Lone Wolf and Cub

• Ja Kanji — 子連れ狼 • Ja Romaji — Kozure Ōkami • Genre — * Adventure • Epic

• Type — manga • Author — Kazuo Koike • Illustrator — Goseki Kojima • Publisher — Futabasha • Magazine — Weekly Manga Action • First — September 10, 1970 • Last — April 1, 1976 • Volumes — 28

• Title — Sequels • Content — * New Lone Wolf and Cub (2003–06) • Soshite Kozure Ōkami: Shikaku no Ko (2007–10)

• Portal — yes "Wolf taking along his child" is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Goseki Kojima. It was serialized in Futabasha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Manga Action from September 1970 to April 1976, with its chapters collected in 28 tankōbon volumes. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential manga series of all time, spawning various adaptations including six films, four plays, and a television series. The series chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the shōguns executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword. Disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan, he is forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigorō, they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub", the series' namesake. Critics have praised Koike's storytelling and Kojima's cinematic artwork, while noting the series' graphic violence, sexual content, episodic structure, and treatment of samurai culture. Lone Wolf and Cub has also been cited as an origin of the trope of a man protecting a child on a journey from constant danger, which has inspired numerous books, comics, films, television shows, and video games.

Ogami Ittō, a 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 the oniwaban and the assassins, Ogami Ittō is responsible for enforcing the will of the shōgun over the daimyōs (lesser domain lords). 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 hollyhock crest of the Tokugawa clan, in effect acting in place of the shōgun. After 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. The supposed culprits are three former retainers of an abolished clan, avenging the execution of their lord by Ogami Ittō. However, the entire matter was planned by Yagyū Retsudō, leader of the Ura-Yagyū (Shadow Yagyu) clan, in order to seize Ogami's post as part of a master plan to control the three key positions of power: the spy system, the official assassins, and the Shogunate Decapitator. During the initial incursion, an ihai (funeral tablet) with the shōguns crest on it was placed inside the Ogami family shrine, signifying a supposed wish for the shogun's death. 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. The one-year-old Daigorō is given a choice by his father: a ball or a sword. 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. 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. On meifumadō ("The Road to Hell"), the cursed journey for vengeance, Ogami Ittō and Daigorō experience numerous adventures. 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. When Retsudō and the Yagyū clan are unable to kill Ittō, the shogunate officially proclaims him and Daigorō outlaws with a price on their heads, authorizing all clans to try and arrest/kill them and permitting anyone to go after them for the bounty. The last duel between Ogami Ittō and Yagyū Retsudō runs 178 pages—one of the longest single fight-scenes ever published in a manga. Toward the end of their journey, Ogami Ittō's dōtanuki sword is surreptitiously tampered with and damaged by a supposed sword-polisher who is really an elite kusa ("Grass" ninja) of the Yagyū clan. When Ittō is finally attacked by the last of the kusa, the sword breaks and Ittō receives wounds that are ultimately fatal. Deadlocked in mid-battle with Retsudō, Ittō's spirit leaves his body after years of fatigue and bloodshed, unable to destroy his longtime enemy and ending his path of meifumadō. The story finishes with Daigorō taking up Retsudō's broken spear and charging in fury. Retsudō opens his arms, disregarding all defense, and allows Daigorō to drive the spear into his body. Embracing Daigorō with tears, Retsudō names him "grandson of my heart", closing the cycle of vengeance and hatred between the clans and concluding the epic. Many of the stories are written in a non-chronological order, revealing different parts of the narrative at different times. For example, Ogami's betrayal is not revealed until the end of the first volume, after many stories have already passed.

Writer Kazuo Koike was inspired by the legendary hero Sigurd, who is made invulnerable by bathing in a dragon's blood—except for where a leaf shields part of his back and retains his mortality; the character of Daigorō was created to mirror this weakness in Ogami. Koike stated in an interview that he crafted the manga to be based upon the characters themselves and that the "essential tension between [Ittō's] imperative to meet these challenges while keeping his son with him on the journey" drove the story. According to Koike, "Having two characters as foils of each other is what sets things in motion" and "If you have a strong character, the storyline will develop naturally, on its own." Less than a year after the manga's debut, Tomisaburo Wakayama came to Koike to propose starring in the films, to which he immediately agreed. According to Koike, he knew from the beginning, being killers themselves, both Ogami and Retsudō must die at the end, while Daigorō should survive. Both the producers of the 1970s television series and the magazine publisher opposed this, so he had to end his story in his way "without their permission".

