Musashi no Ken
Musashi no Ken is a Japanese sports manga series written and illustrated by Motoka Murakami that focuses on kendo. It was serialized by Shogakukan in Weekly Shōnen Sunday between April 1981 and October 1985. Musashi no Ken received the 1984 Shogakukan Manga Award for manga.
The manga was adapted as a 72-episode anime television series by Eiken.
The manga was also adapted into a Famicom platform game called Musashi no Ken – Tadaima Shugyō Chū. The game was developed and published by Taito. It was released in Japan on August 8, 1986.
Plot
The manga tells the story of Musashi Natsuki, an aspired kendō swordsman. He was born to Eiichirō and Kayo Natsuki, in Iwate Prefecture of the Northeast region. Both his parents were acclaimed kendō swordsmen, especially his father Eiichirō who was nationally famous. After Eiichirō's death accidentally caused by his rival Kunihiko Tōdō's tsuki, Musashi vowed to defeat Kunihiko one day. Unfortunately, Kunihiko retired from kendo out of guilt, and Musashi then aimed to beat his son Shura Tōdō instead. There was no hard feeling between them, however, and they remained good friends. Musashi trained hard as a child under the guidance of his mother Kayo, who had retired from professional kendō and now only did her day job as a full-time grade school teacher at Musashi's school, but he also got more practice from the local dojo with Ranko Todoroki, who later became one of his closest friends.From volume 13, after Musashi finally defeated Shura at the national championship, the story jumped forward to when Musashi was 15 and the "Youth Series" started. Musashi went to Kaiyō High and met new friends and stronger fellow kendō swordsmen. But during the time there, he realized his shortcomings, and wanted to be stronger and learn more from various schools of kendō in Japan. Thanks to Kayo's words of encouragement, he made up his mind, halted his high school education, traveled from dojo to dojo and challenged their best swordsmen, just like his legendary namesake Miyamoto Musashi did, until he was ready to face off very strong opponents at the final national championship.
The story takes place in the Northeast region, therefore the characters spoke their local dialect and accent, and furigana is frequently used to gloss obscure dialectal words.
Characters
;Musashi Natsuki;Kayo Natsuki
;Eiichirō Natsuki
;Toichi
;Shura Tōdō
;Kunihiko Tōdō
;Asaka Tōdō
;Ranko Todoroki
;Kensuke Hidaka
;Shun'ichi Inui
;Monami Komiya
;Kiyokazu Musha
Media
Manga
Musashi no Ken is written and illustrated by Motoka Murakami and serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from April 8, 1981, to September 25, 1985. The individual chapters of the manga were collected into 24 volumes published by Shogakukan between October 20, 1981, and November 18, 1985. The series was re-released in 11 volumes between May 16, 1992, and January 14, 1994, then again in 10 volumes between November 16, 2000, and July 17, 2001.Anime
The manga was adapted into an anime television series by Eiken, directed by Toshitaka Tsunoda. It was broadcast in 72 episodes on TV Tokyo between April 18, 1985, and September 26, 1986. The episodes were released by Geneon Universal Entertainment over 13 DVDs between February 25, 2004, and July 28, 2004. 3 DVD boxes containing all 72 episodes were released by Geneon between February 25, 2004, and July 28, 2004.The opening theme is "Hadashi no Soldier" by Kousuke Shimoyama, and the ending theme "Otoko-tachi no Chizu" by Kousuke Shinoyama.
Video game
Musashi no Ken - Tadaima Shugyō Chū is a 1986 video game developed and published by Taito in Japan. The gameplay and design in the one-on-one fighting parts resemble Taito's other fighting game, Great Swordsman, especially its kendo mode.There are two different modes: single player and two player VS. mode. On single player mode, the player depicts Musashi in the middle of his training. He must run through several obstacle courses collecting swords and other items along the way. At the same time, his pet Akita will be running the course behind him. Musashi must not fall too far behind his dog. After completing three courses, Musashi will be entered into a 2D weapon-based versus fighting-style Kendo tournament. He must defeat five competitors to win the tournament. The swords that Musashi collects during the obstacle courses provide him with access to special strike moves if he has collected enough. If the player succeeds in winning, the game will continue from the beginning at a higher level of difficulty. After winning the championship a second time, the game is over.
On two player vs. mode, each player selects from a roster of competitors, and selects them secretly by pressing different inputs on the control pad. The selections are revealed once five selections have been made. Each player then squares off in a Kendo match with each of their selections. Whoever gets three or more victories wins the game.