Kamui (Japanese:カムイ伝,Hepburn:Kamui Den) is a Japanesemanga series written and illustrated bySanpei Shirato. It was serialized in Seirindō's monthlygekiga magazineGaro between December 1964 and July 1971, with its chapters collected in 21tankōbon volumes. Set infeudal Japan, it tells the story of Kamui, a low-bornninja who has fled his clan, which pursues him. It illustrates the true nature of theEdo period and the discrimination that existed within the feudal system.[citation needed] The series combines historical adventure withsocial commentary and themes of oppression and rebellion that reflect Shirato'sMarxist convictions. By October 2021, the series had over 15 million copies in circulation.
A spin-off, titledKamui Gaiden,[a] ran in two parts: the first part ran in Shogakukan'sWeekly Shōnen Sunday from May 1965 to January 1967; and the second part, titledKamui Gaiden Dai-ni-bu,[b] ran inShogakukan's magazineBig Comic from February 1982 to March 1987. A sequel, titledKamui Den Da Ni-bu,[c] illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto, ran inBig Comic from May 1988 to April 2000.
Kamui Gaiden was licensed for English release in North America under the titleThe Legend of Kamui byViz Media andEclipse Comics; in 1967,Kamui Gaiden received ananime adaptation under the titleNinpu Kamui Gaiden that ran for 26 episodes onFuji TV; the series was also adapted into an anime film in 1971, titledKamui Gaiden: Tsukihigai no Maki, and a live-action film, titledKamui Gaiden, in 2009. The series is licensed for English release in North America byDrawn & Quarterly, starting in January 2025.
Kamui is aninja from theEdo period who decides to leave his clan, an act that carries with it a death sentence.[6] After doing so, he is pursued relentlessly by the members of his former clan, who consider him to be a traitor and therefore wish to kill him. Kamui wanders around Japan to escape from them using his intelligence and survival abilities. In the course of the series, Kamui begins to suffer from paranoia because of his status as a persecuted man. Kamui starts to believe that everybody wishes to murder him and distrusts everyone he encounters.
Rather than the story of Kamui, much of the first volume is concerned with the drama of tax collecting, crop inspection and the fate of various animals in and around Hanamaki Village, most notably the White Wolf, about whom Shirato states in the Author's Note at the end of the second chapter, "It seems I have gone on for too long about the lives of the wolves. Especially since the life of the white wolf is not related to the human world I am describing simultaneously in this story".[7]
Kamui himself does not make an appearance untilDogs II, still as a baby, nearly 200 pages into the story,[8] and as a full-fledged adolescent character inYukiwari in chapter 3,The Sword.[9] Kamui is shown to be a member of the lowest class in thefeudal caste system, theBurakumin (translated here as "Outcasts").[10] but is shown, notably in the chapterKogera I,[11] to be plucky and resourceful, a child who bristles against the very idea of class itself. Shirato states at the end ofArson, the penultimate chapter in the volume, that "It is fair to say that the Legend of Kamui begins now."[12]
Kamui Den manga first appeared on the cover ofGaro No. 9, May 1965 (left), and No. 15, August 1965 (right); art bySanpei Shirato.
