General Info

First Issue: USAGI YOJIMBO Volume 1, Issue 35

Comics Which Contain This Story

This story can be found in the following comics:

USAGI YOJIMBO Volume 1, Issue 35

Characters

The following characters are mentioned in the story:

• Lady Asano
• Miyamoto Usagi
• General Murakami
• Magistrate Oda

Story Synopsis

Usagi demands an explanation of Gen for his rude treatment of the Lady Asano. He is cut short by Gen and his explanation about why he feels no sense of duty to the Asano clan.

When his father, Murakami, was sent out to hunt Oda, he took his family along with him. Gen was a child at the time and it was left to his mother to provide their income as they travelled. Gen began to despise his father for the depths to which his mother had to sink simply so they could eat.

Murakami himself was never unkind, but he never showed emotion - not even when his wife died. He did teach his son to use the sword, but there came the time when the son was more than a match for the father and it heralded Gen's leaving. Striking out on his own, not wishing to share his father's vendetta, he soon came to realise he could make a living with his blades. Perhaps he had something to thank his father for after all.

As he finishes his tale, Gen and Usagi are interrupted by the innkeeper with news that Lady Asano has been taken prisoner. Usagi goes to help her, while Gen, stubborn as always, wants nothing to do with the matter. Usagi pleads with the magistrate, but finds him to be nothing more than a corrupt paranoid who has him imprisoned to be executed with Lady Asano in the morning.

Gen meanwhile, is unable to eat. Conscience perhaps? Either way, he eventually storms out of the inn and goes in search of his long-eared comrade. Aware that Usagi has been gone far too long to have been successful, Gen sneaks into the place, but is captured and thrown into the jail along with Usagi.

A triple execution seems imminent...