• Ogami Ittō—The shogun's executioner, Ittō decides to avenge the death of his wife, "Asami" in the Dark Horse version and to restore his clan. • romanized as "Daigoro" in the Dark Horse version—The son of Ittō and Azami, Daigorō becomes a stronger warrior as the story progresses. • Yagyū Retsudō—The leader of the Shadow Yagyū clan, Retsudō tries everything in his power to ensure that Ittō dies. • also known as Kaii (怪異)—The shogun's food taster and a master of poisons; originally ordered to assist Retsudō in disposing of Ittō, Tanomo dishonorably tries to kill Ittō, Daigorō, and Retsudō in order to seize power for himself. In the original TV series, his character was introduced in Episode 13 of the third series, "Moon of Desire".

Written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Goseki Kojima, Lone Wolf and Cub was serialized in Futabasha's Seinen manga magazine Weekly Manga Action. Its first installment was published on September 10, 1970. The series finished with the 145th installment published on April 1, 1976. Futabasha collected its chapters in 28 tankōbon volumes, published from May 1972 to May 1976. When Lone Wolf and Cub was first released in Japan in 1970, it became wildly popular for its powerful, epic samurai story and its stark and gruesome depiction of violence during Tokugawa era Japan. As of October 2006, the manga had sold 8.3 million copies in Japan and 11.8 million worldwide. Lone Wolf and Cub is one of the most highly regarded manga due to its epic scope, detailed historical accuracy, masterful artwork, and nostalgic yet brutally frank recollection of the bushido ethos. The story spans 28 volumes of manga, with over 300 pages each (totaling over 8,700 pages in all). Many of the panels of the series are depictions of nature, historical locations in Japan, and traditional activities. A couple of years into the series, a story depicts the fate of Yamada Asaemon, the main character of Samurai Executioner, also created by Koike and Kojima. One reviewer notes that Asaemon looks different in this appearance, apparently due to Ogami Ittō having been designed so similarly to the original Asaemon.

Lone Wolf and Cub was initially released in North America in a translated English edition by First Comics in 1987. The monthly series of comic-book-sized issues featured covers by Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz, Matt Wagner, Mike Ploog, and Ray Lago. Sales were initially strong but fell sharply as the company went into a general decline. First Comics shut down in 1991 without completing the series, publishing less than a third of the total series over 45 issues. Starting in September 2000, Dark Horse Comics began to release an English translation of the full series in 28 smaller-sized trade paperback volumes with longer page-counts (from 260 to over 300 pages), similar to the volumes published in Japan. Dark Horse completed the presentation of the entire series, fully translated, with the publication of the 28th volume in December 2002. Dark Horse reused all of Miller's covers from the First Comics edition, as well as several done by Sienkiewicz, and commissioned Wagner, Guy Davis, and Vince Locke to produce new covers for several volumes of the collections. In October 2012, Dark Horse completed the release of all 28 volumes in digital format as part of their "Dark Horse Digital" online service.

• 1. The Assassin's Road 2. The Gateless Barrier 3. The Flute of the Fallen Tiger 4. The Bell Warden 5. Black Wind 6. Lanterns For the Dead 7. Cloud Dragon, Wind Tiger — 8. Chains of Death 9. Echo of the Assassin 10. Hostage Child 11. Talisman of Hades 12. Shattered Stones 13. Moon in the East, Sun in the West 14. Day of the Demons — 15. Brothers of the Grass 16. Gateway Into Winter 17. The Will of the Fang 18. Twilight of the Kurokuwa 19. The Moon In Our Hearts 20. A Taste of Poison 21. Fragrance of Death — 22. Heaven & Earth 23. Tears of Ice 24. In These Small Hands 25. Perhaps in Death 26. Struggle in the Dark 27. Battle's Eve 28. The Lotus Throne

