EXPLICIT

PARENTAL ADVISORY

CONTENT Pea

АМАТ,

Story &
СЕ
Based on the novel “Musashi”
Vagabond Vol. 4

VIZ Signature Edition

Story & Art by

Takehiko Inoue
Based on the novel "Musashi" by Eiji Yoshikawa

English Adaptation/Yuji Oniki

Touch-up & Lettering/Steve Dutro
Cover € Graphics Design/Izumi Evers
Editor/Andy Nakatani

Managing Editor/Annette Roman

Editorial Director/Elizabeth Kawasaki
Editor in Chief/Alvin Lu
Sr. Director of Acquisitions/Rika Inouye
Sr. VP of Marketing/Liza Coppola
Exec. VP of Sales and Marketing/John Easum
Publisher/Hyoe Narita

© 1998-2007 IT. Planning, Inc.

Originally published in Japan in 2006 by Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.
English translation rights arranged with I.T. Planning, Inc. All
rights reserved. Although based on historical sources, the
stories, characters, and incidents mentioned in this publication
are entirely fictional.

No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means without written permission from the
copyright holders.

Printed in the U.S.A.

Published by VIZ Media, LLC

۴0. Box 77010
San Francisco, CA 94107

10987654321
First printing, February 2007

PARENTAL ADVISORY
VAGABOND is rated M for Mature and is
recommended for mature readers. This
volume contains graphic violence.
77/۳٧۲

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SOLE PURPOSE
OF EVERY
LAST DISCIPLE
OF THE
YOSHIOKA.
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About the Author
VAGABOND was created by Takehiko Inoue, author
of the best-selling manga SLAM DUNK, with over
100 million copies in print worldwide. Critically
acclaimed, Inoue received the 2000 Media Arts
Award for manga from the Japanese Ministry of
Culture as well as the 2000 Kodansha Award for
best manga for his work on VAGABOND. In 2002,
VAGABOND received the prestigious Tezuka Award
for best manga, and in 2003, Inoue was nominated
for a 2003 Eisner Award for best writer/artist. To
date VAGABOND has sold over 22 million copies
throughout the world. In addition to his numerous
manga titles, Inoue also created the character
designs for the PlayStation basketball game, OWE
ON ONE.

About VAGABOND and

Miyamoto Musashi
Takehiko Inoue's VAGABOND, based on Eiji
Yoshikawa's novel MUSASHI, is a fictional account
of the life of Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645). The
historical figure Miyamoto Musashi, author of the
philosophical strategy guide А BOOK OF FIVE
RINGS, was a master of the sword and was revered
as а “sword-saint.” He founded the Niten Ichi style
of sword fighting, which is typified by fighting with
both long and short swords simultaneously—holding
the long sword with the right hand and the short
sword with the left. Musashi was also a master of
the “gentler arts 一hewas a master of sume (black
ink drawings), metalworking, and woodcarving. The
films that comprise THE SAMURAI TRILOGY
directed by Hiroshi Inagaki and starring Toshiro
Mifune, were also based on Yoshikawa's MUSASHI.
Inspired by the huge success of VAGABOND іп
Japan, in 2003 NHK produced the historical period
drama MUSASHI. Also based on Yoshikawa's novel,
this drama stars kabuki actor Shinnosuke Ichikawa
as Musashi and TV star Ryoko Yonekura as Otsu.

