Yaiba

For the protagonist, see Yaiba Kurogane.

For the 1991 pilot OVA, see Yaiba (pilot OVA). For the soundtrack album of the pilot OVA, see Yaiba (CD album).

Yaiba Manga, Volume 1.

YAIBA was the second ongoing manga series created by Gosho Aoyama. It ran from 1988 to 1993 in Weekly Shonen Sunday and later had an anime known as Kenyu Densetsu Yaiba (剣勇伝説YAIBA ,Ken'yū Densetsu Yaiba, "Legend of the Swordmaster Yaiba") that ran from April 9, 1993 to April 1, 1994 on TV Tokyo and TV Hokkaido. The manga was collected into 24 volumes originally and released three more times after that: the wide version (12 volumes), the paperback version (10 volumes), and re-release version (24 volumes). A video game for the Super Famicom, as well as a game for the Nintendo Game Boy, were also both released.

On October 19, 2024, Viz Media announced that they will publish the manga starting July 2025.

The story was about a young samurai and his adventures in modern day Japan. There have been numerous references to it in Detective Conan.

Plot summary

Yaiba, hunting gorillas in the jungle.

Yaiba Arc

Yaiba Kurogane's father Kenjuro took his very young son away from their home in Tokyo and moved with him to a jungle to train him as a swordsman. His wife, Yaiba's mother Michiko Kurogane, never forgave him for this and therefore convinced her daughter Moroha that Kenjuro was a fraud who murdered her "real" father, which is why she would have to avenge him. Six years before the series began, Yaiba rescues young Nadeshiko Yamato from being attacked by a jaguar while on safari. She fell in love with him immediately.

One day, Yaiba, now 14 years old, and his father catch a gorilla in their jungle and prepare it as a meal, which provokes a tiger to attack because he wants his share of it. The relatives of the gorilla appear and hunt Yaiba, his father and the tiger down until they manage to hide in a wooden crate full of fruits, which, unfortunately, is put on a plane and transported to Narita Airport in Tokyo. After their arrival, the trio meets Sayaka Mine and her father Raizo, an old kendo rival of Kenjuro, who tries to challenge Kenjuro to a duel as soon as he spots him, but doesn't manage to because Kenjuro spontaneously grabs all five of them and puts them in a taxi to escape the airport police. He lets it drive to the residence of the Mine family. Yaiba, on the other hand, wonders about Sayaka, who is the first girl he has ever seen in his life, and befriends the tiger, who gets the name Kagetora.

Takeshi Onimaru in his possessed form.

Onimaru Arc

Sayaka, who is the same age as Yaiba, is accompanied by him to middle school the following day, where he immediately gets into a conflict with her classroom teacher Mr. Sudo and several classmates who are familiar with kendo, including the bald swordsman Takeshi Onimaru. Desperate to fight him, Yaiba challenges him to a kendo duel, which Takeshi refuses, whereupon Yaiba sets up some extremely perfidious traps to convince him otherwise. As a result, the two battle each other shortly afterwards, which leads them across a large part of Tokyo and causes an extremely large amount of property damage. Neither of them really wins the fight in the end and both go home seriously injured.

Eight Demons Arc

While Yaiba returns to school and appreciates the company of the girls there, Onimaru withdraws and discovers a secret cellar directly under his family's house, which houses the sword of the Shinto god Fujin, the blade Fujin-ken, which embodied the storm and the wind. To the horror of his grandfather and his sister Ayame, the young man is overwhelmed by the power of the sword and possessed by Fujin, who turns him into a kind of devil who gathers a group of eight animal demons around himself he frees from their 1000 years of sleep. Onimaru then conquers all of Japan and demonstrates his newfound power by first completely destroying Tokyo Tower. At the same time, Yaiba and his friends go on an arduous journey to track down the complement to Fujin-ken, the sword of the thunder god Raijin, which is watched over by Miyamoto Musashi, to train with it and to stop the demons. However, to the initial disappointment of the protagonists, Musashi looks more like a petty thief and a pervert than the legendary swordsman he's normally known as.

Together with this illustrious group, which also includes the two immortal samurai Jubei Yagyu and Kojiro Sasaki, and later two of the animal demons - the frogman Gerozaimon Geroda and the sea cucumber Namako-Otoko, who have switched sides - Yaiba succeeds in defeating Takeshi Onimaru several times.

Kaguya Arc

In the second part of the story, Yaiba's use of the sacred Dragon Orbs to help defeat Onimaru reawakens the evil princess of the Rabbit People, Kaguya. Kaguya seeks out the youth of all of the women of the world for herself. Ultimately, Yaiba has to join forces with Onimaru to defeat Kaguya and her strongest minion Gekko.

Yaiba vs. Dokuro

Strong Cat Dokuro VS. Yaiba Arc

In another adventure, Yaiba and Sayaka get shrunken and help out a bunch of rats living in the attic of the Mine residence against the nefarious cat Dokuro.

