FOREWORD
by Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith is the creator of the "Bone" comics and
is one of the original members of the Trilogy Tour.

In the course of all hero myths, the return home is always the most telling. In such stories, the hero, who has been expelled from his homeland against his wishes – or at least under circumstances beyond his control -- at last returns from his wanderings and brings the boon of his experiences home to the people he left behind.

Miyamoto Usagi, a samurai warrior in the employ of Lord Mifune, has been left masterless after an apocalyptic battle on the plain of Adachigahara. Now a ronin, Usagi again nears the village of his youth. His growth as an individual mentally, spiritually, and as a warrior, is best measured by us as readers (and perhaps more importantly by Usagi himself) when he confronts childhood enemies and lovers.

As a storyteller, Stan Sakai is one of the few artists working in comics who completely understands his medium. In keeping with the comic book's serialized format that is presented to the public on a periodical basis, Stan writes each installment of Usagi Yojimbo as a tapestry that moves the characters and their relationship forward. And occasionally, as in this present volume, embarking on a larger, pivotal story-arc which will propel the hero and the story through the chosen gateway and toward its destined path.

For us as readers, since we are not bound to stay behind with the villagers, it is to our benefit, as well as our pure pleasure, to follow Usagi down that road.

– Jeff Smith, May 30, 1994

“Usagi Yojimbo” and "Space Usagi", including all prominent characters featured in the stories and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Stan Sakai and Usagi Studios. Usagi Yojimbo is a registered trademark of Stan Sakai.  Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric content, is coincidental.