Kamui (Japanese: カムイ伝, Hepburn: Kamui Den) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sanpei Shirato. It was serialized in Seirindō's monthly gekiga magazine Garo between December 1964 and July 1971, with its chapters collected in 21 tankōbon volumes. Set in feudal Japan, it tells the story of Kamui, a low-born ninja who has fled his clan and leaves an organization that pursues him and clearly sees the true nature of the Edo period and the discrimination that existed in the feudal system. The series combines historical adventure with social commentary and themes of oppression and rebellion that reflect Shirato's Marxist convictions.
Shirato's manga includes a sequel titled Kamui Den Da Ni-bu[a], illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto, ran in Shogakukan's magazine Big Comic from May 1988 to April 2000; as well as a spin-off titled Kamui Gaiden[b] which were ran in two parts, the first in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday from May 1965 to January 1967; and the second part, titled Kamui Gaiden Dai-ni-bu[c] ran in publisher's Big Comic from February 1982 to March 1987.
Kamui Gaiden was licensed for English release in North America under the title The Legend of Kamui by Viz Media and Eclipse Comics; in 1967, Kamui Gaiden received an anime adaptation under the title Ninpu Kamui Gaiden that ran for 26 episodes on Fuji TV; the series also received an anime film in 1971, titled Kamui Gaiden: Tsukihigai no Maki, and a live-action film, titled Kamui Gaiden, in 2009. The series is licensed for English release in North America by Drawn & Quarterly, starting in January 2025. By October 2021, the series had over 15 million copies in circulation.
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.
Kamui Den manga first appeared on the cover of Garo No. 9, May 1965 (left), and No. 15, August 1965 (right), art by Sanpei Shirato.
The original series written and illustrated by Sanpei Shirato, Kamui Den was serialized in Seirindō [ja]'s monthly gekiga magazine Garo with a total of 74th installments.[6][7] Its first installment was published in the magazine's December 1, 1964, issue.[8][9] The series released its final installment in the July 1, 1971, issue of Garo.[10][11] Seirindō collected its chapters in 21 tankōbon volumes, released from May 10, 1967,[12] to October 10, 1971.[13]
In November 2023, Drawn & Quarterly announced that they have licensed the manga for English release under the title The Legend of Kamui in North America, and will publish the series in ten omnibus 600-page volumes.[14][5] The first volume is scheduled to be published on January 14, 2025.[5]
A continuation of the original series, titled Kamui Den Da Ni-bu, illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto, serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic from May 10, 1988,[15][16] to April 10, 2000.[17][18][19] Shogakukan collected its chapters in 22 volumes, released from October 1989 to August 2000.[20][21]
Sanpei Shirato wrote and serialized a three-installment short stories in Shogakukan's magazine Big Comic, illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto, Kamui Gaiden: Reunion[d], ran from September 25,[e] to October 24, 2009.[f] Shogakukan collected its chapter as a one-volume paperback supplement to the September 2018 issue of Sarai [ja] magazine.[28]
A spin-off titled Kamui Gaiden was published in two parts by Shogakukan's two different magazines. The first part was serialized in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from May 1, 1965,[g] to January 4, 1967,[h] with first 16 chapters collected in two volumes in May 1966,[35][36][37] and again republished three Volumes in April 1976.[35] The second part, titled Kamui Gaiden Dai-ni-bu, was serialized in the publisher's seinen manga magazine Big Comic from February 25, 1982,[38][39] to March 25, 1987.[40][41] Shogakukan collected its chapters in 20 volumes, released from August 1983 to July 1987.[42][43]
The series is licensed for English release in North America under the title The Legend of Kamui, Eclipse Comics in Cooperation with Viz Media, published an issue of Kamui Den on May 12, 1987, and published 36 issues of Kamui Gaiden biweekly from June 2, 1987, to November 15, 1988.[44][45][46][47][5][4][24] and Eclipse Comics published a side-story, titled Island of Sugaru, which Viz Media re-published in two volumes in 1990.[5][48]
Kamui Gaiden received an anime adaptation under the title Ninpu Kamui Gaiden[i], which was produced by TCJ and Zuiyo in 1969.[49] It was broadcast in Japan from April 6 to September 28, 1969, on Fuji TV.[50][1] It ran for 26 episodes.[51] Also Kamui Gaiden received an anime film in 1971, titled Kamui Gaiden: Tsukihigai no Maki[j], and a live-action film, titled Kamui Gaiden, in 2009.[52] In January 2010, Funimation licensed the live-action.[53][54]
By October 2021, the series had over 15 million copies in circulation.[55] The series became one of the most successful series when it was published in Garo magazine,[1] and it was one of the first manga to be published in English in North America.[47] The series is a historical masterpiece of ninja manga that incorporates historical materialism, combines historical adventure with social commentary and themes of oppression and rebellion that reflect Shirato's Marxist convictions, the manga energized the sixties and seventies student protest movement, it became a symbol of their work, who saw the manga as a work that flipped the usual script, An ideology whose purpose was to eliminate class distinctions.[56][5][1][57][58][59]
^ abcdHamamoto, Ben (December 23, 2010). "Behind the "Legend of Kamui" — Sampei Shirato". Nichi Bei News. Retrieved June 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. Retrieved June 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]. Big Comic (in Japanese). No. 9. Shogakukan. 1988. Table of contents. Archived from the original on June 23, 2024. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
^もくじ [Contents]. Weekly Shōnen Sunday (in Japanese). No. 20. Shogakukan. 1965. Table of contents. Archived from the original on June 23, 2024. Retrieved June 21, 2024. ★第21号は5月1日(土)発売!!
^もくじ [Contents]. Weekly Shōnen Sunday (in Japanese). No. 3–4. Shogakukan. 1967. Table of contents. Archived from the original on June 23, 2024. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
^もくじ [Contents]. Weekly Shōnen Sunday (in Japanese). No. 2. Shogakukan. 1967. Table of contents. Archived from the original on June 23, 2024. Retrieved June 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. Retrieved June 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. Retrieved June 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. Retrieved June 21, 2024.