Vagabond is a long-running seinen manga by Takehiko Inoue, adapted from Eiji Yoshikawa's novel Musashi. Serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Morning since 1998, it is set between the late Warring States period and the early Edo period and depicts Miyamoto Musashi's rise from the rout at Sekigahara to his quest to become "unrivaled under heaven," as well as the origins of his fateful duel with Sasaki Kojirō. The work is celebrated for its ink-wash brushwork, its grand imagery of nature and life, and its quiet psychological portraiture—a temperament entirely different from his earlier Slam Dunk, yet equally a spiritual landmark for a generation of readers. Volume 23 stands at a crucial point in the Kyoto Yoshioka arc: after Musashi's duel with Denshichirō, the head of the Yoshioka school, no one in the school can match him; several senior disciples, unwilling to face him directly, plot to have him killed by proxy—they intend to call in the rumored master swordsman Sasaki Kojirō to fight Musashi on the Yoshioka's behalf. Meanwhile, Matahachi encounters the real Sasaki Kojirō and, to inflate his own standing, claims that only he can communicate with this silent swordsman, and so accompanies Kojirō with the Yoshioka retainers to the school. As he gradually realizes the intent of Ueda and the others to "find someone to die in their place," this comic and pitiable small man must choose between self-preservation, vanity, and honor. In this volume, Musashi's training arc and Kojirō's introduction advance in parallel, and the paths of the two geniuses begin to converge, laying the first cornerstone for the repeatedly dramatized duel at Ganryū Island.
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Eiji Yoshikawa (1892–1962) was a native of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and a leading author of Japanese popular literature, hailed as a “national writer.” After leaving school early, he worked as a printer and a shipyard worker, among other jobs, while continuing to educate himself. He entered the literary world in 1914 and later became known for his historical novels. His works are mostly drawn from Japanese and Chinese history, and he excelled at portraying personal growth and the sweep of an era within a framework of historical fact, in a style that is accessible and deeply engaging. His major works include Musashi, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The New Taiko Chronicles, Kuroda Josui, and Minamoto no Yoritomo. This library holds 46 of his works, including several volumes of the Three Kingdoms series and the complete Musashi. His historical novels have long enjoyed a wide readership and have had a significant influence on the development of Japanese popular literature.
