Possibly the best manga of all time. The Shogun's KogiKaishakunin, Ogami Itto, is subverted by Shinobi-master Yagyu Retsudo. Ura-Yagyu ninjas murder Itto's pregnant wife and plant a hollyhock Ihai in his personal temple. Itto manages to save his unborn son, Daigoro, but when the Ihai is discovered he refuses to commit Seppuku. Instead he and Daigoro descend to Meifumado, the Samurai version of Hell - not a place, but a way of life - in which they no longer consider themselves Samurai, Bushi, or human at all. The two offer their services for hire as assassin LoneWolfAndCub.

Although a bloodthirsty fiend by Western standards, Itto is the literary personification of the Samurai ideal. His struggle against the Yagyu is a personal challenge to the corruption of all Nippon, historical and contemporary. And although Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu are unlikely and heroic fictions, this manga is about as close to historical accuracy as it's possible to get. An education and edification await the reader, who is also in for a rattlingly wild ride in Ogami Itto's Suio-Ryu baby cart ...