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The Legend of Kamui
The Legend of Kamui: Volume Four
The plot thickens in Shirato Sanpei’s sweeping masterpiece!
Long considered the greatest epic series in Japanese comics, The Legend of Kamui delicately balances the largest cast ever in manga while managing to make every character distinct.
In this fourth installment of the groundbreaking saga, the outcast Kamui finally enters the order of the ninja. But soon, he is tasked with assassinating his teacher Akame who has joined forces with a high-powered merchant. Elsewhere, Shosuke’s hard work and innovative ideas have ingratiated him with the farmer class, beginning to bridge the gap with outcasts in a move towards collaboration―at least, until he is arrested for helping start the Tamate uprising.
The Legend of Kamui remains the most exciting adventure comic on the stands today while also managing to be the single greatest source for understanding Edo-period Japan and how ALL modern civilizations are built. Originally serialized between 1964 and 1971 in the legendary alt-manga magazine GARO, this landmark work of historical fiction is translated from the Japanese by Richard Rubinger with Noriko Rubinger.
Long considered the greatest epic series in Japanese comics, The Legend of Kamui delicately balances the largest cast ever in manga while managing to make every character distinct.
In this fourth installment of the groundbreaking saga, the outcast Kamui finally enters the order of the ninja. But soon, he is tasked with assassinating his teacher Akame who has joined forces with a high-powered merchant. Elsewhere, Shosuke’s hard work and innovative ideas have ingratiated him with the farmer class, beginning to bridge the gap with outcasts in a move towards collaboration―at least, until he is arrested for helping start the Tamate uprising.
The Legend of Kamui remains the most exciting adventure comic on the stands today while also managing to be the single greatest source for understanding Edo-period Japan and how ALL modern civilizations are built. Originally serialized between 1964 and 1971 in the legendary alt-manga magazine GARO, this landmark work of historical fiction is translated from the Japanese by Richard Rubinger with Noriko Rubinger.
- GenresManga
656 pages, Paperback
Published August 4, 2026
About the author
Sanpei Shirato
118 books14 followersSanpei Shirato (白土三平) was born Noboru Okamoto in 1932, a son of well-known leftist painter and activist, Tōki Okamoto, who was active in organizing a proletarian art movement during the 1920s and 1930s. In wartime Japan, to avoid persecution from the authorities, the Okamoto family frequently moved around the country to different places including Kobe, Osaka, and some rural areas where young Shirato experienced poverty and came in contact with ethnic minorities and other discriminated groups (i.e., burakumin) as a child.
Shirato debuted in 1957 with his manga, Kogarashi kenshi. Although his earlier manga were aimed at children, some of them already exhibited social concerns, including social marginalization of ethnic minorities, the struggles of people in the lower class, the socially oppressive power structure–all of which became prevalent motifs in his works. Stylistically, his earlier manga in the late 1950s inherited the postwar mainstream manga style—which consists of Tezuka-inspired, simplistic cartoony depiction of characters with large eyes. His style gradually changed throughout the 1960s, as observed in the shift of visual style in Kamui-den.
Shirato debuted in 1957 with his manga, Kogarashi kenshi. Although his earlier manga were aimed at children, some of them already exhibited social concerns, including social marginalization of ethnic minorities, the struggles of people in the lower class, the socially oppressive power structure–all of which became prevalent motifs in his works. Stylistically, his earlier manga in the late 1950s inherited the postwar mainstream manga style—which consists of Tezuka-inspired, simplistic cartoony depiction of characters with large eyes. His style gradually changed throughout the 1960s, as observed in the shift of visual style in Kamui-den.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
September 28, 2026
I’m enjoying this series. The cast of characters is so huge and with the ninjas in disguise ( like a Mission Impossible TV episode) I’m not sure which character got blown to bits mid-volume? I thought it was Kamui, it had happened earlier that he was killed, but the title character showed up after.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review