In 2002, a "reimagined" version of the story, Lone Wolf 2100, was created by writer Mike Kennedy and artist Francisco Ruiz Velasco with Koike's indirect involvement. The story was a post-apocalyptic take on the tale with several differences, such as a female cub and a worldwide setting: Daisy Ōgami, daughter of a renowned scientist, and Ittō, her father's cybernetic bodyguard and Daisy's subsequent protector, attempt to escape from the Cygnat Owari Corporation's schemes. Dark Horse announced at the 2006 New York Comic Con that they had licensed New Lone Wolf and Cub, Kazuo Koike and Hideki Mori's follow-up to Lone Wolf and Cub, starring Ōgami Ittō's son Daigorō, the famous child in the baby cart. In this new series, which picks up immediately after the climactic battle of the original series, the bodies of Ōgami Ittō and Yagyū Retsudō are left lying on the beach, with Daigorō left alone standing over his father's body (since no one, for political reasons, dares to bury either body or take charge of Daigorō). A bearded samurai, Tōgō Shigekata of the Satsuma clan and master of the Jigen-ryū style of swordsmanship (based on the actual historical personage Tōgō Shigekata, creator of Jigen-ryū), wanders onto the battlefield and assists Daigorō with the cremation/funeral of Ōgami Ittō and Yagyū Retsudō. Tōgō, who is on a training journey and also carries a dotanuki sword similar to Ōgami's (and crafted by the same swordsmith), then assumes guardianship of Daigorō, including retrieving the baby cart and teaching/training Daigorō in Jigen-ryū. The two soon become enmeshed in a plot by the Shogunate conceived by the ruthless Matsudaira Nobutsuna and spearheaded by his chief henchman Mamiya Rinzō (also based on an actual historical character) to topple the Satsuma clan and assume control of that fiefdom's great wealth, using Tōgō as an unwitting pawn. When Tōgō discovers that he has been tricked and used, he and Daigorō embark on the road of meifumado in a quest to kill the shogun (which would force Matsudaira out into the open). However, Rinzō, who is not only a master of disguise but also Matsudaira's natural son, may have an even more devious plan of his own, including subverting the shogun's own ninja and using opium to ensnare and enslave the shogun himself. This series also introduces non-Japanese characters into the plotlines. Dark Horse began publishing the follow-up series, New Lone Wolf and Cub, in June 2014; the eleventh and last volume was released in December 2016. A second sequel series, titled そして――子連れ狼 刺客の子 (Soshite Kozure Ōkami: Shikaku no Ko, More Lone Wolf and Cub: Eyes of the Child), was serialized in Koike Shoins manga magazine Jin from January 20, 2007, until the magazine's last issue, released on May 21, 2008. The series resumed on eBookJapans online manga magazine Katana on April 14, 2009, and finished on July 20, 2010. Five volumes were released by Koike Shoin from July 27, 2007, to September 28, 2012. This series has not currently been translated into English.

In the 2000s, Darren Aronofsky attempted to get an official Hollywood version of Lone Wolf and Cub off the ground but could not secure the rights. In March 2012, Justin Lin was announced as the director on an American version of Lone Wolf and Cub. In June 2016, it was announced that producer Steven Paul had acquired the rights, and in October 2017, it was announced that Andrew Kevin Walker was writing the script.

Two full-fledged television series based on the manga have been broadcast to date. The first, Lone Wolf and Cub (Kozure Ōkami), was produced in a typical jidaigeki format and broadcast for three seasons from 1973 to 1976, each episode 45 minutes long. Season one originally aired 27 episodes, but the original 2nd episode, "Gomune Oyuki (Oyuki of the Gomune)", was subsequently deleted from all rebroadcasts in Japan and VHS and DVD releases; the reasons why this episode has been excluded are currently unclear. Seasons two and three ran for 26 episodes each. Kinnosuke Yorozuya played Ogami Ittō and later reprised the role in a 1984 TV movie; Daigoro was played by Katzutaka Nishikawa in the first two seasons and by Takumi Satô in the final season. The series was co-produced by Union Motion Picture Co, Ltd. (ユニオン映画) and Studio Ship (スタジオシップ), a company formed by manga author Kazuo Koike, and originally aired on Nippon TV in Japan. It was subsequently broadcast in the United States as The Fugitive Samurai in the original Japanese with English subtitles, and released for the Toronto, Canada market by CFMT-TV (now OMNI 1) in the original Japanese with English subtitles as The Iron Samurai. It has also been aired in Germany dubbed in German, in Italy dubbed in Italian; around 1980, a Portuguese dub was aired in Brazil as O Samurai Fugitivo (The Fugitive Samurai) on TVS, actually SBT, and in Spanish, as El Samurai Fugitivo on the American Spanish TV station Univision. The first season was released on DVD in Japan on December 20, 2006, apparently without subtitles. Twelve of the first 13 episodes were released on DVD in Germany as Kozure Okami, with audio in Japanese and German. In the U.S., Media Blasters released the first season on DVD on April 29, 2008, under its Tokyo Shock label, containing the original Japanese with English subtitles. All of these releases excluded the deleted-from-distribution second episode, "Gomune Oyuki". The latest television series, also titled Lone Wolf and Cub (Kozure Ōkami), aired from 2002 to 2004 in Japan on TV Asahi with Kin'ya Kitaōji in the role of Ogami Ittō and Tsubasa Kobayashi as Daigoro. This series has not yet been made commercially available on DVD or Blu-ray; however, beginning in September 2023, English-subtitled episodes began being uploaded to the YouTube website, courtesy of the "Samurai vs. Ninja" YouTube Channel, and currently all three seasons of the series have been uploaded.

