Vagabond

Vagabond
Vagabond
Kanji	バガボンド
Romaji	Bagabondo
Information
Form	Manga
Volumes	37
Year Released	1998
Magazine	Weekly Morning
Demographic	Seinen
Author	Takehiko Inoue

Vagabond (バガボンド Bagabondo) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue. It portrays a fictionalized account of the life of Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, based on Eiji Yoshikawa's novel Musashi.

It has been serialized in Weekly Morning magazine since 1998, with the chapters collected into 37 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha as of July 2014. Viz Media licensed the series for English release in North America and has published 35 volumes as of March 2014. Vagabond won a 2000 Kodansha Manga Award and the 2002 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and has sold more than 82 million copies worldwide.

Plot

Growing up in the late 15th century Sengoku era Japan, Shinmen Takezo is shunned by the local villagers as a devil child due to his wild and violent nature. Running away from home with a fellow boy at age 17, Takezo joins the Toyotomi army to fight the Tokugawa clan at the battle of Sekigahara. However, the Tokugawa win a crushing victory, leading to nearly three hundred years of Shogunate rule. Takezo and his friend manage to survive the battle, and afterwards swear to do great things with their lives. But after their paths separate, Takezo becomes a wanted criminal, and must change his name and his nature in order to escape an ignoble death. Based on the book "Musashi" by Eiji Yoshikawa, Vagabond is a fictional retelling of the life of Miyamoto Musashi, often referred to as the "Sword Saint" - perhaps the most famous and successful of Japan's sword fighters.

Gallery

For a list of Vagabond manga volumes, refer to List of Vagabond chapters and volumes