Vagabond is an ongoing manga by Takehiko Inoue that portrays a fictionalized account of Miyamoto Musashi‘s life. Based on the book “Musashi” by Eiji Yoshikawa, the manga has been serialized in Kodansha’s seinen Weekly Morning magazine since 1998 in Japan, with translations to English by VIZ Media. As of April 2013, 35 tankōbon volumes have been published in Japan, and 34 of which have already been translated into English and released in the United States.
Growing up in the late 16th century Sengoku era Japan, Shinmen Takezo (birth name of Miyamoto Musashi) was shunned by the local villagers as a devil child due to his wild and violent nature. At 17, he ran away from home and joined the Toyotomi army to fight the Tokugawa clan at the battle of Sekigahara. The Tokugawa won a crushing victory with Takezo and a friend managing to survive. They both swore to do great things with their lives but their paths eventually separated. Takezo became a wanted criminal and changed his name to Miyamoto Musashi in order to escape a dishonorable death.
Vagabond won the Grand Prize for manga at the 2000 Japan Media Arts Festival. In the same year, Vagabond won the 24th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category. Vagabond also received the highly-acclaimed Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002, and Inoue was nominated for the 2003 Eisner Award in the Best Writer/Artist category.
Source: Vagabond in Wikipedia
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