Lone Wolf and Cub manga, volume 1 (English version)

Lone Wolf and Cub (known in Japan as Kozure Ōkami 子連れ狼) is a well-known gekiga or manga created by the writer Kazuo Koike and the artist Goseki Kojima.

Originally serialized in 1970, Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ōgami Ittō , the Shōgun's executioner, who was disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan and has been forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigoro , they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub."

When Lone Wolf and Cub was first released in Japan, it became wildly popular (some 8 million copies were sold in Japan) for its powerful, epic samurai story and its stark and gruesome depiction of the violence during Tokugawa era Japan. The story spanned 28 volumes of manga, with over 300 pages each (totalling over 9,000 pages in all). Its story led to the creation of six movies, four plays, a television series and much more.

Lone Wolf and Cub was first released in America by First Comics in 1990. Due to lack of interest they discontinued the series before its completion. However, in 2002 Dark Horse comics released the full 28 volume series, and commissioned Frank Miller to produce new covers for the first several collections.

The various Lone Wolf and Cub movies were often renamed Baby Cart in the United States (as in Baby Cart in the Land of Demons), because young Daigoro travels in a baby carriage pushed by his father.

Story

A formidable warrior, Ōgami Ittō had become the Shōgun's executioner, the Kogi Kaishakunin, a position of high power used by the Tokugawa Shogunate (along with the Oniwaban and the assassins) to enforce the will of the Shogun over the daimyo or domain lords. For those samurai and lords ordered to commit seppuku, the Kogi Kaishakunin would assist with their deaths by decapitating them to relieve the pain of cutting their stomachs.

Shortly after Ōgami Ittō's wife's childbirth with Daigoro, Ōgami Ittō returned to find his wife and their maidens brutally murdered, with only the newborn Daigoro surviving. They were ostensibly murdered by three men to avenge a lord who was executed by Ōgami Ittō. However, the entire matter was designed to disgrace Ōgami Ittō by setting him up as the murderer and placing an ihai (funeral tablet)with the Shogun's name on it in Ōgami's family shrine (in the story this symbolized Ittō's wish for the Shogun's death). This would make Ōgami a criminal and thus his forfeit his post. The set up was planned by Ura-Yagyū, Yagyū Retsudo, leader of the Yagyū clan, in order to seize Ōgami's post for the Yagyū clan.

Disgraced, Ōgami Ittō and his now infant son, Daigoro, become a powerful assassin team, vowing to eventually destroy the Yagyū clan to avenge his wife and his disgrace.

Importance

Lone Wolf and Cub also heavily influenced other manga by creating a romanticization of the "rōnin," or masterless samurai, the lone wanderer who follows his own code. Similar titles in spirit include Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack and later Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin. Lone Wolf and Cub is also similar in spirit to many U.S. westerns, like those directed by Sergio Leone. Lone Wolf and Cub has also influenced American comics, most notably Frank Miller in his Sin City and Ronin series and Max Allan Collins in his Road to Perdition series, but homages to Lone Wolf and Cub have been found in Usagi Yojimbo and Samurai Jack.

Lone Wolf and Cub is also important because it gives the reader a deep insight into the bushido tradition of Japan, which is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture and religion even today.

Homages

• The video game Puyo Pop Fever features a character named "Kozure Franken", who is a Frankenstein's monster who pushes a baby Frankenstein's monster in a baby carriage.
• The Jet Li movie New Legend of Shao Lin stars Jet Li's real-life son as his character's son. The movie begins with the infant son having to choose between a toy and sword, the same way that Lone Wolf and Cub begins.
• The video game Final Fantasy X features a Samurai character named Yojimbo, who can be hired to attack your enemies. One of his attacks is performed by a sidekick (in this case a dog), which goes by the name "Daigoro".

Jidaigeki

Lone Wolf and Cub has been broadcast on television as a jidaigeki. In one series, Yorozuya Kinnosuke played Ōgami Ittō. This series was released in the Toronto, Canada market by CFMT-TV (now OMNI 1 ) in the original Japanese with English sub-titles as The Iron Samurai. In a later series, which ended in 2004, Kitaoji Kinya assumed the same role.

External links

• Mighty Blowhole: Lone Wolf and Cub
• Dark Horse Comics: Lone Wolf and Cub manga