Originally Published in: Albedo #2
Published: November 1984
Written and drawn by Stan Sakai
'The Goblin of Adachigahara'
In Brief: the only reason you've ever heard of Albedo....
One snowy night a ronin stops outside a small house in the mountains, asking to stay the night. The old woman who lives there welcomes the samurai, who introduces himself as Miyamoto Usagi.
The old woman explains that she’s lived alone ever since her husband died in the battle of Adachi which took place near by many years ago. Usagi remembers that battle well. His lord’s forces might have been victorious, but General Toda betrayed them and sided with the evil Lord Hijiki. In a last bid to break through the enemy flanks Usagi’s lord was killed by enemy archers. As a loyal retainer Usagi removed his lord’s head and fought his way into the nearby hills where he buried it in secret, so his lord would not be disgraced in death by having his severed head put on public displayed by Hijiki. Usagi returned to find the battle lost, and so began his life as a ronin- a masterless samurai.
His story ended, Usagi asks the old woman about the rumors he’s heard about a goblin that stalks the mountains. The woman dismisses them and offers him a bed for the night.
Late the night a creatures sulks down from the hills, smashes its way through the house and slashes the bed with it claws….only to find a bundle of firewood under the covers. The goblin vows to kill Usagi for this trick.
Usagi slashes the creature with his sword and rushes outside through the hole in the wall. Dodging the goblin’s blows he’s able to deliver a mortal blow to the creature. As the goblin lies dead in the snow, the woman runs outside mourning her dead husband!
She admits the truth. Her husband was actually General Toda. After the battle rather the reward Toda for his treachery, Hijiki had him beaten and banished in disgrace. The couple wandered for months until they came across an abandoned house near Adachi plains. Toda decided to live there spot, seemingly to torment himself for his failures. He would spend his nights roaming the mountains, returning each dawn with a little less of his humanity (?). One day he never returned having become the creature Usagi just killed.
She begs the samurai to kill her for betraying him. Usagi tells the woman to summon a priest to cleanse her husband’s soul and leaves her crying in the snow.
Trivia
- This is the first ever Usagi Yojmbo comic. The story continues in Albedo #3.
- This story was originally published as 'Usagi Yojimbo' with the current title being added when it was republished in the first trade collection (weirdly the big Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition has it listed under it's original name)
- The plot of this story was probably inspired by the Japanese folk story 'The Goblin of Adachigahara' (it seems obvious in hindsight I know) or at least the version included in Yei Theodora Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales first published in 1903. In that story a monk spends the night with an old woman until he realizes she's the murderous goblin that haunts the area and he flees for his life.
- The events of the Battle of Adachi will be told in full in Usagi Yojimbo (volume one) issue 4.
- Presumably the events of Return to Adachi Plain (take a wild guess what happens) takes place shortly before this story. Unless he happened to make another journey to the site of his lord's death.
- While Usagi's lord is unnamed in this story, later stories will give him the name Lord Mifune (after Toshiro Mifune the actor who stared in many classic samurai movies).
- In 2019 as part of the series 35th anniversary this story was expanded and retold in Usagi Yojimbo (volume four) issue 6. I can't really recommend it.
- Usagi's kill count: 1
Review:
Like a lot of people I was my first introduction to Usagi was through one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoons. In my case it was the 4Kid's one. It wasn't until 2009 when I stumbled onto the TMNT wiki that I discovered the Rabbit Ronin existed independently of the Heroes in A Half Shell though I didn't really care about him all that much.
Still I heard the three things everyone always says about Usagi Yojimbo: 1.It's been running for years and it's still consistently good. 2. Basically any story is the perfect jumping on point, and 3.It tricks you into learning stuff by making it's subject mater seem fun and interesting. Then in 2013 my high school library got a copy of The Ronin and I got to experience the series for myself.
I remember going online and reading a review and being surprised that they called this the series awkward early years if the stories were this good.
Anyway this is a fairly straightforward but effective introduction to our hero and his world. We learn Usagi's backstory, he's a master swordsman and how he's a nice enough guy to spare Toda's wife. Now all of this will be expanded on in the coming decades but we all have to start somewhere.
Art-wise Usagi is more compact than he'll be in later years (Sakai will perfect Usagi's appearance around 1993) and the story looks a bit crude in places. Still it has a lot of character and the fight scene flows well.
This Stan Sakai is going places.....
