is a Japanese novel series by Tetsu Yano released by Kadokawa Shoten from 1984 to 1985. The series was adapted in 1985 into an anime film directed by Rintaro and animated by Madhouse. The screenplay was adapted by Mori Masaki, and character designs were created by Moribi Murano, who also illustrated the novel series. Takuo Noda directed the animation, and the music was composed by Ryūdō Uzaki and Eitetsu Hayashi. The story begins during the Bakumatsu period of Japan in the last years of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It continues through the pre-Meiji period and refers to historical events such as the Boshin War, including the involvement of foreign governments, the Naval Battle of Hakodate, and the Meiji Restoration. There are also references to historical figures such as Captain Kidd, Saigō Takamori, Andō Shōzan, Oguri Kozukenosuke (Tadamasa), Geronimo, and Mark Twain. Plot Jiro, a young boy of Japanese and Ainu descent, is a foundling raised by a kindly innkeeper and her daughter in the village of Sai on the Shimokita Peninsula. One evening, a shinobi kills Jiro's adoptive mother and sister while he is away. When he returns home, he finds their bodies and a strange dagger. The angry villagers accuse him of the murders, and rather than face a brutal crucifixion for the grave crime of parricide, Jiro escapes with the dagger. He encounters a Buddhist monk called Tenkai, who works for the Shogunate as an Oniwaban (Secret Police). Tenkai takes the boy to confront the man who supposedly killed his family and provokes him into delivering the killing blow. To cover his tracks, Tenkai has the village set ablaze, and the villagers are slaughtered. Tenkai takes Jiro to his temple on the island of Ezo, and has his subordinates Shingo and Sanpei train him in the ways of the Ninja. Years later, Jiro leaves to find answers to the mystery of his family and his father, Tarouza. Meanwhile, Tenkai has him followed. Jiro comes across a group of Japanese men beating up an old Ainu man, and he quickly dispatches them. The old man dies of his injuries, but his son Uraka takes Jiro to his home village of Shinopirika-Kotan, unaware the old man's assailants are agents of Tenkai. At Kotan, the village elder recognizes Jiro's dagger as the Dagger of Kamui, which was originally owned by a former village chieftain. It was given to a Japanese ninja who