Plot
Bushido: The Way of the Warrior tells the story of a young boy who is the sole survivor of a shipwreck following his parents' murder by a horde of bloodthirsty vampires. Isamu, a decorated samurai and head of the Shogun’s Guard, takes the boy in, renames him Kichiro and raises him alongside his own son in Bushido, the way of the warrior.
Years later, when Kichiro is mistakenly sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit, he is forced to escape the island. But when the vampires return to invade Japan, hell-bent on conquering the country, Kichiro is the only one who holds the secret to defeating them. As the samurai prepare for war, Kichiro must rise above all to rescue the woman he loves and save his adopted homeland from certain annihilation.
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In 1663, a young Kichiro watches as his parents are murdered by vampires. He is rescued by Isamu, head of the Shogun's Guard and trained with Isamu's actual son Orochi in Bushido, the way of the warrior. As the boys become men, Orochi is declared a samurai and the Shogun of Nippon offers his daughter Mitsuko in marriage. Kichiro, who has fallen in love with Mitsuko, tells her goodbye and leaves after Orochi confronts him about touching his future wife. Kichiro goes to a bar only for vampires to attack. He kills them all, but not before one of them mentions fellow vampire Raven and her intent to kill the Shogun. Kichiro rides back home to find Isamu dead by Raven's hand. Orochi discovers him and blames Kichiro for their father's murder.
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Orochi locks up Kichiro and ignores his warnings of Raven's assassination plot for the Shogun. Mitsuko visits him in prison and helps him escape. The Shogun finds out, sets the wedding for the next day, and sends Orochi and his men after Kichiro. The search party stops in the forest where vampires attack them. Kichiro appears and helps them kill the vampires. Orochi brings Kichiro back in chains and the wedding festivities begin with Raven and her fellow vampires waiting outside.
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Raven and the other vampires attack the wedding. Orochi frees Kichiro and joins them in fighting. The sun starts to rise and the surviving vampires flee, but not before Raven bites Orochi and infects him. Kichiro is locked up again while Orochi fights becoming a vampire. Raven sneaks into his room at night and tells him that in exchange for bringing them Mitsuko, he can live amongst them rather than face exile or execution by his fellow samurai. The Shogun sends for Kichiro to hear him out, but Orochi fights his way through several samurai and demands for Mitsuko to join him.
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Kichiro is brought to the Shogun only to find all the guards killed and Mitsuko missing. Orochi delivers Mitsuko to the vampires and they send a messenger back to Nippon with word of her capture. The Shogun makes Kichiro a samurai before sending him and his men after Mitsuko. Kichiro finds the vampire base and reasons with Orochi, who reveals that the vampire army has already left for Nippon.
Bushido: The Way of the Warrior #5
Orochi joins Kichiro and they ride back to Nippon. The vampire army confronts the Shogun and he offers his own life in exchange for Mitsuko's. Before he sacrifices himself, Kichiro arrives and the samurai battle with the vampires. Orochi kills Raven before he and Kichiro team up to decapitate the vampire leader. The rest of the vampires flee and Kichiro reunites with Mitsuko. Orochi realizes he can no longer be samurai and leaves Nippon to become something else.
Bushidō is a moral code concerning samurai attitudes, behavior and lifestyle, formalized in the Edo period (1603–1868). There are multiple types of bushido which evolved significantly through history. Contemporary forms of bushido are still used in the social and economic organization of Japan. Bushido is also used as an overarching term for all the codes, practices, philosophies and principles of samurai culture. It is loosely analogous to the European concept of chivalry, but with some major differences.
In feudal Japan (1185–1868), a rōnin was a samurai who had no lord or master and in some cases, had also severed all links with his family or clan. A samurai became a rōnin upon the death of his master, or after the loss of his master's favor or legal privilege.
The revenge of the forty-seven rōnin, also known as the Akō incident or Akō vendetta, is a historical event in Japan in which a band of rōnin avenged the death of their former master on 31 January 1703. The incident has since become legendary. It is one of the three major adauchi vendetta incidents in Japan, alongside the Revenge of the Soga Brothers and the Igagoe vendetta.
Hagakure, or Hagakure Kikigaki (葉隠聞書), is a practical and spiritual guide for a warrior, drawn from a collection of commentaries by the clerk Yamamoto Tsunetomo, former retainer to Nabeshima Mitsushige, the third ruler of what is now Saga Prefecture in Japan. Tashiro Tsuramoto compiled these commentaries from his conversations with Tsunetomo from 1709 to 1716; however, it was not published until many years afterwards. Written during a time when there was no officially sanctioned samurai fighting, the book grapples with the dilemma of maintaining a warrior class in the absence of war and reflects the author's nostalgia for a world that had disappeared before he was born. Hagakure was largely forgotten for two centuries after its composition, but it came to be viewed as the definitive guide of the armed forces of the Empire of Japan during the Pacific War. Hagakure is also known as The Book of the Samurai, Analects of Nabeshima or Hagakure Analects.