Nadeshiko Yamato Arc

Nadeshiko Yamato also turns up inbetween to find Yaiba and challenges Sayaka as a rival.

Yamata no Orochi Arc

During the last fight between Yaiba and Onimaru's devil form in the series, he finally cuts off the horns of the possessed young man, which drives Fujin away, makes Takeshi a normal human student again, and more or less allows everything to return to normal.

Soshi Okita vs. Yaiba Kurogane

Oda Nobunaga Tournament Arc

Shortly afterwards, Yaiba meets his younger sister Moroha Kurogane at a kendō tournament, who takes him to their mother Michiko, before participating in a martial arts tournament organized by multibillionaires, the "Oda Nobunaga Tournament", which takes place on the artificial Yoroi Island. There he competes in the semifinals against the clearly superior boy of the same age, Soshi Okita, who, despite his enormous talent, no longer wants to be a kendōka or a samurai. However, he gives up his sure victory when he realizes that no matter how far he goes, Yaiba would never give up, even if it would cost him his own life. Soshi rediscovers his passion for kendō and a life as a samurai again and the two have been rivals ever since. During this encounter, Soshi also falls in love with Yaiba's sister Moroha.

All of this culminates in final encounter between Yaiba and Onimaru, trained by Kenjuro, which Yaiba narrowly wins again, while Kenjuro himself, Michiko and Moroha meet at the sidelines of the arena where they clear up that Kenjuro is Moroha's real father and Michiko made up the story about him murdering her real father because she was in despair after he took Yaiba away. The three of them reconcile and all return to Tokyo.

Yaiba and Sayaka leaving Tokyo for new adventures.

After a timeskip of three years, peace has finally returned. Due to Onimaru's transformation back into a normal human and the disappearance of his magic, Gerozaimon and Namako are now regular animals living in the pond of the Mine family's backyard. Takeshi Onimaru himself is currently winning his third national title in a row during a match in Tokyo Budokan. Sayaka Mine, now 17 years old, attends Ekoda High School, but cannot concentrate on her lessons because she misses Yaiba, who has since left the Mine family to go on new adventures. Just when she thinks about their past shared experiences, she starts to cry and Keiko Momoi wants to comfort her, when all of a sudden, the meanwhile 17-year-old Yaiba, who is now much taller than her and appears much more mature than before, crashes through the window of the classroom. He then asks Sayaka if she would like to accompany him on his new adventure, which she happily agrees to.

Characters

See also: List of minor Yaiba characters

Cast of Yaiba: Yaiba (foreground); Musashi, Kojiro, Sayaka, Namako-Otoko, Gerozaemon, Onimaru (background, from left to right).

Yaiba's group

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
	Yaiba Kurogane	--	Main character of the series who travels to Japan to become a samurai.
	Sayaka Mine	--	High school student and only daughter of the Mine family.
	Kenjuro Kurogane	--	Yaiba's and Moroha's father and Raizo's old rival.
	Musashi Miyamoto	--	Legendary swordsman who took it upon himself to guard the Raijin sword and acts as Yaiba's teacher after Yaiba obtains the sword.
	Kojiro Sasaki	--	Musashi's famous rival, revived by Onimaru to defeat Yaiba. Kojiro makes several attempts to defeat Yaiba or at least steal the Raijin sword, but ultimately he ends up joining him against Onimaru. He fights using an extendable sword and is a notorious womanizer.
	Jubei Yagyu	--	The famous historical one-eyed samurai, revived by Onimaru using a wolf as the host body. Though he usually looks like a normal human being, he becomes an uncontrollable werewolf when drunk. Because they have the same master (Musashi), he reforms and joins Yaiba after losing to him.
	Kagetora	--	Yaiba's pet tiger. In the manga, Yaiba meets Kagetora in the jungle after Kagetora attempts to eat him and vice versa. Kagetora then accompanies Yaiba on his journey to Japan.
	Shonosuke	--	Yaiba's pet vulture. The circumstances of how and when Yaiba met Shonosuke are never explained in the manga or the anime adaptation.
	Gerozaimon Geroda	--	A frog man, originally one of Onimaru's minions, revived by using a normal frog as the host body. After losing to Yaiba and learning from another minion that Onimaru views him as expendable, he reforms and joins Yaiba for the remainder of the series. Although mostly comical, he has been shown to be a skilled fighter, mainly using his sticky tongue and a battle axe to fight.
	Namako-Otoko	--	Another one of Onimaru's former minions who sides with Yaiba. He is mostly inactive after reforming but is usually seen on Sayaka's shoulder. His name literally means "Sea Cucumber Man".
	Moroha Kurogane	--	Yaiba's long lost little sister, raised by their mother to hate Kenjuro. She joins her brother for the final arc of the manga.

