What ensues is a battle of wills between the swordsman and the land itself as he works tirelessly to try and turn a village dying by inches, and on the edge of starvation, into a living community once again. Trying to escape form the confusion and shame he is beginning to feel as the target of every would-be fighter that wants to make a name for themselves by beating the great Musashi, he hides away in a back-water village where he befriends a young orphan and takes up residence in the boy’s dying farmstead. This final volume (so far at least…fingers crossed, right?!) sees Musashi take an abrupt left turn in his travels. Each warrior faced by the legendary swordsman presented a slightly different perspective on the way of the warrior, sometimes even calling into question whether such a thing as a true ‘martial art’ (or violence that can lead to perfection) can even exist…an interesting possibility to be entertained by fiction based more or less on the pursuit of violence. The varied supporting cast that filled out his story was also great from those who acted as friends, mentors, and pupils (primarily Otsu, Matahachi, Jotaro, and Takuan) to the many, many martial opponents who acted as both foils to Musashi’s quest as well as stepping stones on his quest to perfection. Always fighting a battle within himself, and attempting to learn from both his mistakes and the many people he met in his travels, Musashi started to show how he might truly grow into the “sword saint” he is depicted as in popular legend. Beginning as a man that is little more than a beast whose primary claim to fame seemed to be his brute strength and unshakeable tenacity, he grew beyond this simplicity into quite an intriguing and complex character.

Musashi was an interesting character from the beginning, if perhaps a bit simplistic. Working with themes of the search for perfection, the interrelatedness of all human endeavours, and the dichotomy in the swordsman between the primal animal passions and the search for a refined, even pure, perfection he built something quite compelling. At first it seemed like little more than a carbon copy of the novel upon which it was based, but as the story went on Inoue introduced some significant differences in both character and plot that made his interpretation something new and interesting. That’s really too bad as this was a great series. Despite the cliff-hanger it seems unlikely that we will have any more from Takehiko Inoue’s interpretation of Miyamoto Musashi’s life since the series has been on hiatus since 2015.

So, it appears as though this how Vagabond ends.

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