An original series written and illustrated bySanpei Shirato,Kamui Den was serialized inSeirindō [ja]'s monthlygekiga magazineGaro with a total of 74 installments.[14][15] The first installment was published in the magazine's December 1, 1964, issue.[16][17] The series released its final installment in the July 1, 1971, issue ofGaro.[18][19] Seirindō collected its chapters in 21tankōbon volumes, released from May 10, 1967,[20] to October 10, 1971.[21]
In November 2023,Drawn & Quarterly licensed the manga for English release under the titleThe Legend of Kamui in North America, and will publish the series in tenomnibus 600-page volumes.[22][5] The first volume was published on January 14, 2025.[5]
Aspin-off manga, titledKamui Gaiden, was published in two parts by two different Shogakukan magazines. The first part was serialized in Shogakukan'sshōnen manga magazineWeekly Shōnen Sunday from May 1, 1965,[d] to January 4, 1967.[e] The first 16 chapters were collected in two volumes in May 1966[31][32][33] and republished in three volumes in April 1976.[31] The second part, titledKamui Gaiden Dai-ni-bu, was serialized in the publisher'sseinen manga magazineBig Comic from February 25, 1982,[34][35] to March 25, 1987.[36][37] Shogakukan collected its chapters in 20 volumes, released from August 1983 to July 1987.[38][39]
The series was licensed for English release in North America under the titleThe Legend of Kamui, published by Eclipse Comics in cooperation withViz Media; they published an issue ofKamui Den on May 12, 1987, and published 36 issues ofKamui Gaiden biweekly from June 2, 1987, to November 15, 1988.[40][41][42][43][5][4][44]Eclipse Comics published a side-story, titledIsland of Sugaru, whichViz Media republished in two volumes in 1990.[5][45]
A continuation of the original series, titledKamui Den Da Ni-bu, illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto, was serialized inShogakukan'sseinen manga magazineBig Comic from May 10, 1988,[46][47] to April 10, 2000.[48][49][50] Shogakukan collected its chapters in 22 volumes, released from October 1989 to August 2000.[51][52]
Sanpei Shirato wrote and serialized a three-installment set of short stories in Shogakukan's magazineBig Comic, illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto, calledKamui Gaiden: Reunion.[f] They ran from September 25[g] to October 24, 2009.[h] Shogakukan collected the stories as a one-volume paperback supplement to the September 2018 issue ofSarai [ja] magazine.[58]
Kamui Gaiden received an anime adaptation under the titleNinpu Kamui Gaiden,[i] which was produced byTCJ andZuiyo in 1969.[59] It was broadcast in Japan from April 6 to September 28, 1969, onFuji TV.[60][1] It ran for 26 episodes.[61] It was adapted into a second anime film in 1971, titledKamui Gaiden: Tsukihigai no Maki,[j] and a live-action film, titledKamui Gaiden, in 2009.[62] In January 2010,Funimation licensed the live-action film.[63][64]
By October 2021, the series had over 15 million copies in circulation.[65] The series became one of the most successful series when it was initially published inGaro magazine,[1] and it was one of the first manga to be published in English in North America.[43] The series is viewed as a historical masterpiece of ninja manga that incorporates historical materialism and combines historical adventure with social commentary and themes of oppression and rebellion that reflect Shirato's Marxist convictions. The manga energized the student protest movement of the 1960s and 1970s; it became a symbol for the protestors, who saw the manga as a work that flipped the usual script, with an ideology whose purpose was to eliminate class distinctions.[66][5][1][67][68][69]
^abcdHamamoto, Ben (December 23, 2010)."Behind the "Legend of Kamui" — Sampei Shirato".Nichi Bei News. RetrievedJune 22, 2024."Kamui" was by far the most successful of all serials published in "Garo". As an adventure story with adult content and themes....
^abcToole, Michael (January 1, 2012)."The Mike Toole Show".Anime News Network. RetrievedJune 22, 2024.both Kaoru Shintani's Area 88 and Kudo & Ikegami's Mai were sleek and refined, while Kamui, a historical epic by gekiga tastemaker Sanpei Shirato.
^もくじ [Contents].Weekly Shōnen Sunday (in Japanese). No. 20.Shogakukan. 1965. Table of contents.Archived from the original on June 23, 2024. RetrievedJune 21, 2024.★第21号は5月1日（土）発売!!
^もくじ [Contents].Weekly Shōnen Sunday (in Japanese). No. 2.Shogakukan. 1967. Table of contents.Archived from the original on June 23, 2024. RetrievedJune 21, 2024.◆第3・4合併号は、1月4日(水)!!
^ab作品一覧.asa8.com (in Japanese).Archived from the original on June 25, 2024. RetrievedJune 22, 2024.1966年05月発行 ゴールデンコミックス「カムイ外伝」全2巻/小学館※前半16話分のみ1976年04月発行 旧小学館文庫「カムイ外伝」第1-3巻/小学館
^もくじ [Contents].Big Comic (in Japanese). No. 4.Shogakukan. 1982. Table of contents.Archived from the original on June 25, 2024. RetrievedJune 21, 2024.
^もくじ [Contents].Big Comic (in Japanese). No. 6.Shogakukan. 1987. Table of contents.Archived from the original on June 23, 2024. RetrievedJune 21, 2024.
^もくじ [Contents].Big Comic (in Japanese). No. 9.Shogakukan. 1988. Table of contents.Archived from the original on June 23, 2024. RetrievedJune 21, 2024.
_first_English_cover.jpg)
.jpg)