In 1987, video game manufacturer Nichibutsu released a beat 'em up arcade video game based on the series, named Kozure Ōkami in Japan and Samurai Assassin overseas. Players guide Ogami Itto through an army of assassins while carrying his infant son on his back. A baby cart powerup enables Ookami to mow down enemies with blasts of fire. The game was only released in arcades. In 1989, Mayfair Games published Lone Wolf and Cub Game, a board game designed by Matthew Costello based on the franchise. GM Magazine reviewed the game, highlighting the illustrations, well-written encounters, and sturdy components; however, the reviewer found that the basic rules and limited options made for a dull experience on repeat plays. In Square's 2001 PlayStation 2 video game Final Fantasy X, there is an aeon named Yojimbo, a being the summoner Yuna can summon to battle, along with his dog Daigoro. He must be paid the game's form of money to use attacks varying in strength and weapon. With his design resembling that of ancient Japanese designs, his worker-employer relationship with Yuna, the aesthetic with his weaponry and mannerisms, and the name of his dog, many elements from Ittō were used to design this summon. In 2012, a pachinko game adaptation called Kozure Ōkami was released in Japan.

Musician Thundercat includes a song of the same name on the EP The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam.

By 1990, many libraries understood the rise of graphic novels as a medium. Many were advised to purchase copies of various graphic novels to keep up with public demand, listing many popular publications. One of the most prominent graphic novels listed was Lone Wolf and Cub, focusing on the Japanese elements in the storytelling. They would continue to add the volumes of the graphic novel well into 2003.

Lone Wolf and Cub has been cited as the origin for the narrative trope/genre where a man, skilled in violence, protects a child on a journey across a dangerous landscape. Known as the Lone Wolf and Cub trope or genre, it has since been used in numerous works, with examples including films such as Léon: The Professional (1994), The Road (2009) and Logan (2017), television shows such as Stranger Things and Game of Thrones; and media franchises such as The Witcher and The Last of Us. An early example of the trope that predates Lone Wolf and Cub itself is Osamu Tezuka's 1960s samurai manga and anime series Dororo. The samurai anime film Sword of the Stranger (2007) has been described as "Lone Wolf and Cub" meets Rurouni Kenshin. There are also variations of the Lone Wolf and Cub trope involving a mother and daughter, with examples including films such as Birds of Prey (2020) and Gunpowder Milkshake (2021). Other female variations of the trope include the films Gloria (1980) and Aliens (1986). Novelist Max Allan Collins acknowledged the influence of Lone Wolf and Cub on his graphic novel Road to Perdition (1998). In an interview with the BBC, Collins declared that "Road to Perdition is 'an unabashed homage' to Lone Wolf and Cub". In turn, writer Neil Druckmann cited Road to Perdition as a direct influence on The Last of Us video game (2013) and television show (2023); The Last of Us actor Pedro Pascal cited Lone Wolf and Cub as the origin of the trope of a man protecting a child on a journey across a dangerous landscape. "Wolf and Cub" is an episode from the first season of the TV series Person of Interest; the title is assumed to be inspired by Lone Wolf and Cub. Themes of vengeance and being a rōnin are interspersed throughout the episode. Episode 20 of the fifth season of the television series Bob's Burgers, "Hawk & Chick", is a parody inspired by Lone Wolf and Cub. A follow-up episode, "The Hawkening: Look Who's Hawking Now!" from the show's tenth season, features a missing scene that parallels the suppressed episode of the 1973 Lone Wolf and Cub TV series. The Star Wars streaming series The Mandalorian has a premise influenced by Lone Wolf and Cub, with the titular character guarding an alien child from various threats. The Mandalorian spin-off series The Book of Boba Fett includes a scene modeled on Daigorō's choice between ball and sword as depicted in Sword of Vengeance. Obi-Wan Kenobi also uses a variation of the trope. The Lone Wolf and Cub trope has also been used in numerous video games. Examples include the adaptation Kozure Ōkami (1987), Hanjuku Hero 4 (2005) by Square Enix, The Witcher series, The Walking Dead video game series, Sony's The Last of Us and God of War (2018), Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding (2019), and FromSoftware's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019).

