Samurai Executioner, Vol. 6: Shinko the Kappa

首斬り朝 [Kubikiri Asa] #6

by Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima

The stoic bushido world of Samurai Executioner is one full of flying, disembodied heads, and odd happenings. And this volume is no exception. There are always stories of crimes and ensuing punishment, and plenty of squirting blood, but this volume promises a story that will fascinate and produce a few grins.

A mysterious woman, with a turtle-like demon tattooed on her back and the ability to swim like no other, is stealing weapons of men around Edo. It's scarring egos and causing lots of problems. Of course, Asa has the answer to the mystery. And in a surprise turn, a samurai cop who we've met before finally captures the woman, and does so in a rather erotic way.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Japan, Historical

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Kazuo Koike (小池一夫, Koike Kazuo) was a prolific Japanese manga writer, novelist and entrepreneur.

Early in Koike's career, he studied under Golgo 13 creator Takao Saito and served as a writer on the series.

Koike, along with artist Goseki Kojima, made the manga Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub), and Koike also contributed to the scripts for the 1970s film adaptations of the series, which starred famous Japanese actor Tomisaburo Wakayama. Koike and Kojima became known as the "Golden Duo" because of the success of Lone Wolf and Cub.

Another series written by Koike, Crying Freeman, which was illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami, was adapted into a 1995 live-action film by French director Christophe Gans.

Kazuo Koike started the Gekika Sonjuku, a college course meant to teach people how to be mangaka.

In addition to his more violent, action-oriented manga, Koike, an avid golfer, has also written golf manga.

Reviews

[Jedi JC Daquis · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, this is my least favorite among the first six volumes of Samurai Executioner. Still a good one though, to earn four stars. The chapters here are dichotomously different in terms of length. There are long chapters and there are very short ones.

I love the last chapter, Facing the Dew and perhaps this is the most poetic of all Samurai Executioner chapters I have read. It is wordless (except for one panel) yet powerful and a welcoming beautiful sadness in this otherwise violent world.

[Neon Snake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best in the series so far, each of the stories have a hard kick to them, and good to see some recurring characters.

[Sonic · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you finish a story and you feel a chill from head to toe,
well then, ...
you know you have experienced something unique!

This is powerful good stuff.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samurai are a big staple of manga comics, but nobody does samurai better than Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. The pair are most famous for their 8400 (give or take a few) page samurai epic Lone Wolf & Cub. After completing the saga of Ogami Itto and his son, they embarked on a slightly less ambitious series, spinning an extremely minor LW&C character, Yamada Asaemon, the Shoguns decapitator and sword tester, off into his own 3000-page saga.

However, Samurai Executioner takes a different tact than its predecessor. Rather than spinning one gargantuan epic of family, honor and revenge, Samurai Executioner essentially limits itself to a continuing series of nearly unrelated short stories. The focus, thus, becomes less on Asaemon's journey and more on the political, social and criminal strata of Edo-period Japanese history. The depth of research that Koike has done is truly astounding, reflecting in the impeccable detail of Kojimas illustrations and the intriguing scenarios that continually face Asaemon.

Short tales focus on the sense of honor that even the lowest criminal can feel. Longer stories, such as Volume 6's Gobari Sandosu, examine the political make-up of Edo by putting Asaemon in conflict with what are effectively the unions that run the city's daily functions. Through it all, Asaemon behaves with total honor and responsibility for his duties as decapitator. Asaemon is often just a bit player in many stories, as Koike prefers to tell stories about the history and culture of his homeland. However, Koike still takes some time to prevent Asaemon from becoming a complete cipher, delving into the manner by which citizens avoid contact with the dreaded executioner and his cursed status in Edo. When Asaemon steps to the side (usually to show up at the tales end with a final sword stroke or to offer words of wisdom), one of his few friends, Jitte man (in modern English, cop) Sakane Kasajiro, steps to the front to showcase the police methods of ancient Japan. Kasajiro offers a different view of the time period, that of a younger man finding his place in a regimented world. Among other things, he learns the limits of his favored fighting technique, marries (a most unlikely bride whom he doesnt treat very well, which may be a signifier of the times or perhaps just an unsavory character trait) and solves mind-scrambling crimes.

Artist Goseki Kojima has his limitations. He only has 4 or 5 stock people, and everybody starts to look a like after a while, but nobody I mean nobody lays out a scene more cinematically or creates more believable backgrounds. Each building has a physical weight on the page, and the reader can feel the wind blowing out of the book when Kojimas landscapes come to the fore. His brushstrokes perfectly capture the organic feel of Edo. Plus, let's be honest, his action scenes kick ass.

