is a Japanese
sports manga
is a genre of Japanese manga and anime that focuses on stories involving sports and other athletic and competitive pursuits. Though Japanese animated works depicting sports were released as early as the 1920s, sports manga did not emerge as a di ...
series written and illustrated by
Motoka Murakami
is a Japanese manga artist who primarily writes for the Seinen demographic despite beginning his career with Shounen works. He won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen for '' Gakuto Retsuden'' ( ja) in 1982 and the Shogakukan Manga Award twice, ...
that focuses on
kendo
is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread ...
. It was serialized by
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
in ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
'' between April 1981 and October 1985.
''Musashi no Ken'' received the 1984
Shogakukan Manga Award
The is one of Japan's major manga awards, and is sponsored by Shogakukan, Shogakukan Publishing. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga and features candidates from a number of publishers. It is the oldest manga award in Japan, being ...
for
''shōnen'' manga.
The manga was adapted as a 72-episode
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series by
Eiken
Eiken may refer to:
Places Norway
* Eiken, Norway, a former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county
* Eiken, Agder, a village in Hægebostad municipality in Agder county
** Eiken Church, a church in Hægebostad municipality in Agder county
Swi ...
.
The manga was also adapted into an
NES
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...
platform game
A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...
called . The game was developed and published by
Taito
is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...
. It was released in Japan on August 8, 1986.
Plot
The manga tells the story of Musashi Natsuki, an aspired
kendo
is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread ...
swordsman. He was born to Eiichiro and Kayo Natsuki, in
Iwate Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectur ...
of the
Northeast region. Both his parents were acclaimed kendo swordsmen, especially his father Eiichiro who was nationally famous. After Eiichiro's death accidentally caused by his rival Kunihiko Tōdō's
tsuki
derives from the verb , meaning "to thrust". The second syllable is accented, with Japanese's unvoiced vowels making it pronounced almost like "ski" (but preceded by a "t" sound). In Japanese martial arts and Okinawan martial arts, ''tsuki'' is u ...
, 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 kendo 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" (青春編 ''Seishunhen'', a new "arc" for the time when Musashi was no longer a headstrong kid) started. Musashi went to Kaiyo High and met new friends and stronger fellow kendo swordsmen. But during the time there, he realized his shortcomings, and wanted to be stronger and learn more from various schools of kendo 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
, also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship a ...
did (he even learned Miyamoto Musashi's double-katana technique from a reclusive old man and tailored it to suit his kendo), 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 a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana or syllabic characters printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters to indicate their pronunciation. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also known ...
is frequently used to gloss obscure dialectal words.
Characters
;
:The protagonist. Born on June 3 at 4 (the "sixth" (''
mu'') month, the "third" (''sa'') day, "four" (''shi'') AM), he started out as a headstrong and kid who was taught kendo by his beloved father at a very young age. For the most part of his childhood, he never backed down from a duel and refused to give up even when he got beaten up. After his father's death, he was determined to perfect his tsuki in order to beat Shura and become the strongest swordsman in Japan. During the Youth Arc, he traveled to schools of kendo to better his skills and experience various styles of kendo.
;
:Musashi's mother. She was known as one of the strongest and most acclaimed swordswomen in the Northeast region. Unlike Musashi's easy-going father, she was strict on his upbringing, especially after his father died. She helped with his practice at times, and coaching his team for the adolescent championship. She taught at Musashi's school as a day job and retired from kendo for a while. She encouraged Musashi to travel in the Youth Arc. With Musashi's encouragement, she practiced kendo again for one last championship, during which Musashi finally approved of her remarrying her coworker and his former teacher, Mikio Yaegashi, which he had hoped her not to do as a kid because of his love for his late father.
;
:Musashi's father. He was a full-time salaryman, but also one of the strongest swordsmen nationally. He was easy-going and a bit of an alcoholic, but he sincerely loved his wife and son. He was capable of fending off muggers with just a toothpick as his "sword", and very quickly slicing holes through a waterfall. Despite his various accolades, he was determined to beat his eternal rival Kunihiko Tōdō, whose tsuki proved deadly and cost him his life. But even in death, he never stopped inspiring his son Musashi to be the strongest swordsman.
;
:Musashi's dog. He was an abandoned puppy who seemed to be as headstrong as Musashi, and was adopted by Eiichirō to keep Musashi's company. He somehow got into a fight with feral dogs, but thankfully got saved by Musashi, although the fight resulted in Musashi critically injured and Toichi blind in his right eye forever. Toichi could understand human speak, and always ran along with Musashi for exercise during his childhood. He also had puppies with another dog without his family's knowledge, although one of them froze to death due to Ranko's neglectful adoption.
;
:Musashi's first rival. He was very well-mannered being raised by a strict father. When Musashi tried to challenge his father and failed, he told him that only he could defeat his own father, and also promised to duel Musashi at the championship. He was, unfortunately, beaten twice by Musashi (both times during the final duel of a national championship, the second one is at the end of the series) even though he had really great potential as an almost unbeatable swordsman, and felt guilty that he failed his late mother for whom he fought. Shura is apparently named after
Asura
Asuras (Sanskrit: असुर) are a class of beings in Indian religions, Indic religions. They are described as power-seeking clans related to the more benevolent Deva (Hinduism), Devas (also known as Suras) in Hinduism. In its Buddhism, Buddhi ...
