Miyamoto Usagi
Miyamoto Usagi is a male comic character who features in Usagi Yojimbo.
Contents |
Biography
Miyamoto Usagi (Japanese: 宮本 兎)
He was born the only son of a village headman. His two childhood playmates were Kenichi, with whom Usagi would have a less-than-friendly rivalry his whole life, and Mariko, one of the reasons for the boys' rivalry. Eventually the trio went their separate ways when the boys were sent to be trained as samurai in the Dogora school of Bujitsu (en: arts of war). However, on the trip there the boys witnessed a confrontation where a gang of arrogant Dogora students attacked a lone traveler named Katsuichi. Katsuichi had left the school years ago, dissatisfied with the poor calibre of the students. In spite of their numerical advantage, the gang was quickly defeated by the sensei's unusual, but definitely effective, technique. Although Kenichi was unimpressed by the display, Usagi pursued the departing sensei to petition him to become his student. Katsuichi initially refused, but relented when Usagi stood outside his home day and night through unpleasant weather long enough to convince the teacher of his determination.
For years, Usagi was the exclusive student of Katsuichi-sensei, and although he proved a mischievous pupil who got into various misadventures, he also excelled at his studies to become a formidable warrior. One of those misadventures involved a young Usagi stealing a dying soldier's wakizashi while walking through a battlefield with his teacher. Fraught with guilt over the theft, Usagi began seeing the now dead soldier in numerous situations, at one point having a nightmare that involved Katsuichi morphed into the soldier. Upon his return to the battlefield to return the sword to its rightful owner, Usagi was caught by adult samurai and accused of theft. Instead of summarily executing the young rabbit, they instead began the process of cutting his hand off. Before a blow could be struck however, Usagi's future lord, Mifune, intervened on his behalf, and upon sensing the rabbit's honorable nature, let Usagi go.
At the end of his training, Katsuichi brought Usagi to a fencing tournament hosted by the Dogora school. Usagi won the tournament, his final match being against his childhood friend Kenichi, now the top student of the Dogora school, and earned his own daisho: the katana named Yagi no Eda ("Willow Branch") and the wakizashi named Aoyagi ("Young Willow"). The region's daimyo, Lord Mifune, was observing the contest and was impressed with Usagi's skill enough to offer him a position as a retainer. Before leaving to enter Mifune's service, Usagi returned to his village for a final farewell, where he found Kenichi had been staying at an inn in drunken despair, having sworn to leave the school due to his failure to win the tournament, but too ashamed to return home. Together, they returned to their village to defend it from brigands that were threatening it. Kenichi decided to stay (and would eventually become headman upon Usagi's father's death), which comforted Mariko somewhat against the loss of her other dearest friend. Kenichi and Mariko later married; however, before leaving the village, Usagi and Mariko had a romantic encounter that resulted in a son, Jotaro, whose parentage was hidden from Usagi for years.
In his term of service, Usagi rose to become a trusted personal bodyguard of his Lord and his family. That stable career was destroyed when a villainous rival lord, Lord Hikiji, sent ninja to assassinate the Mifune family. In the assault, Mifune's wife and son were murdered and Lord Mifune waged war on his rival in revenge. That war concluded at the battle of Adachigahara (sometimes referenced as Adachi Plain), where Mifune had the upper hand until Buichi Toda, one of his subordinate commanders, defected to Hikiji's forces. Then Usagi's friend and immediate superior, Gunichi, fled the field upon seeing that the battle was lost. Lord Mifune was killed by an arrow barrage; Usagi performed his final duty, which was to escape with his lord's head to prevent the enemy from displaying it. As he fought his way free, he had his (so far) only personal confrontation with Hikiji, which left him with his distinctive arched forehead scar. Usagi escaped into the forest, buried Lord Mifune's head, and eluded pursuit by Hikiji's forces. By saving Lord Mifune's head from desecration, Usagi felt he had atoned for the disgrace of losing the battle. Otherwise, he would have felt compelled to commit seppuku. Usagi has since avenged his master's death upon both Toda and Gunichi, although Hikiji remains beyond his reach.
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
Usagi's skill is so great that on many occasions, because of his non-aggressive nature, he has often defeated many opponents without even drawing his sword from its scabbard, even when his enemies had. On the rare occasion where Usagi found himself without his swords, he's been able to defeat his enemies using unconventional weapons, such as a seaweed pole, a stick, or even fish.
He came to wield a katana named Yagi no Eda ("Willow Branch") and a smaller blade wakizashi named Aoyagi ("Young Willow").
Notes
- Miyamoto Usagi was created by Stan Sakai where he made his first appearance in Albedo Anthropomorphics v1 #2: "The Goblin of Adachigahara" (1983).
- The character was based on Miyamoto Musashi from Japanese legends.
In other media
Television
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Usagi Yojimbo appeared in the 1987 animated television series in the episode "Usagi Yojimbo" where he was voiced by actor Townsend Coleman.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Miyamoto Usagi appeared in the 2003 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Jason Griffith. He was shown as being one of the competitors at the Battle Nexus.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Miyamoto Usagi appeared in the 2012 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Yuki Matsuzaki. He was a wandering ronin when he came to be the protector of the young boy named Kintaro where he attempted to protect his charge from Jei.
- In Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles, Miyamoto Usagi appeared in the setting of the 2022 CGI animated television series where he was voiced again by actor Yuki Matsuzaki.
Video games
- In Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo, Miyamoto Usagi appeared as a playable character in the setting of the 1988 video game.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus, Miyamoto Usagi appeared in the video game set in the 2003 television series continuity where he appeared as a bonus boss in the Battle Nexus mode with him being voiced once again by actor Jason Griffith.
- In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Legends, Miyamoto Usagi appeared as a playable character in the video game set in the 2012 television series continuity.
- In Usagi Yojimbo: Way of the Ronin, Miyamoto Usagi appeared as a playable character in the setting of the 2015 video game.
Appearances
- Albedo Anthropomorphics v1: "The Goblin of Adachigahara" (1983)
- Usagi Yojimbo v1:
External Links
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