Growing up in the late 16th century Sengoku era Japan, Shinmen Takezō is shunned by the local villagers as a devil child due to his wild and violent nature. Running away from home with a fellow boy at age 17, Takezo joins the Toyotomi army to fight the Tokugawa clan at the Battle of Sekigahara. However, the Tokugawa win a crushing victory, leading to nearly three hundred years of Shogunate rule. Takezo and his friend manage to survive the battle and afterwards swear to do great things with their lives. However, after their paths separate, Takezo becomes a wanted criminal and must change his name and his nature in order to escape an ignoble death.... more>> style="line-height: 40px;"> Note: Won the 24th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category in 2000. Won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002 and was nominated for the 2003 Eisner Award in the Best Writer/Artist category. <<less

Set in feudal Japan in between the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, our hero Hojo Tokiyuki is a boy on the run that history all but... more>> forgot! When the Kamakura shogunate is overthrown by Ashikaga Takauji, Tokiyuki's family and standing are visciously taken away from him, and he must flee to the far reaches of the land to survive and seek out his revenge! <<less

When he woke up, Souma Tetsujirou, a samurai from Kamakura who had survived the Mongolian invasion, had found himself in an unfamiliar place.... more>>

He was told by Hirst, the girl who brought him there, that they are in Valhalla, a place where the souls of dead warriors congregate. In order for him to be revived, Tetsujirou now has no choice but to fight against the "dead warriors" from different eras in this mythical place of carnage that he's been thrown into.

This is the start of a samurai drama where one has to fight and strike down their enemies, even if it kills them!! <<less

"To end his eternal suffering, he must slay one thousand enemies!" Manji, a ronin warrior of feudal Japan, has been cursed with immortality. To rid himself of this curse and end his life of misery, he must slay one thousand evil men! His quest begins when a young girl seeks his help in taking revenge on her parents' killers... and his quest won't end until the blood of a thousand has spilled.... more>>

Note: Won an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival. Won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material in 2000. <<less

The manga's story begins when a peasant named Hanbē asks a girl named O-haru for her hand in marriage, but O-haru confesses that she is... more>> already thinking of another man named Masakichi from a neighboring village. When Hanbē seeks out Masakichi, he finds that Masakichi possesses a sword and the skills to use it, despite being a peasant. <<less

Shimazu Toyohisa, a real-life samurai who fought in the pivotal Battle of Sekigahara. In his dying moments, Shimazu is transported to a world of magic with other famous warriors throughout history. These warriors are forced to fight each other in an endless battle.... more>>

Note: Nominated for the 4th and 5th Manga Taishou Awards. <<less

Hinata Saotome is suddenly asked out by En Shinohara, a gorgeous boy in her grade. What she doesn’t know, though, is that his hobby is cross-dressing! En has always hated men, and whenever he sees his own reflection, he punches out whatever is doing the reflecting (windows, mirrors…). To combat this hatred, he dresses up as a girl. Hinata decides to go out with him anyway, despite his weird hobby.... more>>

Also included are the following unrelated short stories:

• Sweets Honey (V.08)

Serizawa gets sick whenever she smells something sweet, but she likes a boy named Miura who has an extremely sweet tooth.

• Boy's Lily (V.16)

A spin-off of Usotsuki Lily where En is a normal guy who recently started dating Hinata whose hobby is dressing like a guy.

• Amber (V.17)

Mio Hasekura is a helpful high school girl who is very fond of her late father who died when she was younger, and hopes to find a guy like him someday. On her way to school one day, she comes across a man collapsed on the side of the road and Mio helps him out. <<less

Yoh Asakura is a shaman--one of the gifted few who, thanks to training or natural talent, can channel spirits that most people can't even see.... more>> With the help of his fiancée, Anna, Yoh is in training for the ultimate shaman sports event: the "Shaman Fight in Tokyo," the once-every-500-years tournament to see who can shape humanity's future and become the Shaman King. But unfortunately for Yoh, every shaman in the world is competing for the same prize… <<less

"Stop your evil deeds and take the right path!" That is the creed of Youko Tama and her younger step brother, Jinka Sendou. The two... more>> demon siblings travel the country to stop the deeds of all evil doers, along with a scaredy-cat swordsman they picked up along the way, Hyoudou Shinsuke. During their travels, they will come across a monk organization with more than suspicious methods and they'll soon be at war. <<less

N/A

In the feudal era of Japan, Ogami Itto is the elite executioner for the Shogun until the ruthless Yagyu clan frames him in an attempt to gain the position. His name dishonored and his wife murdered, Itto and his infant son Daigoro wander Japan as an assassin for hire, named Lone Wolf and Cub. Ultimately, Ogami Itto strives for revenge against the Yagyu clan.... more>>

Note: Won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material in 2001. <<less

During the political upheavals and social strife at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan (1855), two parent-less brothers Yukimura Shoutarou and Yukimura Gentarou... more>> struggle to survive in these turbulent times. With their only possession being their deceased father's sword and clinging onto the wisdom of their mother's final words, the brothers seek to embark on the Path of the Warrior: Sidooh. <<less

In the year 1863, a time fraught with violent social upheaval, samurai of all walks of life flock to Kyoto in the hope of joining the Mibu-Roshi--a band of warriors united around their undying loyalty to the Shogunate system. In time, this group would become one of the greatest (and most famous) movements in Japanese history... the Shinsengumi!... more>>

In 2003 Kaze Hikaru won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shoujo. <<less

At the dawn of the 17th century, at the end of the era of civil wars, in a world of chaos, the epic Battle of Sekigahara was joined. ... more>>

One man emerged from the largest battle ever fought on Japanese soil; a terrible warrior of unspeakable power, he was nicknamed 'the unconquerable.'