A note on names:
The names presented within the context of this
manga are presented in the traditional Japanese
order-surname followed by first name. “Miyamoto”
is Miyamoto Musashi's last name and “Musashi” is
his first name. The name of the creator of
VAGABOND, however, has been presented first
name first, last name second. “Takehiko” is the
author's first name and "Inoue" is his last name.
Glossary and Extraneous Background Information
A Brief Historical Overview Rengeoin
The Sengoku (warring states) period (1482-1558) in Japan was a time of chaos and Located in eastern Kyoto, Rengeoin Temple is more commonly referred to as
conflict. Central authorities, in the form of the imperial court and the shogunate, had Sanjusangendo. Тһе main hall of Rengeoin features an amazing display of 1001
grown increasingly weak and the land was effectively ruled autonomously by Kannon Buddhist statues.
numerous daimyo (domainal lords). Looking to expand their spheres of control, the
daimyo were constantly at war with each other. One daimyo in particular, Oda Sasaki Kojiro (dates unknown)
Nobunaga, set out on a mission to unify Japan by means of conquest. Incredibly The legendary archrival of Miyamoto Musashi, Kojiro is believed to have studied the
successful, by the time of his assassination іп 1582, he managed to control Chujo-ryu style of swordsmanship under the instruction of either Toda Seigen or
approximately one-third of Japan. One of Nobunaga's chief generals, Toyotomi Kanemaki Jisai. Kojiro was renowned for his 7subame-gaeshi, ог "swallow-cut"
Hideyoshi, became Nobunaga's successor to carry on the quest for unification. technique which was inspired by the movement of a swallow in flight.
Through a process of conquest and conciliation, Hideyoshi succeeded in creating a
federation amongst the daimyo, and by 1590, order was restored to Japan under Shinmen Takezo
Hideyoshi's rule. Hideyoshi's death in 1598, however, presented the question of Miyamoto Musashi's boyhood name.
succession. Most of the daimyo from the domains in the west remained loyal to the
Toyotomi Clan and its 5-year-old heir, Toyotomi Hideyori. Tokugawa leyasu, Takuan Soho (1573-1645)
however, leading the major daimyo from central and eastern Japan, challenged the A monk of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, by the time Takuan was 37, he was
Toyotomi clan's leadership. The two sides clashed at the Battle of Sekigahara appointed abbot of the leading temple of the Rinzai sect, Daitokuji. Takuan was an
(1600) in Mino (located in present day Gifu Prefecture) where the Tokugawa important figure whose acute and brutally honest advice was sought by influential
claimed an overwhelming victory. From that point on, the Tokugawa clan would and powerful figures such as Emperor Go Mizuno and the shogun Tokugawa
effectively rule Japan for the next 250 years. The political stability that resulted put lemitsu. His correspondence to Yagyu Munenori discussing Zen and swordsmanship
mass numbers of samurai out of work. Masterless samurai, known as ronin, were entitled 7HE UNFETTERED MIND has become an influential treatise in both the areas
forced to wander the land to seek out employment. This, the beginning of the Edo of philosophy and martial arts. The pickled daikon radish, takuan, also bears his
Period (1600-1868), set the stage for many of the period dramas and chambara name.
sword-fighting films that have popularized the image of the samurai to a Western
audience. The Yagyu Clan
Yagyu Muneyoshi Sekishusai (1527-1606) was the founder of the famed Yagyu-
Hon'ami Koetsu (1558-1637) Shinkage school of sword fighting. His son Yagyu Munenori (1571-1646) was one of
Famed artist and calligrapher who co-founded an influential arts movement called Tokugawa's key generals at the Battle of Sekigahara. Munenori was appointed as
the Rinpa School. Koetsu was involved in numerous fields including tea ceremony, the official fencing instructor of the Tokugawa Clan, and in 1632 the Yagyu were
pottery, and calligraphy. In addition, Koetsu succeeded the line of his family's appointed as the ometsuke—responsible for the surveillance of the daimyo. Although
ancestral business of sword polishing and appraisals. the Yagyu clan has been depicted in Kazuo Koike's LOWE WOLF AND CUB as the
plotters of the downfall of Itto Ogami, the general Japanese popular culture take on
Hozoin Spear Technique the Yagyu Clan is more positive. More specifically, Munenori's son, Yagyu Jubei
Created by the Buddhist monk Kakuzenbo Нот Іп еі (1521-1607) of Hozoin Temple, (1607-1650), is viewed as a wandering hero protecting the people from evildoers.
which was a sub-temple of Kofukuji Temple in Nara. This spear technique is typified
by quick dexterous movements rather than the use of brute force. Yoshioka Kempo (dates unknown)
A distinguished warrior during the Sengoku period (1482-1558) and the founder of
Ito Ittosai (Dates unknown) the renowned Yoshioka school of sword fighting. Yoshioka Kempo mastered the
Founder of the Itto-ryu school of sword fighting. Before establishing his own style, Kyohachi style of swordmanship and then modified it to form the Yoshioka style. In
Ittosai is said to have studied a variant of the Chujo-ryu style of sword fighting the context of Inoue's VAGABOND, as well as in Yoshikawa's MUSASHI, Yoshioka
under Kanemaki Jisai's instruction. Seijuro and Denshichiro are Kempo's sons, who are historically thought to have
dueled with Miyamoto Musashi on numerous occasions.
 Winner of the 2000 Media Arts Festival Award
Recipient of the 2000 Kodansha Award for Best Manga
Winner of the 2002 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Award
Nominated for a 2003 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist

%, reads like an Akira Kurosawa film captured on the printed page.”

ыы
一 Cliff Biggers, Comics Buyer's Guide
OO ьь ь
зіўsatisfying comics experience."
> —Топу Isabella, Comics Buyer's Guide
м.
“This really -is.one of the best comics
currentlyjbeing produced."
=Greg McElhatton, icomics.com

Striving for enlightenment by way of the sword, Miyamoto Musashi

is prepared to cut down anyone who stands in his way. Vagabond
depicts the life and times of the most celebrated samurai of all
time!

On the eve of his duel with the leader of the great Yoshioka School,
Musashi takes a step back to reflect upon his past in order to
acquire a higher level of understanding and awareness. However, a
chance encounter with deaf-mute swordsman Sasaki Kojiro provides
an impromptu preview of what will become the greatest duel in the
annals of Japanese history.

$9.95 USA/$11.99 САМ ISBN-13: 978-1-4215-0827-6

ISBN-10: 1-4215-0827-3
50995
ғ

аш book reads cun

from right to left. =
‫و‬ 6