eiken 1973 manga 1985 anime television series debuts 1986 Japanese television series endings Coming-of-age anime and manga Eiken (studio) Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga Kendo in anime and manga TV Tokyo original programming Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga