![]() (By saving Lord Mifune's head from desecration, Usagi felt he had atoned for the disgrace of losing the battle. ![]() Usagi escaped into the forest, buried Lord Mifune's head, and eluded pursuit by Hikiji's forces. As he fought free, he had his (so far) only personal confrontation with Hikiji, which left him with his distinctive arched forehead scar. Lord Mifune was killed by an arrow barrage Usagi performed his final duty, which was to escape with his lord's head to prevent the enemy from displaying it. Then Usagi's friend and immediate superior, Gunichi, fled the field upon seeing that the battle was lost. ![]() That war concluded at the battle of Adachigahara (sometimes referenced as Adachi Plain), where Mifune had the upper hand until Buichi Toda, one of his subordinate commanders, defected to Hikiji's forces. In the assault, Mifune's wife and son were murdered and Lord Mifune waged war on his rival in revenge. That stable career was destroyed when a villainous rival lord, Lord Hikiji, sent ninja to assassinate the Mifune family. In his term of service, Usagi rose to become a trusted personal bodyguard of his Lord and his family. Kenichi and Mariko later married however, before leaving the village, Usagi and Mariko had a romantic encounter that resulted in a son, Jotaro, whose parentage was hidden from Usagi for years. Kenichi decided to stay (and would eventually become headman upon Usagi's father's death), which comforted Mariko somewhat against the loss of her other dearest friend. Together they returned to their village to defend it from brigands that were threatening it. Before leaving to enter Mifune's service, Usagi returned to his village for a final farewell, where he found Kenichi had been staying at an inn in drunken despair, having sworn to leave the school due to his failure to win the tournament, but too ashamed to return home. ![]() The region's daimyo, Lord Mifune, was observing the contest and was impressed with Usagi's skill enough to offer him a position as a retainer. Usagi won the tournament, his final match being against his old "comrade" Kenichi (now the top student of the Dogora school), and earned his own daisho: the katana named Yagi no Eda ("Willow Branch") and the wakizashi named Aoyagi ("Young Willow"). Before a blow could be struck, however, Usagi's future lord, Mifune, intervened on his behalf and upon sensing the rabbit's honorable nature, let Usagi go.Īt the end of his training, Katsuichi brought Usagi to a fencing tournament hosted by the Dogora school. Instead of summarily executing the young rabbit, they instead began the process of cutting his hand off. Upon his return to the battlefield to return the sword to its rightful owner, Usagi was caught by adult samurai and accused of theft. Fraught with guilt over the theft, Usagi began seeing the now dead soldier in numerous situations, at one point having a nightmare that involved Katsuichi morphing into the soldier. ![]() One of those misadventures involved a young Usagi stealing a dying soldier's wakizashi while walking through a battlefield with his teacher. Katsuichi initially refused but relented when Usagi stood outside his home day and night through unpleasant weather long enough to convince the teacher of his determination.įor years, Usagi was the exclusive student of Katsuichi-sensei, and although he proved a mischievous pupil who got into various misadventures, he also excelled at his studies to become a formidable warrior. Although Kenichi was unimpressed by the display, Usagi pursued the departing sensei to petition him to become his student. In spite of their numerical advantage, the gang was quickly defeated by the sensei's unusual, but definitely effective, technique. However, on the the way there, the boys witnessed a confrontation when a gang of arrogant Dogora students attacked a lone traveler named Katsuichi, who had left the school years ago, dissatisfied with the poor caliber of the students. His two childhood playmates were Kenichi, with whom Usagi would have a less-than-friendly rivalry his whole life, and Mariko, one of the reasons for the boys' rivalry.Įventually the trio went their separate ways when the boys were sent to be trained as samurai in the Dogora school of bujutsu (arts of war). Usagi was born the only son of a village headman in Mutsu. ![]()
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