Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro

Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro
Cover of Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro volume 1 by Hōbunsha featuring the main character Kuro.
棺担ぎのクロ。〜懐中旅話〜 (Hitsugi Katsugi no Kuro. ~Kaichū Tabi no Wa~)
Genre	Adventure, Fantasy
Manga
Written by	Satoko Kiyuzuki
Published by	Hōbunsha
English publisher	NA Yen Press
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Manga Time Kirara
Original run	December 2004 – present
Volumes	5

Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro (Japanese: 棺担ぎのクロ。〜懐中旅話〜, Hepburn: Hitsugi Katsugi no Kuro. ~Kaichū Tabi no Wa~^?, lit. Kuro the Coffin Bearer ~Pocket Travel Tales~) is a Japanese manga series by Satoko Kiyuzuki, serialized in Hōbunsha's seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara since December 2004. Five volumes have been released in Japan. In December, 2007 Yen Press licensed the series for release in North America where the first four volumes have been released.

A traveling girl, Kuro, searches the land for the witch that cast a curse on her that turns her body black and will eventually kill her if not stopped.

The series started serialization in the Japanese Yonkoma magazine "Manga Time Kirara", published by Hōbunsha. The first manga volume was released in Japan on March 27, 2006. Two volumes were released before the series was put on hiatus in 2009 for unknown reasons. In 2012, a wraparound on the book jacket of the fourth volume of GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class, also by Kiyuduki, announced Kuro would resume serialization and that the long delayed third volume would start shipping. For the week of January 23 - 29, 2012 the third volume of Shoulder a Coffin ranked #28 on the Japanese Comic Ranking with 23,425 copies sold. As of September 2015, five volumes have been released all together.

In December, 2007 through a panel at New York Anime Festival, Yen Press announced it had licensed the series for release in North America. The author Satoko Kiyuzuki was said to be "excited but hesitant" on how the humor would be received. Five volumes have been released by Yen Press.