Kyoshiro is a peaceful medicine peddler who harbors the soul of an assassin. He accompanies a young bounty hunter across Japan in search of a murderer and on a quest to discover the terrible secret of his own identity. <<less

In the eleventh year of the Meiji era carrying swords was forbidden by the government and those known as samurai were slowly fading away. However... more>> there were plenty that didn’t like those changes taking place in Japan and inevitably the crime rates increased. Japan’s only resolve was an inescapable lake prison. While the prison had no other way to access it but only through water, the 3 boys of the Kumo family were assigned to transport the criminals to their new "home". Although... is that the only thing they were doing...? <<less

It is the 16th year of the Meiji era. Five years have passed since Kenshin Himura stopped the uprising of Makoto Shishio. Though the flames of his budding revolution were extinguished, the scars left in its wake are still felt across Japan. Remnants of his group—though scattered—still exist. Some have found peace while others continue to fight.... more>>

After a remaining faction tried to revive the revolution, Shishio's old sword fell into the hands of Ashitarou Hasegawa, an orphan boy who has never known a home. The conflict also leaves both Aran Inoue, a 16-year-old half-Japanese, half-American boy, and a mercenary girl named Asahi Kubota with a hefty price to pay off, with nowhere else to go. But luckily for these individuals, the Kamiya dojo has always been a place to accept wanderers without prying into their pasts.

The three are keen to start fresh, so when two members of Asahi's former clan show up demanding her return, Asahi refuses and things start to get ugly. In the midst of the chaos, the clan members drop a package containing a picture of dojo proprieter Kaoru Kamiya's presumably deceased father and his location—Hakodate, Hokkaido. With only this information, the members of the Kamiya dojo embark on an adventure across the sea in the hopes of finding news about Kaoru's father and the reason he is being targeted.

was republished as the prologue in Vol 1. <<less

The two genius military advisors who led Toyotomi Hideyoshi to unify the nation, Kuroda Kanbei Yoshitaka and Takenaka Hambei Shigeharu. A dull and unmarried salaryman... more>> in his thirties wake up one day to find that he had become Takanaka HanbeL He had been reborn along with seven other men of the same age and circumstance! That night, he suddenly found himself in an empty room with a PC with a chatroom called "Tea room' open. Apparently, he could use this to chat with his fellow reincarnators?? Will they be able to survive in this era of battle and strife? <<less

Oneshot that came with Keyman volume 2.

The battle for succession that continued for three generations of shogun in the Keichou era culminated in a gruesome battle of ninja arts between the Kouga and Iga clans. Amidst a rain of flower petals, a man and woman who had decided to live for love were separated once again, beautiful in their transience. ... more>>

However, it is said that by the hand of Hattori Hanzo's adopted son, Kyouhachirou, these two flower petals, whether temporarily or permanently, were given life again and left two mementos behind. These children, born with a destiny of their own, were called Kouga Hachirou and Iga Hibiki. The former had eyes like his father's, and the latter had eyes like her mother's.

It is now the Kan'ei era, and the land is at peace. As ninjas begin to disappear into the shadows after being deemed unnecessary, the Kouga and Iga clans ask a favor of Hachirou and Hibiki in hopes of reinforcing their foundations. <<less

The world is a desert where trees and flowers are extremely rare.

What would happen if you took a normal Japanese kid, flew him to Nevada, and then raised him on stories of feudal Japan? "I'm Doushirou"... more>> would happen. Now Doushirou is back in Japan and is facing the difference between what he's been told all his life and what his own eyes and ears are telling him. <<less

Wandering traveller Kurotsuki Yukiji goes from town to town enjoying the women, food, and culture each has to offer. He is the master of the... more>> Kurotsuki style martial art where instead of using brute force, it uses the aiki form where you use the opponent’s strength and manipulate their force against them. It focuses on settling the conflict without hurting both sides and harnessing the “bladeless soul.” Yukiji is travelling to perfect this style and trouble usually finds him despite his peace-loving nature. <<less

The Sengoku Era…A time when losing a battle meant losing it all. The Sword Saint, Isshin Ashina, aims for world domination…That is, until he encounters... more>> a certain Samurai… <<less

For the past 500 years, a certain country has spent day and night fighting countless wars. However, the appearance of General Kuroda Kyoutaka seemed to... more>> foretell the end of this war-torn world with eighty percent of the country already under his rule. His followers are the People Hunters, indiscriminate murderers who suddenly started killing under Kuroda's orders 15 years earlier. In foreign countries, in their own villages, men, women, children and the old... there were no distinctions made. Kuroda's followers simply murdered... and enjoyed it. Happening upon a lone priest with the eyes of his dead sister, a displaced young man named Kazuma struggles against the demons of his past and present. In this strife ridden land how will he fare? <<less

The year is 1863 as the tumultuous samurai era is coming to an end, Japan is split between the pro-shogunate and anti-shogunate factions. The fate... more>> of the world is threatened as an army of historical revisionists are sent from the future to alter the course of history. In order to bring these forces down and protect the real history, two sword warriors, spirits who are swords brought to life by Saniwa (sage), rush to Edo. The polite and thoughtful Horikawa Kunihiro and the short tempered yet skillful Izuminokami Kanesada, who served the same master, confront the invading army along with a lively gang of other warriors including Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki, Yagen Toushirou, Tombokiri, and Tsurumaru Kuninaga. As the fate of history lies in these hero's hands, what meets the blade is yet to be uncovered... [ANN] <<less