(exact same Japanese pronunciation and spelling) for some reason; this fact was highlighted only once, when Mr. Yaegashi's mentioned the title of
Kenji Miyazawa
was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, a vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social acti ...
's ''Spring and Asura'' (''Haru to Shura'') in his class and caught Musashi's attention while he was otherwise being bored out of his mind.
;
:Shura's strict father and Eiichirō's rival. He was in sharp contrast to Eiichirō's easy-going personality, in that he always appeared stiff and formal. His abusive way of training Shura kept his wife up at night because she always felt sorry for her son, which was the bane of their marriage. Kunihiko's tsuki was deadly, being able to pierce through hard wood at full force, and it is this tsuki that killed Eiichirō, whom he deeply respected.
;
:Shura's mother. Shura's memory with his beloved mother was always what kept him going. Despite his stiff demeanor and abusive method, her husband really loved her and accepted her slapping as a punishment for his inability to express sympathy.
;
:One of the few notable swordswomen in the series. Ranko had a lot of similarities with Musashi as headstrong kids who refused to back down. She was one of the few lesser swordsmen that could hold up against Musashi, and also his first female opponent ever. When Musashi moved to her town and obliterated her dojo, she was the only one who could fight him for long. After Musashi joined the dojo, she frequently got into fights with Musashi every time she lost, but they made good teammates. As Ranko got older and more feminine in the Youth Arc, she started to develop feelings for Musashi and ended up being with him.
;
:A
Kagoshima
, abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...
("Kagomma" in his accent) resident, who followed the brutal and powerful
Jigen style of kendo. Musashi got to know more about the tanned boy who beat him after his exhausting triumph at the national championship during his stay in Kagoshima, where he showed him how tenacious Kagoshima swordsmen could be with their practice routine.
;
:One of Musashi's opponents, who saved Ranko from the gang that got Musha suspended after his fight with them along with Musashi. He was a wealthy boy, but actually a strong swordsman and not a bad, typical spoiled rich boy. However, the duel with Musashi resulted in his left arm broken, and permanently losing strength even if it recovers, which made him hate Musashi, and Musashi feel responsible. When Musashi learned about the dual-wielding technique by the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi from a reclusive old man, he told Monami to give Inui a hint. With this technique that doesn't rely on the raw strength of a single arm, Inui was inspired to practice kendo again.
;
:Musashi's childhood sweetheart, with a mole on her glabella. As a kid, she crushed on Musashi and wanted to be his future wife. It took a long time since Musashi moved away from Iwate until they met again when he went to high school. She later empathized more and more with Inui (who almost raped her to revenge on Musashi) and his situation, and became more supportive of his determination.
;
:A skilled sophomore swordsman and Musashi's perverted roommate. Despite his skills, he frequently slacked off, and at one time even brought Musashi on a "special crash course" to peep on girls in short skirts playing tennis, which helped Musashi reunite with Monami. He was actually a gangster, but decided to give up the delinquent lifestyle in pursuit of education. He helped Musashi fend off his old gang while they surrounded Musashi and Monami on their date and got suspended as a result, but thanks to Inui's influence, he was forgiven.
Media
Manga
''Musashi no Ken'' is written and illustrated by
Motoka Murakami
is a Japanese manga artist who primarily writes for the Seinen demographic despite beginning his career with Shounen works. He won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen for '' Gakuto Retsuden'' ( ja) in 1982 and the Shogakukan Manga Award twice, ...
and serialized in ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
'' from April 8, 1981, to September 25, 1985. The individual chapters of the manga were collected into 24 ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes published by
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
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 ''tankōbon'' volumes between November 16, 2000, and July 17, 2001.
Anime
The manga was adapted into an
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series by
Eiken
Eiken may refer to:
Places Norway
* Eiken, Norway, a former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county
* Eiken, Agder, a village in Hægebostad municipality in Agder county
** Eiken Church, a church in Hægebostad municipality in Agder county
Swi ...
, directed by Toshitaka Tsunoda. It was broadcast in 72 episodes on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...
between April 18, 1985, and September 26, 1986. The episodes were released by
Geneon Universal Entertainment
(abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan.
Th ...
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 by Kousuke Shimoyama, and the ending theme by Kousuke Shinoyama.
Reception
Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...
's Justin Sevakis commends the unusual realism of the anime, stating "it refuses to sugar-coat the awful, dangerous and sad aspects of life, but attacks them with a smile, a sense of humor, and a resolute strength that's incredibly inspiring." He also commends the setting of the anime in "the idyllic small cities and towns among
Iwate Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectur ...
, the poetry of
Kenji Miyazawa
was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, a vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social acti ...
is often invoked, giving a strong sense of peace and nature that we seldom think of in anime."
References
External links
Official ''Musashi no Ken'' website
*
{{Eiken
1973 manga
1985 anime television series debuts
1986 Japanese television series endings
Coming-of-age anime and manga
Eiken (studio)
Shogakukan manga
Shōnen manga
Kendo in anime and manga
TV Tokyo original programming
Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga