I'm not much for comics, but a friend loaned me a bunch of this series in the late nineties & I loved them:
I recently came across a box set of DVDs, apparently the comics were based on Japanese movies done in the 70's, I had no idea. Tonight was volume three: "Baby Cart to Hades" good stuff.
Copied from Wikipedia:
A formidable warrior and a master of the Suio Ryu, Ogami Itto, had become the Shogun'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 own stomachs.
Shortly after Ogami Itto's wife's childbirth with Ogami Daigoro, Ogami Itto returned to find his wife, Asami, 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 Ogami Itto. However, the entire matter was designed to disgrace Ogami Itto by placing and then revealing an ihai (funeral tablet) with the Shogun's name on it in Itto's family shrine (representing Ogami's wish for the Shogun's death). This would make Itto a criminal and thus forfeit his post. The set up was planned by Ura-Yagyo, Yagyo Retsudo, leader of the Yagyo clan, in order to seize Ogami's post for the Yagyo clan.
The 1-year-old Daigoro was given a choice by his father:a ball or a sword. Had Daigoro chosen the ball, his father would have killed him, sending him to be with his mother; however, the child crawled toward the sword, and reached for its hilt. This signified that he would take the path of a ronin, living with his father as "demons" - the assassin-for-hire team that would become known as Lone Wolf and Cub, vowing to eventually destroy the Yagyo clan to avenge his wife and his disgrace.
On Meifumado("The Road to Hell"), the cursed journey for vengeance, Ogami Itto and his son, Daigoro, encounter numerous and countless adventures, eventually befalling Yagyo Retsudo's children and leading up to Retsudo himself.
I recently came across a box set of DVDs, apparently the comics were based on Japanese movies done in the 70's, I had no idea. Tonight was volume three: "Baby Cart to Hades" good stuff.
Copied from Wikipedia:
A formidable warrior and a master of the Suio Ryu, Ogami Itto, had become the Shogun'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 own stomachs.
Shortly after Ogami Itto's wife's childbirth with Ogami Daigoro, Ogami Itto returned to find his wife, Asami, 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 Ogami Itto. However, the entire matter was designed to disgrace Ogami Itto by placing and then revealing an ihai (funeral tablet) with the Shogun's name on it in Itto's family shrine (representing Ogami's wish for the Shogun's death). This would make Itto a criminal and thus forfeit his post. The set up was planned by Ura-Yagyo, Yagyo Retsudo, leader of the Yagyo clan, in order to seize Ogami's post for the Yagyo clan.
The 1-year-old Daigoro was given a choice by his father:a ball or a sword. Had Daigoro chosen the ball, his father would have killed him, sending him to be with his mother; however, the child crawled toward the sword, and reached for its hilt. This signified that he would take the path of a ronin, living with his father as "demons" - the assassin-for-hire team that would become known as Lone Wolf and Cub, vowing to eventually destroy the Yagyo clan to avenge his wife and his disgrace.
On Meifumado("The Road to Hell"), the cursed journey for vengeance, Ogami Itto and his son, Daigoro, encounter numerous and countless adventures, eventually befalling Yagyo Retsudo's children and leading up to Retsudo himself.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
p_funk_rocker:
That little brief description of the story has got me itching for a copy of my own.
kenyon:
well, that is sweet. except, please HOLD YOUR APPLAUSE TIL THE END. in spirit. poetry ettiquette 101! now go to one of your sis's readings and pay attention!