Onimaru faction

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
	Takeshi Onimaru	--	Main antagonist of the series and Yaiba's rival. After obtaining the Fuujin sword, he becomes a demon determined to take over Japan.
	Kumo-Otoko	--	Another of Onimaru's minions, he ends up becoming his right hand man and secretary. After his introduction, he is mostly comical and is rarely shown to be competent at anything. His name literally means "Spider Man".

Dragon God Orbs arc

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
	Professor Kanabo	--	Genius professor recruited by Onimaru and Kumo-Otoko to strengthen Onimaru Castle's defenses with the Onimaru Cannon and to repair the Fuujin sword.

Kaguya arc

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
60px	Kaguya	--	The empress of the moon, ruler to a race of bunny people living on the moon, and the second major antagonist of the series. Awakened by Yaiba using the Dragon Orb, she and her army seek to invade the earth. Her kiss can drain a person's youth.
60px	Tsukikage	--	Kaguya's right-hand man and Gekko's older brother. His name literally means "Moon Shadow".
60px	Gekko	--	Kaguya's most powerful warrior, an anthropomorphic rabbit with a scar over one eye. He is ruthless and so powerful that Yaiba and Onimaru have to team up to stop him. His name literally means "Moonlight".
60px	Mangetsu	--	One of Kaguya's generals. His name literally means "Full Moon".
60px	Mikazuki	--	One of Kaguya's generals. His name literally means "Crescent Moon".
60px	Shingetsu	--	One of Kaguya's generals. His name literally means "New Moon".
60px	Hangetsu	--	One of Kaguya's generals. His name literally means "Half Moon".

Oda Nobunaga tournament arc

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
	Soshi Okita	--	The final antagonist of the series.

Others

Picture	Name	English Name	Role
	Raizo Mine	--	Sayaka's father and Kenjuro's old rival. A kendo master, he now runs his own dojo.
	Shizuka Mine	--	Sayaka's mother.
	Fuji Mine	--	Raizo's mother who runs the Mine household. She is very knowledgeable in kendo and even trains Yaiba a bit before Musashi appears. She is commonly referred to as Goinkyou (ご隠居 ,Retired Person).
	Ayame Onimaru	--	--
	Takeshi's Grandfather	--	--

Chapters

Volume 1-10 - Chapters 001-099

Vol.	Chapters	Japanese		English		Plot
		Release date	ISBN	Release date	ISBN
01	1-9	April 18, 1989 July 15, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122271-4
02	10-19	June 17, 1989 July 15, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122272-2
03	20-29	August 18, 1989 July 15, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122273-0
04	30-39	October 18, 1989 August 6, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122274-9
05	40-49	December 14, 1989 August 6, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122275-7
06	50-59	March 17, 1990 August 6, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122276-5
07	60-69	May 18, 1990 September 17, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122277-3
08	70-79	July 18, 1990 September 17, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122278-1
09	80-89	October 18, 1990 September 17, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122279-X
10	90-99	February 18, 1991 October 18, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122280-3

Volume 11-20 - Chapters 100-209

Vol.	Chapters	Japanese		English		Plot
		Release date	ISBN	Release date	ISBN
11	100-110	May 18, 1991 October 18, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122561-6
12	111-121	July 18, 1991 October 18, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122562-4
13	122-132	September 18, 1991 November 18, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122563-2
14	133-143	November 18, 1991 November 18, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122564-0
15	144-154	January 18, 1992 December 16, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122565-9
16	155-165	April 17, 1992 December 16, 2004 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122566-7
17	166-176	June 18, 1992 January 14, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122567-5
18	177-187	August 10, 1992 January 14, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122568-3
19	188-198	November 18, 1992 February 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122569-1
20	199-209	February 18, 1993 February 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-122570-5

Volume 21-24 - Chapters 210-255

Vol.	Chapters	Japanese		English		Plot
		Release date	ISBN	Release date	ISBN
21	210-221	May 18, 1993 March 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-123231-0
22	222-232	July 17, 1993 March 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-123232-9
23	233-243	October 18, 1993 April 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-123233-7
24	244-255	February 18, 1994 April 18, 2005 (reissue)	ISBN 4-09-123234-5

Story arcs

1. Eight Demons Arc (Lightning God Sword / Wind God Sword)
2. Onimaru Castle Arc
3. Dragon Orb Arc
4. Kaguya Arc (Dragon God Sword / Demon King Sword)

• Anime ended here

1. Pyramid Arc (Supreme King Sword)
2. Underworld Arc
3. Great Dragon Arc
4. Nobunaga Tournament Arc (Wood Sword)

Anime

1991 pilot OVA

In 1991, a short pilot OVA adapting several chapter of the manga was released for a limited time through application service via Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine. The OVA was animated by Pastel and produced by Shogakukan. The OVA was later included in Kenyuu Densetsu Yaiba DVD Box.

