#Lone wolf and cub series#
#Lone wolf and cub free#

They encounter (and slay) all of Yagyū Retsudō's children (both legitimate and illegitimate) along with the entire Kurokuwa ninja clan, eventually facing Retsudō himself. On meifumadō ('The Road to Hell'), the cursed journey for vengeance, Ogami Ittō and Daigorō experience numerous adventures.

#Lone wolf and cub free#

Refusing to kill themselves and fighting free from their house imprisonment, father and son begin wandering the country as 'demons'-the assassin-for-hire team that becomes known as 'Lone Wolf and Cub', vowing to destroy the Yagyū clan to avenge Azami's death and Ittō's disgrace. If Daigorō chose the ball, his father would kill him to send Daigorō to be with his mother however, the child crawls toward the sword and reaches for its hilt this assigns him the path of a rōnin. The one-year-old Daigorō is given a choice by his father: a ball or a sword. When the tablet is 'discovered' during the murder investigation, its presence condemns Ittō as a traitor and thus he is forced to forfeit his post and is sentenced, along with Daigorō, to commit seppuku. During the initial incursion, an ihai (funeral tablet) with the shōgun 's crest on it was placed inside the Ogami family shrine, signifying a supposed wish for the shogun's death. However, the entire matter was planned by Ura-Yagyū (Shadow Yagyu) Yagyū Retsudō, leader of the Ura-Yagyū clan, in order to seize Ogami's post as part of a masterplan to control the three key positions of power: the spy system, the official assassins and the Shogunate Decapitator. The supposed culprits are three former retainers of an abolished clan, avenging the execution of their lord by Ogami Ittō. Īfter Ogami Ittō's wife Azami gives birth to their son, Daigorō, Ogami Ittō returns to find her and all of their household brutally murdered, with only the newborn Daigorō surviving. For those samurai and lords ordered to commit seppuku, the Kogi Kaishakunin assists their deaths by decapitating them to relieve the agony of disembowelment in this role, he is entitled and empowered to wear the crest of the shogunate, in effect acting in place of the shōgun. Along with the oniwaban and the assassins, Ogami Ittō is responsible for enforcing the will of the shōgun over the daimyōs (lesser domain lords). Ogami Ittō, formidable warrior and a master of the suiō-ryū swordsmanship, serves as the Kogi Kaishakunin (the Shōgun's executioner), a position of high power in the Tokugawa shogunate during the 1700s. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigorō, they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as 'Lone Wolf and Cub'. Disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan, he is forced to take the path of the assassin. Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the shōgun 's executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword.

#Lone wolf and cub series#

First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work. Lone Wolf and Cub ( Japanese: 子連れ狼, Hepburn: Kozure Ōkami, 'Wolf taking along his child') is a Japanese manga series created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima.