Kamui (1964 manga)

Kamui is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sanpei Shirato. It was serialized in Seirindō's monthly magazine Garo between December 1964 and July 1971, with its chapters collected in 21 volumes. Set in feudal Japan, it tells the story of Kamui, a low-born ninja who has fled his clan, which pursues him. It illustrates the true nature of the Edo period and the discrimination that existed within the feudal system. The series combines historical adventure with social commentary and themes of oppression and rebellion that reflect Shirato's Marxist convictions. By October 2021, the series had over 15 million copies in circulation.
A spin-off, titled ran in two parts: the first part ran in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday from May 1965 to January 1967; and the second part, titled ran in Shogakukan's magazine Big Comic from February 1982 to March 1987. A sequel, titled illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto, ran in Big Comic from May 1988 to April 2000.
Kamui Gaiden was licensed for English release in North America under the title The Legend of Kamui by Viz Media and Eclipse Comics; in 1967, Kamui Gaiden received an anime adaptation under the title Ninpu Kamui Gaiden that ran for 26 episodes on Fuji TV; the series was also adapted into an anime film in 1971, titled Kamui Gaiden: Tsukihigai no Maki, and a live-action film, titled Kamui Gaiden, in 2009. The series is licensed for English release in North America by Drawn & Quarterly, starting in January 2025.

Plot

Kamui is a ninja from the Edo period who decides to leave his clan, an act that carries with it a death sentence. After doing so, he is pursued relentlessly by the members of his former clan, who consider him to be a traitor and therefore wish to kill him. Kamui wanders around Japan to escape from them using his intelligence and survival abilities. In the course of the series, Kamui begins to suffer from paranoia because of his status as a persecuted man. Kamui starts to believe that everybody wishes to murder him and distrusts everyone he encounters.
Rather than the story of Kamui, much of the first volume is concerned with the drama of tax collecting, crop inspection and the fate of various animals in and around Hanamaki Village, most notably the White Wolf, about whom Shirato states in the Author's Note at the end of the second chapter, "It seems I have gone on for too long about the lives of the wolves. Especially since the life of the white wolf is not related to the human world I am describing simultaneously in this story".
Kamui himself does not make an appearance until Dogs II, still as a baby, nearly 200 pages into the story, and as a full-fledged adolescent character in Yukiwari in chapter 3, The Sword. Kamui is shown to be a member of the lowest class in the feudal caste system, the Burakumin. but is shown, notably in the chapter Kogera I, to be plucky and resourceful, a child who bristles against the very idea of class itself. Shirato states at the end of Arson, the penultimate chapter in the volume, that "It is fair to say that the Legend of Kamui begins now."

Characters

Source:

Main characters:
*Kamui
*Ryūnoshin
*Shōsuke
*The White Wolf
Hanamaki village
*Omine, a servant girl
*Vice Karō Kusaka Konbei, Ryūnoshin's father
*The village runner Danzuri, Shōsuke's father
*Koroku, Omine's father
*Tachibana Gundayū, Metsuke
*Sasa Hyōgo, the fencing instructor
*Sasa Ikkaku, fencing instructor
*Klusaka Jūbei, village clan elder
*The Lord of Hioki
*The Hanamaki Village Headman
*Tachibana Kazuma, Gundayu's son
*Ishuin, a scholar
*Baba Heihachirō, warehouse chief
*Gosaku, Koroku's father
*Chikumazara Village Headman
*Kichibei, a genin farmer rebel leader
*Nisuke, a rugged Genin child
Shukudani & Chibukazawa villages
*Yokome, the outcast chief
*Saesa, Yokome's wild daughter
*Kogera, an outcast child
*Yasuke, Kamui's father
*Shibutare, the village snitch
Drifters & animals
*The Masterless Samurai
*An Itinerant Priest
*Wolf Pack
*Eagle
Publication

An original series written and illustrated by Sanpei Shirato, Kamui Den was serialized in 's monthly magazine Garo with a total of 74 installments. The first installment was published in the magazine's December 1, 1964, issue. The series released its final installment in the July 1, 1971, issue of Garo. Seirindō collected its chapters in 21 volumes, released from May 10, 1967, to October 10, 1971.
In November 2023, Drawn & Quarterly licensed the manga for English release under the title The Legend of Kamui in North America, and will publish the series in ten omnibus 600-page volumes. The first volume was published on January 14, 2025.

Title	Chapters collected	Publication date	Translation	ISBN
The Legend of Kamui: Volume One	Birth, Kagari, The Sword, Masudori, Arson, Decapitation	January 14, 2025	Richard Rubinger, Noriko Rubinger, Alexa Frank
The Legend of Kamui: Volume Two	TBD	July 8, 2025	Richard Rubinger, Noriko Rubinger
The Legend of Kamui: Volume Three	TBD	TBD	TBD
The Legend of Kamui: Volume Four	TBD	TBD	TBD

Spin-off

A spin-off manga, titled Kamui Gaiden, was published in two parts by two different Shogakukan magazines. The first part was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from May 1, 1965, to January 4, 1967. The first 16 chapters were collected in two volumes in May 1966 and republished in three volumes in April 1976. The second part, titled Kamui Gaiden Dai-ni-bu, was serialized in the publisher's manga magazine Big Comic from February 25, 1982, to March 25, 1987. Shogakukan collected its chapters in 20 volumes, released from August 1983 to July 1987.
The series was licensed for English release in North America under the title The Legend of Kamui, published by Eclipse Comics in cooperation with Viz Media; they published an issue of Kamui Den on May 12, 1987, and published 36 issues of Kamui Den, all under the title The Legend of Kamui, biweekly from June 2, 1987, to November 15, 1988. Eclipse Comics published a side-story, titled Island of Sugaru, which Viz Media republished in two volumes in 1990.

Sequels

A continuation of the original series, titled Kamui Den Da Ni-bu, illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto, was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Big Comic from May 10, 1988, to April 10, 2000. Shogakukan collected its chapters in 22 volumes, released from October 1989 to August 2000.
Sanpei Shirato wrote and serialized a three-installment set of short stories in Shogakukan's magazine Big Comic, illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto, called They ran from September 25 to October 24, 2009. Shogakukan collected the stories as a one-volume paperback supplement to the September 2018 issue of magazine.

Adaptations

Kamui Gaiden received an anime adaptation under the title which was produced by TCJ and Zuiyo in 1969. It was broadcast in Japan from April 6 to September 28, 1969, on Fuji TV. It ran for 26 episodes. It was adapted into an anime film in 1971, titled and a live-action film in 2009. In January 2010, Funimation licensed the live-action film.

Influence

The manga series is considered to be among the most influential manga ever created, having inspired numerous artists, such as Lone Wolf and Cub artist Goseki Kojima, and Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto.

Reception

By October 2021, the series had over 15 million copies in circulation. The series became one of the most successful series when it was initially published in Garo magazine, and it was one of the first manga to be published in English in North America. The series is viewed as a historical masterpiece of ninja manga that incorporates historical materialism and combines historical adventure with social commentary and themes of oppression and rebellion that reflect Shirato's Marxist convictions. The manga energized the student protest movement of the 1960s and 1970s; it became a symbol for the protestors, who saw the manga as a work that flipped the usual script, with an ideology whose purpose was to eliminate class distinctions.