Samurai Executioner is a violent, sexual series. Whether that is a negative or a positive, I leave up the reader, but it should be noted that Koike and Kojima pulls absolutely no punches when showing the depth to which some criminals will sink. Some criminals inspire sympathy due to their circumstances, and some are amoral monsters. In any case, Decapitator Asaemon is waiting at the end of the line, and I strongly encourage any curious reader to be there as well.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's humor in this volume. I know, weird, right?

Not every job is handed to Yamada and ends in a clean cut. He is tasked with executing a made man who is protected by his clan. Four families make up his clan. Yamada intimidates each one in turn, so they bribe all of the prison's employees to get them to call in sick. Yamada and the commissioner must carry out the execution by themselves. The whole clan shows up to try to defend the convicted felon, but they're too late. Yamada carries the dead body to his final resting place. Though the clansmen want to attack, the dead man's mother, the leader of the clan, realises they can do nothing more. She orders them to stand down so she can mourn her son. The families still want revenge, confident that the government won't risk open conflict with them over Yamada. The solution presents itself with the deceased's sister. She has feelings for Yamada, so her mother quickly embraces the idea of marriage which would also save face for the clan. No sooner do the lovebirds marry, than Yamada divorces her, claiming he has no right to create life after ending so many lives at his job. She actually weeps for the loss.

A strange woman named Shinko outsmarts policemen left and right and steals their weapons. She threatens to leave them at crime scenes that would incriminate their owners if her father who is on death row isn't released. Yamada carries out the execution because the law comes first. This seems to be the only relevant thing in the story. Her forcing herself on Kasajiro the guy Yamada mentored is far from a life story. But wait. There's more to this fail of a story. Because she saved his life in the end, Kasajiro offers to marry her after she gets out of prison. Yamada even offers to adopt her to help out, somehow. These people are strange. She tries to use her forcing herself on Kasajiro to discredit him, but is brought to tears upon hearing what Kasajiro and Yamada offer her. Still, she holds fast for a quick second. She refuses Kasajiro's proposal, screams in his face, gets a swift punch in the eye and drops in his loving arms. Dude... that's a happy marriage right there.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another excellent volume and the story where the title of this volume comes from is especially good. While it may take me awhile to acquire more volumes of Samurai Executioner, I'm really enjoying reading it.

[Leah Coffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not okay with what he did to that old lady.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

En este tomo, las aventuras de kansajiro se roban la película, Koike y Kojima hacen una obra magnífica

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delicious little slice of Edo Japan. Sumptuous artwork, and impelling stories.

[Tanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is always little things of kindness that make the character of Yamada Asaemon a.k.a Kubikiri Asa so sympathetic, despite his mostly unsmiling face. In this 6th volume, my favourite story was the last one, Facing the Dew, which was told almost without text. A prisoner, about to face execution, planted a small plant near the hole they had dug for tomorrow's execution. Asaemon, who happened to pass by, saw it. When a prison guard was about to pull out the plant, he told him to let it be. That night it rained hard, and the prisoner was worried about his little plant out there. The next day Asaemon arrived very early at the execution ground, to the wonder of the prison guards. Seeing that the little plant had been washed away by last night's rain, he quietly went to a corner of the prison garden, dug a similar plant, and planted it exactly at the spot where the prisoner's plant had been. That afternoon, when the prisoner was brought outside for execution, he was surprised and happy to see the plant still standing there, and he died facing the little plant.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books are beyond compare. Powerful, precise, elegant, brutal, moving, profound, shocking, and contemplative all at once. It took me some time to get into this series to the same degree that I did its predecessor Lone Wolf and Cub, which I consider to be the best comic book ever created, but now I've come to regard Samurai Executioner as its own sparkling masterpiece. History, drama, romance, action, social commentary, stunning visual art and gripping storytelling ... I can't recommend it highly enough.

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series continues to be very good. I will warn readers that the end to the title story can be a bit shocking to some. I won't spoil it. The story overall is pretty good and very fitting to the time period the series presents. The story of the grass, where we see a moment in Asamon's childhood was quite endearing I thought. And the rest give us more of a glimpse of the executioner's character. Overall, this another good addition to the series.

[Alex Sarll]

Interesting that the link between waste disposal and organised crime goes back so much further than the Sopranos. It's just a shame Asaemon never says 'I will cut you', given literally every story would yield a valid opportunity.

[Víctor Segovia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno de los tomos más completo de los que he leído hasta ahora. Más historias significa que debió trabajar más en los personajes, pero lo que me sorprende es que el dibujo no ha bajado la calidad.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn you, Koike-sensei!

I want to see Asa marry someone, you give me a little bit of hope and you crush it right away.

So, the consolation is Kasajiro's marriage.

Sigh.