The Dagger of Kamui

The Dagger of Kamui
DVD cover from AnimEigo.
カムイの剣 (Kamui no Ken)
Genre	Action, Historical, Ninja
Novel series
Written by	Tetsu Yano
Illustrated by	Moribi Murano
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
Imprint	Kadokawa Bunko
Original run	1984 – 1985
Volumes	5
Film comic
Published by	Fujimi Shobo
Imprint	Fujimi Comics
Original run	January – March 1985
Volumes	4
Anime film
Directed by	Rintaro
Produced by	Haruki Kadokawa
Written by	Mori Masaki
Music by	Ryudo Uzaki & Eitetsu Hayashi
Studio	Madhouse
Licensed by	AnimEigo
Released	March 16, 1985
Runtime	132 minutes

The Dagger of Kamui (カムイの剣, Kamui no Ken^?) 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.

It is the Bakumatsu period in Japan. Jiro, a young boy of both Japanese and Ainu descent, was a foundling raised by a kindly innkeeper and her daughter in the village of Sai on the Shimokita Peninsula during the last years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, several years before the start of Japan's Meiji Restoration.

One evening, a lone shinobi, appears out of the darkness and kills Jiro's adoptive mother and sister while the boy was away. When he returns home, he finds their dead bodies, a strange dagger and a whole host of angry villagers who blame him for killing his family. Rather than stay in the village and face a brutal crucifixion for the grave crime of parricide, Jiro escapes into the night with the dagger and meets with a buddhist monk called Tenkai who works for the Shogunate as an Oniwaban (Secret Police). Tenkai takes the boy face-to-face with the man who supposedly killed his family and gets him to deliver the killing blow. Afterwards, his entire village is set ablaze and the villagers slaughtered to cover up the incident. Tenkai then takes Jiro in at his temple on the island of Ezo, and has his subordinates Shingo and Sanpei train him in the ways of Ninja so that one day, he may learn of his father. Tenkai quickly dispatches Shingo to follow Jiro and make sure he stays to the same path as Tarouza, Jiro's late father.