The Legendary Swordsman: A Tale of Honor and Betrayal

Vagabond is a Japanese epic martial arts manga series written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue. It portrays a fictionalized account of the life of Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, based on Eiji Yoshikawa’s novel Musashi. Growing up in the late 16th century Sengoku era Japan, Shinmen Takezō is shunned by the local villagers as a devil child due to his wild and violent nature. Running away from home with a fellow boy at age 17, Takezo joins the Toyotomi army to fight the Tokugawa clan at the Battle of Sekigahara. After the two are separated, Shinmen returns home on a self-appointed mission to notify the Hon’iden family of Matahachi’s survival. He instead finds himself a wanted criminal, framed for his friend’s supposed murder based on his history of violence. Upon being captured, he is strung up on a tree and left to die. An itinerant monk, the distinguished Takuan Soho, takes pity on the “devil child,” secretly freeing Shinmen and christening him with a new name to avoid pursuit by the authorities: Musashi Miyamoto.