is a Japanese epic martial arts manga series written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue. It portrays a fictionalized account of the life of Japanese swordsman Musashi Miyamoto, based on Eiji Yoshikawa's novel Musashi. It has been serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Morning since September 1998, with its chapters collected into thirty-seven tankōbon volumes as of July 2014. Viz Media licensed the series for English release in North America and has published the current thirty-seven volumes as of April 2015. The series is currently on an extended hiatus, with the latest chapter released in May 2015. As of December 2012, the manga had over 82 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. In 2000, Vagabond won the 24th Kodansha Manga Award for Best General Manga, as well as the Grand Prize of the 6th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2002. Summary The story starts in 1600, in the aftermath of the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. Two 17-year-old teenagers who joined the losing side, Takezō Shinmen and Matahachi Hon'iden, lie wounded in the battlefield and pursued by survivor hunters. They manage to escape and swear to become Invincible Under The Heavens (天下無双, Tenka Musō). They find housing with two women, but are soon attacked by the Tsujikaze gang, and in the confusion of the fight their paths separate: Takezō decides to become a vagabond and wander the world challenging strong opponents, and Matahachi chooses to stay with the women. Takezō returns to his hometown, the Miyamoto village, to tell Matahachi's mother, Osugi Hon'iden, that her son is alive. However, Osugi reacts hostile because the village detests Takezō for his extremely violent and antisocial tendencies, and because the future of the Hon'iden gentry family is compromised now that their heir Matahachi is missing. Osugi pulls strings to accuse Takezō of being a criminal. Takezō fights his pursuers but is eventually caught by the monk Takuan Sōhō, who makes him reconsider his purpose in life. Takuan frees him and, to make him start his life anew, renames him Musashi Miyamoto. Thus begins a story that will show how the legend of the acclaimed sword master Musashi Miyamoto was forged. Story arcs Takezō arc: Takezō Shinmen and Matahachi Hon'iden's perilous escape from the battlefield of Sekihagara, their hazardous housing with Okō and Akemi, the events corresponding to Takezō's unwanted return to the Miyamoto village. First Yoshioka