The Sengoku period Battle of Anegawa occurred near Lake Biwa in Ōmi Province, Japan, between the allied forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, against the combined forces of the Azai and Asakura clans. It is notable as the first battle that involved the alliance between Nobunaga and Ieyasu, and it saw Nobunaga's prodigious use of firearms.
The Battle of Dan-no-ura was a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Dan-no-ura, in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshū. On April 25, 1185, the fleet of the Minamoto clan (Genji), led by general Minamoto no Yoshitsune, defeated the fleet of the Taira clan (Heike). The morning rip tide was an advantage for the Taira, but turned to their disadvantage in the afternoon. The young Emperor Antoku was one of those who died among the Taira nobles.
Harakiri is a 1962 Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Masaki Kobayashi. The story takes place between 1619 and 1630 during the Edo period and the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. It tells the story of the rōnin Hanshirō Tsugumo, who requests to commit seppuku (harakiri) within the manor of a local feudal lord, using the opportunity to explain the events that drove him to ask for death before an audience of samurai. The film continues to receive critical acclaim, often considered one of the greatest films of all time.
Bushido: The Soul of Japan is a book written by Inazō Nitobe exploring the way of the samurai. It was published in 1899.
Kamen Rider Hibiki & The Seven Senki is the movie for the Japanese tokusatsu production Kamen Rider Hibiki, directed by Taro Sakamoto and written by Toshiki Inoue. The movie's title and plot is a reference to the classic Akira Kurosawa film, the Seven Samurai. This movie marks the debut of Kamen Rider Hibiki's final form prior to its appearance in the show, and also explains the history of the Makamou and Oni war.
Junshi refers to the medieval Japanese act of vassals committing suicide for the death of their lord.
Warriors Orochi 2, known in Japan as Musō Orochi: Rebirth of the Demon Lord, is a 2008 video game developed by Koei and Omega Force for the PlayStation 2. It is the sequel to Warriors Orochi, a crossover video game of the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series. The game was released in September for North America and Europe. A version for the Xbox 360 was released on September 4 in Japan. A PlayStation Portable version has been released in Japan, North America and Europe.
Many significant Japanese historical people of the Sengoku period appear in works of popular culture such as anime, manga, and video games. This article presents information on references to several historical people in such works.
Samurai Jack, also known as The Samurai or simply Jack, is a sobriquet adopted by the titular protagonist of the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim animated television series Samurai Jack. He was created by Genndy Tartakovsky and is voiced by Phil LaMarr. The character is introduced as a Japanese prince raised since youth as a samurai warrior, who trains under several teachers in order to destroy the demon Aku with his father's sword. However, before he can kill Aku, the demon sends him into the future, where his future self rules over Earth, which has become a post-apocalyptic dystopia, unopposed. Adopting the alias "Jack", the samurai makes it his mission to find a way back to his time and prevent this future from happening.
Epoch is a joint comic book venture of Top Cow Productions and Heroes and Villains Entertainment.
Heroes and Villains Entertainment, LLC is a Hollywood-based production and management company.
Warriors Orochi 3, originally released as Musō Orochi 2 in Japan, is a 2011 hack and slash video game developed by Tecmo Koei and Omega Force for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This is the fourth installment of the crossover series Warriors Orochi, a combination of the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series. This installment serves as a sequel to Warriors Orochi 2. The game was released in Japan in 2011, and in Europe and North America in 2012.
Laughing Under the Clouds is a Japanese manga series by Karakara-Kemuri. The manga was serialized by Mag Garden on Monthly Comic Avarus magazine. The series has been adapted into an anime television series by Doga Kobo. The story follows Tenka Kumō, Soramaru Kumō and Chūtarō Kumō, three well-known samurai brothers who send criminals to the secluded prison Gokumonjo in the middle of Lake Biwa. However, the Kumō brothers soon learn how they are tied to the Orochi's vessel, a human host possessed by a demon serpent from ancient times, and how they are destined to destroy it once and for all. The anime has been licensed for North American release by Funimation.
Samurai II: Vengeance is an action Hack and Slash video game for iOS, Android, BlackBerry OS, Microsoft Windows and macOS. It was developed by Madfinger Games. It is a sequel to Samurai: Way of the Warrior.
Warriors Orochi 4, released as Musou Orochi 3 in Japan, is a 2018 hack and slash video game developed by Koei Tecmo and Omega Force for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment of the crossover series Warriors Orochi, a combination of the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors series. The game was released in Japan on September 27, 2018, and in North America and Europe in October.
Bundori is the second novel by American writer Laura Joh Rowland, a historical mystery set in 1689 Genroku-era Japan featuring the samurai investigator Sano Ichirō. It was published by HarperTorch in 1996 as a sequel to Rowland's debut novel Shinjū.
