Usagi is a highly skilled
swordsman and one of the best in the land. Usagi was born the only son of a village headman. His two childhood playmates were Kenichi, with whom Usagi would have a less-than-friendly rivalry his whole life, and Mariko, one of the reasons for the boys' rivalry. Eventually, the trio went their separate ways when the boys were sent to be trained as samurai in the Dogora school of Bujitsu (en: arts of war). However, on the trip there, the boys witnessed a confrontation where a gang of arrogant Dogora students attacked a lone traveler named Katsuichi. Katsuichi had left the school years ago, dissatisfied with the poor calibre of the students. In spite of their numerical advantage, the gang was quickly defeated by the sensei's unusual, but definitely effective, technique. Although Kenichi was unimpressed by the display, Usagi pursued the departing sensei to petition him to become his student.
Katsuichi initially refused, but relented when Usagi stood outside his home day and night through unpleasant weather long enough to convince the teacher of his determination. For years, Usagi was the exclusive student of Katsuichi-sensei, and although he proved a mischievous pupil who got into various misadventures, he also excelled at his studies to become a formidable warrior. One of those misadventures involved a young Usagi stealing a dying soldier's
wakizashi while walking through a battlefield with his teacher. Fraught with guilt over the theft, Usagi began seeing the now dead soldier in numerous situations, at one point having a nightmare that involved Katsuichi morphed into the soldier. Upon his return to the battlefield to return the sword to its rightful owner, Usagi was caught by adult samurai and accused of theft. Instead of summarily executing the young rabbit, they began the process of cutting his hand off. Before a blow could be struck, however, Usagi's future lord, Mifune, intervened on his behalf and, upon sensing the rabbit's honorable nature, let Usagi go. At the end of his training, Katsuichi brought Usagi to a fencing tournament hosted by the Dogora school. Usagi won the tournament, his final match being against his old "comrade" Kenichi, who by then was the top student of the Dogora school, and earned his own
daishō: the
katana named Yagi no Eda (en: "Willow Branch") and the
wakizashi named Aoyagi (en: "Young Willow"). The region's
daimyō, Lord Mifune, was observing the contest and was impressed with Usagi's skill enough to offer him a position as a retainer. Before leaving to enter Mifune's service, Usagi returned to his village for a final farewell, where he found Kenichi had been staying at an inn in drunken despair, having sworn to leave the school due to his failure to win the tournament, but too ashamed to return home. Together, they returned to their village to free it from brigands that were threatening it. Kenichi decided to stay and would eventually become headman upon Usagi's father's death, which comforted Mariko somewhat against the loss of her other dearest friend. Kenichi and Mariko later married; however, before leaving the village, Usagi and Mariko had a romantic encounter that resulted in a son,
Jotaro, whose parentage was hidden from Usagi for years. In his term of service, Usagi rose to become a trusted personal bodyguard of his Lord and his family. That stable career was destroyed when a villainous rival lord, Lord Hikiji, sent
ninja to assassinate the Mifune family. In the assault, Mifune's wife and son were murdered, and Lord Mifune waged war on his rival in revenge. That war concluded at the battle of Adachigahara, sometimes referenced as Adachi Plain, where Mifune had the upper hand until Buichi Toda, one of his subordinate commanders, betrayed him and joined with Hikiji. Usagi's friend and immediate superior, Gunichi, then fled the field upon seeing that the battle was lost. Lord Mifune was killed by an arrow barrage; Usagi performed his final duty, which was to escape with his lord's head to prevent the enemy from displaying it. As he fought free, he had his first personal confrontation with Hikiji, which left him with the distinctive arched scar over his left eye. Usagi escaped into the forest, buried Lord Mifune's head, and eluded pursuit by Hikiji's forces. By saving Lord Mifune's head from desecration, Usagi felt he had atoned for the disgrace of losing the battle. Otherwise, he would have felt compelled to commit
seppuku. Usagi has since avenged his master's death upon both Toda and Gunichi, although Hikiji remains beyond his reach. Now a rōnin, Usagi traveled the backroads of the region, making a living as a
yojimbo for hire. In the course of his "warrior pilgrimage", he made deep friendships with many, including the young
Lord Noriyuki of the Geishu Clan and his valiant bodyguard
Ame Tomoe, the cynical rhino bounty-hunter
Murakami Gennosuke, the enigmatic demon hunter magic swordsman Sasuké the Demon Queller, the brilliantly astute
Hidden Christian Inspector
Ishida, the renegade cat
kunoichi Chizu, and the sly street-entertainer/petty thief
Kitsune with her apprentice Kiyoko. As the story progressed, he gained a new travelling companion. A rabbit rōnin named Yukichi Yamamoto, Usagi's cousin, who now walks the Warrior's Pilgrimage in search of harmony as well. He and Usagi met years ago when he visited the dojo to pay his respects to swordmaster Itsuki, Yukichi's teacher, and asked him to set up a meeting with him, but Yukichi didn't believe him then told him to leave. To prove his skill and technique, he cuts the branch and tells him to give the twig to Itsuki as Usagi's introduction. Unfortunately, Yukichi still didn't believe the rōnin and threw it on the ground. But when Itsuki sees the twig and asks him who did this, he tells him about his meeting with Usagi. Itsuki scolds him for not seeing the flawless cut on the twig, which shows the expert skill and stroke. He orders Yukichi to find Usagi and set up a meeting with him. But the time he did, he was already gone. Yukichi then sets off to find him. Eventually, he became the head instructor of Itsuki' dojo, but Itsuki passed away a month before he caught up with Usagi, making his task pointless. To atone for his failure, he became Usagi's new travelling companion who will aid him on his quest. He carries the very twig Usagi cut years ago as a reminder of his shortcomings. ==In other media==