Kamui
Cover of the Viz English edition of The Legend of Kamui
カムイ
Genre	Action, historical[1]
Manga
Kamui Den
Written by	Sanpei Shirato
Published by	Seirindo
English publisher	NA: Drawn & Quarterly Former: Viz Communications
Magazine	Garo
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	December 1964 – July 1971
Volumes	21
Further information Manga Kamui Gaiden Written by Sanpei Shirato Published by Shogakukan English publisher NA: Viz Comics/Eclipse Comics Magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday Demographic Shōnen Original run 1965 – 1967 Volumes 2 Anime television series The Chronicles of Kamui the Ninja Directed by Yonehiko Watanabe Music by Ryōichi Mizutani Studio TCJ, Zuiyo Original network Fuji TV Original run April 6, 1969 – September 28, 1969 Episodes 26 Manga The Legend of Kamui Written by Sanpei Shirato Published by Shogakukan English publisher NA: Viz Media Magazine Big Comic Demographic Seinen Original run 1982 – 1987 Volumes 20 Manga Kamui Den Written by Sanpei Shirato Illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto Published by Shogakukan Magazine Big Comic Demographic Seinen Original run May 5, 1988 – April 10, 2000 Volumes 22 Live-action film Kamui Gaiden (2009)

Kamui (Japanese: カムイ伝, Hepburn: Kamui Den) is a manga series written and illustrated by Sanpei Shirato. Set in feudal Japan, it tells the story of a low-born ninja who has fled his clan. The series combines historical adventure with social commentary and themes of oppression and rebellion that reflect Shirato's Marxist convictions.

Plot

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.

Publication

The original series, Kamui Den (カムイ伝), ran from December 1964 to July 1971 in the monthly gekiga magazine Garo. Two spin-offs series titled Kamui Gaiden (カムイ外伝) ran in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from 1965 to 1967 and in Big Comic from 1982 to 1987, respectively.^[2][3] A continuation of Kamui Den, illustrated by Tetsuji Okamoto, ran from May 5, 1988, to April 10, 2000, in Big Comic.

In 1987, two volumes of the second Kamui Gaiden series became one of the first manga titles to be published in the United States (by Eclipse Comics and Viz Comics), as The Legend of Kamui. The Viz edition featured lettering and retouching by Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai.

The original 1964 series is licensed in English by Drawn & Quarterly.^[4]

Adaptations

The manga was adapted into an anime series The Chronicles of Kamui the Ninja (1969) and a live-action film Kamui Gaiden (2009) (based on the first and second Kamui Gaiden series, respectively).

The Chronicles of Kamui the Ninja (忍風カムイ外伝, Ninpū Kamui Gaiden) was produced by TCJ and Zuiyo in 1969.^[5] It was broadcast in Japan from April 6, 1969, to September 28, 1969, by Fuji TV. Kamui the Ninja had 26 episodes with a running time of 22 minutes each. An episode of the series was dubbed to English and released as a VHS bundle by REMCO under their Secret of the Ninja toyline.