Lone Wolf and Cub

Lone Wolf and Cub
Cover art by Frank Miller of Lone Wolf and Cub vol. 1 (English version)
子連れ狼 (Kozure Ōkami)
Genre	Chanbara
Manga
Written by	Kazuo Koike
Illustrated by	Goseki Kojima
Published by	Futabasha
English publisher	NA Dark Horse Comics
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Weekly Manga Action
Original run	September 1970 – April 1976
Volumes	28

Lone Wolf and Cub (Japanese: 子連れ狼, Hepburn: Kozure Ōkami^?, lit. "Wolf taking along his child") is a manga created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work.

Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the Shogun's executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword. Disgraced by false accusations from the Yagyū clan, he is forced to take the path of the assassin. Along with his three-year-old son, Daigorō, they seek revenge on the Yagyū clan and are known as "Lone Wolf and Cub".

Ogami Ittō, formidable warrior and a master of the suiō-ryū swordsmanship, serves as the Kogi Kaishakunin (the Shōgun's executioner), a position of high power in the Tokugawa shogunate. Along with the oniwaban and the assassins, Ogami Ittō is responsible for enforcing the will of the Shogun over the daimyōs (lesser domain lords). For those samurai and lords ordered to commit seppuku, the Kogi Kaishakunin assists their deaths by decapitating them to relieve the agony of disembowelment; in this role, he is entitled and empowered to wear the crest of the Shogunate, in effect acting in place of the Shogun.