Critical response to Lone Wolf and Cub has generally focused on the combination of Kazuo Koike's episodic writing and Goseki Kojima's highly cinematic artwork. Critics have particularly praised the series' visual storytelling, deliberate pacing, historical detail, and treatment of themes including revenge, fatherhood, honor, and samurai culture. At the same time, reviewers have noted its extreme violence and sexual content, episodic structure, occasional repetition, and the tensions between its historical setting and contemporary perspectives on gender, violence, and samurai culture. A major point of critical praise has been Goseki Kojima's visual storytelling. Reviews have emphasized the way his artwork conveys movement, atmosphere, landscape, and violence through composition and sequencing, rather than relying exclusively on dialogue or exposition. The visual dimension of the work has also contributed to its long-standing reputation as a cinematic form of manga, with later commentators drawing connections between its visual language and Japanese cinema. The series' pacing and episodic structure have received both praise and criticism. Individual stories can function as relatively self-contained episodes while contributing to the larger conflict between Ogami Ittō and the Yagyū clan. Shawn O'Rourke argued that reducing the series to a straightforward revenge story overlooks its treatment of fatherhood, blood ties, Buddhist imagery, samurai culture, political corruption, and competing ideas of honor. Other reviewers have been less enthusiastic about the same structure. Evan Minto argued that some stories become formulaic when an episode is reduced primarily to an assassination followed by a sword fight, and considered the manga strongest when its action is supported by characterization or a more substantial moral conflict. The manga's treatment of samurai ethics has likewise been central to critical discussion. Ogami Ittō's conduct combines professional assassination with an uncompromising conception of duty and honor, allowing the series to explore tensions between bushidō, personal loyalty, revenge, and political authority. O'Rourke's discussion of Ogami emphasizes the tension between his conception of bushidō and his rejection of the social order that he believes has betrayed him. The series has consequently been read as more than a conventional revenge narrative, with its recurring encounters providing opportunities to examine different interpretations of honor, obligation, and justice. The relationship between Ogami and Daigorō is another recurring subject of critical attention. The father-and-son relationship operates simultaneously as an emotional element of the story and as part of its larger exploration of duty and survival. Tyler Rothmar described the series as following Ogami and his infant son through a succession of encounters while their relationship is repeatedly tested by their enemies and circumstances. O'Rourke similarly identifies fatherhood and blood ties as recurring themes that complicate the revenge narrative. Historical detail has been another major source of praise. Rothmar described Koike's story as drawing on subjects including Tokugawa government, Buddhism, the yakuza, military strategy, bushidō, and martial arts, while emphasizing the combination of Koike's research with Kojima's artwork. This historical density has also generated criticism. One review praised the setting and its examination of the Tokugawa period but argued that the extensive exposition and historical information could overwhelm the narrative and that the series sometimes presents the period through a highly stylized and violent interpretation. The manga's graphic treatment of violence and sexuality has produced a more divided critical response. Rothmar characterized the series as moving between violence, tenderness, eroticism, and philosophical reflection, presenting these elements within its historical setting. Other reviewers have been more critical of the prominence of sexual violence, nudity, and representations of women. These criticisms have become particularly relevant in more recent assessments, where the series' mature gekiga aesthetic is considered alongside contemporary concerns about gender and representation. The English-language editions have also influenced how the artwork has been received. Minto praised the explanatory material accompanying Dark Horse's edition but argued that its relatively small format could make Kojima's dense artwork difficult to read. Rothmar noted that the edition he reviewed was presented in a Western left-to-right format rather than the right-to-left direction of the Japanese original. Later editions have adopted different presentation formats, including oversized editions intended to give greater prominence to Kojima's artwork. The series' critical reputation has also been reinforced by its continuing influence outside Japan. The Japan Times has described Lone Wolf and Cub as one of the most iconic manga and has noted references to the work in the comics of Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, and popular music. The work's influence on Western comics has also been discussed in connection with Road to Perdition, whose creator Max Allan Collins has identified Lone Wolf and Cub as an explicit influence.