Scenes from the Farming arc. Clockwise, from top left: the flood ruins the plowed field, the canal is a success, the locust swarm wipes out the crops, the floodable rice paddy field is ready, Musashi supplicates Sado Nagaoka for help, the rice paddy field in the summer.
The Farming arc is the ninth of the story arcs in Vagabond, and it shows the events concerning Musashi Miyamoto's farming in a poor village.
It is currently the last story arc completely collected in volume format.
Duration[]
Chapters: 302—322
Volumes: part of 34—37
Summary[]
Musashi's meeting with Iori, his stay with him, his plans to turn his barren field into crops, the village's help, Musashi's emergency request, Shūsaku's plans, the aftermath.
Synopsis[]
Meeting with Iori and first attempts[]
Musashi starts to plow Iori's field.
Spring. Musashi is wandering in the woods when he senses a sword being polished, he finds the source: a boy that was about to chop the corpse of his dead father. He stops him and delivers a proper burial. They introduce each other: the orphan boy is named Iori, but Musashi still wants to be called Takezō. They begin to live together. Musashi sees that Iori has a very rough lifestyle, often eating bugs, and sets to turn his barren field into crops. Musashi is ploughing when some villagers pass by, quickly realizing he is a samurai. They tell Musashi to stop due to the uselessness of the field, but Musashi carries on. He completes the task, but that night a heavy storm makes the nearby river overflow its banks and flood the field, ruining his work. He tries again the next day, with the same results. Musashi intends to leave the place, but a sad Iori persuades him to stay. Musashi soon devises a new plan: he intends to create a stone floodwall around the river banks. Though he completes it, the river trespasses and the plan fails.
Villagers help, the canal[]
The villagers come to help Musashi and Iori with the making of the canal.
The villagers approach Musashi and they introduce to each other. They tell him Iori's story. Musashi encourages them to take actions to prevent floods. Musashi's third plan is to dig a deep canal in the soil around his house to channel the floods instead of stopping them. The villagers start to help him. They finish the canal several months later, and come the next heavy rain, the canal proves to be a success.
Locust swarm, start of the famine[]
Musashi fights against a group of bandits that come to loot the villagers.
Early autumn. Musashi realizes that none of the fields are fertile. Iori guides him to the only nearby rice field to hopefully get some seeds, but his owner, the old and gruff Shūsaku, doesn't help much. Meanwhile, Sado Nagaoka, a karō (high-rank samurai lord) for the Hosokawa, arrives to the nearby temple. His servant Toyozaemon, who has been tracking down Musashi, informs him that Musashi is working in the nearby lands. Sado Nagaoka hurries Toyozaemon's squad to nab him and take him to Kokura. Meanwhile, Musashi makes progress recovering from his injuries. However, soon news arrive about a coming locust swarm, which also means that bandits will come to steal. When the bandits arrive, Musashi stands ground and defeats them singlehandedly. Everyone realizes that this Takezō is the renowned Musashi. The locust swarm arrives and destroys all the crops, Shūsaku's included. Sado Nagaoka and Toyozaemon enter Musashi's house and try to persuade him about leaving to Kokura, even more now that the village seems doomed. However, Musashi rejects again the offer: he wants to grow the crops and he "doesn't want to become strong, but be strong". Toyozaemon tries to force him, but Musashi quickly defeats him. After the locusts, food in the village becomes increasingly scarce. A famine ensues and it grows harsher as the autumn goes on. Shūsaku begins to share his reserves with the other villagers, but villagers die nonetheless.
Making a floodable rice paddy field[]
As winter approaches and the famine worsens, the villagers work against the clock to make a floodable rice paddy field.
Musashi tries flooding his field to make a rice paddy field, but the soil quickly dries. He continues to try to understand Shūsaku's secrets. Seeing all the actions that Musashi did since arriving, the villagers start to help him with his field. After some work, he notices that the soil changed. But they flood it again and it remains dry. However, a remark from Iori leads to them to discover that the nearby land can retain water, and they begin to expand the land. Shūsaku helps with seeds and some of his soil. They manage to finish it before a critical land freeze. When they flood it, it retains water. Now they only have to endure the winter: they will plant the rice buds when the climate warms up on the next spring.
Musashi's supplication[]
Musashi implores Sado Nagaoka to save the village from the famine.
That very night, the first snow falls upon the village. Soon, the famine aggravates. When Musashi sees that Iori is beginning to agonize, he is finally convinced and takes off to the place where Sado Nagaoka is staying. When he finds him, Musashi bends to the ground and implores him to save the villagers. Sado Nagaoka concedes, but with a condition: that Musashi accepts to travel to Kokura after the situation is fixed. As part of the deal, Toyozaemon will live with Musashi, to keep an eye on him and also to record about Musashi in his diaries. Musashi and Toyozaemon return to the village with food, and the villagers rejoice.
Shūsaku's guidance with the rice crops[]
Shūsaku guides the villagers and teaches his secrets about agriculture.
Now that the villagers are recovered from their hunger, they ask Shūsaku for two things: to teach them how to grow rice, and his permission on expanding the fertile lands around his field. Shusaku accepts both requests. Meanwhile, the village women ask Musashi for some sword lessons, he accepts: these are his first group lessons. Over the next months, Shūsaku teaches the villagers all his secrets in agriculture. Shusaku reveals that the reason that he is gruff and stays away from the villagers is because he doesn't want to be poisoned by humans. However, he confesses he is delighted that Musashi, which by now has been in the village for a year, chose to stay with them. Summer, the time for the harvest is finally here. It is revealed that 30% of the crops were lost due to many factors, but according to Shūsaku it is a very good ratio nonetheless. While helping the villagers with the final measures, he succumbs due to the summer heat and old age. The villagers bid an emotional farewell to Shusaku. Now that the harvest is over, Musashi, Iori and Toyozaemon set off to Kokura.