Kenyuu Densetsu Yaiba

In 1993, the manga was adapted into anime series under the name Kenyuu Densetsu Yaiba (剣勇伝説YAIBA ,Swordsman Legend Yaiba). It was animated by Pastel and produced by TV Tokyo, TV Hokkaido, and Shogakukan Productions. The anime were broadcasted every Friday at 6.30 pm JST from April 9, 1993 to April 1, 1994.

Shin Samurai-den Yaiba logo

Shin Samurai-den Yaiba

On May 8, 2024, in celebration of Detective Conan's 30th years manga serialization, a new complete anime adaptation of the Yaiba manga is announced. The script will be under supervision of Gosho Aoyama. It is announced on September 4, 2024 that the new anime is named Shin Samurai-den Yaiba (真･侍伝 YAIBA ,True Samurai Legend Yaiba). It is animated by WIT Studio.

The show's official website is https://www.yaiba-pr.com/.

On October 19, 2024, Viz Media announced that they had gotten the license for the anime under the name YAIBA: Samurai Legend.

Yaiba in Detective Conan

Onimaru at the Toto Gymnasium.

Detective Conan has consistently made numerous references to Yaiba, from its earliest chapters through to the present day. Yaiba Kurogane can often be seen in televisions, video games and on book covers, both in the manga and the anime. The superhero Kamen Yaiba, who sometimes battles against antagonists taken from Yaiba, such as the horned demons, is based on a scene from chapter 184 of Yaiba. In addition, the sea cucumber Namako-Otoko, a friend of Yaiba and pet of the Mine family, is one of the mascots of the Beika Aquarium and regularly seen as a mobile phone strap of Ran Mouri, which Shinichi Kudo bought for her. Ran also uses Namako as a wallpaper on her phone and as her profile picture in SNS. Other characters, as well as the swords Raijin-ken, Fujin-ken and the Hao-ken occasionally appear as fictional elements, props and merchandise in films and video games within the universe of the Detective Conan series.

The 14-year-old Yaiba and his friends also appeared in the Original Video Animation 1, which was based on the short story K∀ITO and expanded the plot to include Conan Edogawa and other characters from Detective Conan, as well as a new framing story. Towards the end, though, the whole thing turns out to be just a dream of Conan, who had read too many Yaiba manga before falling asleep.

Okita tells Ran about his crush Moroha and his rival Yaiba.

Haro encounters Dokuro.

It later gets revealed however that Heiji's mother Shizuka Hattori was actually a kendō rival of Yaiba's mother Michiko Kurogane during her middle school years, to whom she lost during a school tournament, even though she was one year above her, making her the first Yaiba character to canonically exist in Conan's world. Heiji himself is in a rivalry with Yaiba's own rival Soshi Okita, who becomes a recurring character in Detective Conan, attends the same class as Momiji Ooka and always carries an omamori (talisman) with him containing a photo of Yaiba's younger sister Moroha Kurogane. He reveals to Ran Mouri that he is indeed secretly in love with Moroha, but can only confess his love to her once he has defeated her brother, who is the 17-year-old Yaiba Kurogane from the epilogue of his own series. Gosho Aoyama afterwards said that he's been in love with her since she watched Yaiba's and Okita's first battle, making the Oda Nobunaga Tournament at least somewhat canonical to Detective Conan. In a similar vein to Kaitou Kid in the Bell Tree Express, Okita, who resembles Shinichi, even slightly influenced the main plot by virtue of his photo getting used to deceive the Black Organization that Shinichi Kudo has never been in Kyoto after the media reporting about his appearance there. In addition to Heiji and Okita, Yaiba main antagonist Takeshi Onimaru, who is also met by Ran, partakes in the kendō tournament at Toto Gymnasium in Tokyo.

There are also numerous allusions to Yaiba in Yuya Kazami's video game in the Detective Conan spin-off Zero's Tea Time. The puppy Haro from that same series also encounters the street cat Dokuro in an alley in Tokyo, who is a one-off adversary of Yaiba Kurogane and Sayaka Mine and scratches Haro's face open.

Trivia

• Many of the same voice actors appear in Yaiba and Detective Conan: Minami Takayama (Yaiba and Conan), Kotono Mitsuishi (Sayaka and Kir), Ryo Horikawa (Onimaru and Heiji), and Unsho Ishizuka (Raizo and Nakamori). Other DC actors voiced one-time characters in Yaiba: Kappei Yamaguchi (Kerokichi and Shinichi/Kaitou Kid), Wataru Takagi (Starfishman and Genta/Takagi), and Fumihiko Tachiki (Yakitori-kun and Vodka).

Gallery

Yaiba in Gosho Aoyama Manga Factory.

Onimaru vs. Yaiba.

See also

• Manga
• Gosho Aoyama

External links

• Yaiba