Kamui (1964 manga)


Kamui den is a manga series written and drawn by Sanpei Shirato. Set in feudal Japan, it tells the story of a low-born ninja who has fled his clan. The series combines historical adventure with social commentary and themes of oppression and rebellion that reflect Shirato's Marxist convictions.

Plot

Kamui is a ninja from the Edo period who has decided to leave his clan. 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 then wanders around Japan to escape from them by using his intelligence and great abilities to survive. In the course of the series Kamui begins to suffer from paranoia because of his status as a persecuted man. Kamui then started to believe that everybody wished to murder him and became distrusting of everyone he came across.

Publication

The original series, Kamui Den, ran from December 1964 to July 1971 in the monthly gekiga magazine Garo. The sequel titled Legend of Kamui ran from 1982 to 2000 in Big Comic.
In 1987, two volumes of the second series became one of the first manga titles to be published in the United States, as The Legend of Kamui. The Viz edition featured lettering and retouching by Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai.

Adaptations

The manga was adapted into an anime series The Chronicles of Kamui the Ninja and a live-action film Kamui Gaiden.
The Chronicles of Kamui the Ninja was produced by TCJ in 1969. It was broadcast in Japan from 6 April 1969 to 28 September 1969 by Fuji TV. Kamui the Ninja had 26 episodes with a running time of 22 minutes each one.