is a Japanese manga series by , an adaptation of a novel Yagyū Ninpōchō by Futaro Yamada. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine from May 2005 to June 2008, with its chapters collected in eleven volumes. Like the author's previous title Basilisk, The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls is based on a novel from Yamada's Ninpōchō series and can therefore be considered a sequel to Basilisk, especially as several of the same historical characters featured in Basilisk make a return appearance. Its story centers on seven female survivors of the Hori clan, aided by Yagyū Jūbei, and their quest of vengeance.
Del Rey Manga licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America; they published seven volumes from October 2007 to November 2009. After Del Rey Manga's license expired, in October 2012, Kodansha USA acquired the license for digital in North America, released the full manga digitally from August 2016 to April 2017.
Plot In the Nineteenth Year of Kannei (1642), a rebellion by the Hori clan against Katō Akinari, the daimyō of Aizu, has been suppressed through the intervention of the Tokugawa shogunate. Placed into the custody of the Seven Spears, Katō's brutal group of personal enforcers, the Hori men are dragged to the Tōkei-ji "Divorce Temple" at Kamakura where the Hori women had been hiding. Despite a law passed by the former shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu forbidding men to enter the temple, the Seven Spears force their way in and brutally slaughter the Hori women in front of their husbands and brothers, before proceeding to murder them too. The massacre is stopped only by the intervention of Princess Sen, the Tōkei-ji Temple's guardian and older sister to the reigning shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu. When the Seven Spears agree to depart, only seven of the Hori women are left alive.
In retribution for the violation of Tōkeiji Temple and those who she had taken under her care, Princess Sen sends a message to the famous monk Takuan Sōhō. She asks him to locate a person who can train the seven Hori women in the arts of ninjutsu to seek their revenge. The one chosen is Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi, son of Yagyū Munenori and former instructor to the shogun. With Jubei's instruction and guidance, the Hori women begin their war against the Seven Spears and ultimately Katō himself.
Characters : Son of the famous Yagyū Munenori, Jūbei was formerly a sword instructor for Shogun Iemitsu but gave up the post to his younger brother in order to live as a wandering swordsman. Chosen by Takuan Sōhō at the request of Princess Sen to train the Hori women in the arts of war, Jūbei had strong doubts as to whether they would be able to win but agreed to teach them as it might prove interesting. As the Seven Spears greatly outclass the Hori women in terms of power and martial ability, Jūbei instead instructs them in the ways of military strategy, devising ambush tactics for the Hori women to eliminate the Seven Spears one by one in ways that neutralize their individual skills. Although a harsh and merciless teacher (Takuan relates to Princess Sen how during one of his lessons with Iemitsu Jūbei beat his student to the point that Iemitsu couldn't even stand), Jūbei has a mischievous streak to him and he enjoys needling and annoying the Hori women while his cavalier attitude belies both his strong sense of justice and his dedication to his students.
The Hori Clan : Lord of the Hori Clan and former samurai to Aizu daimyō Katō Akinari. Despite his disgust at the wanton acts of violence and depravity performed by his lord, Mondo performed his required duty as Katō's Kuni-Garo (chief vassal) until he was pressured to surrender his daughter Ochie to be Katō's mistress. Knowing that Katō would never accept his refusal, Mondo sent Ochie and the other Hori women into hiding at Tōkei-ji Temple while he and his men launched an assault on Katō's castle. Defeated by his soldiers, Mondo and his men fled to Koyasan where they posed as monks before being captured by Shogunate forces who turned them over to the Seven Spears. Mondo was then dragged in stocks to Tōkei-ji where he was forced to witness the slaughter of nearly all the Hori women before being taken back to Aizu where he and his men were brutally tortured to death. : The daughter of Hori Mondo and princess to the Hori. Following the genocide of her clan, Ochie rises to take leadership of the survivors in their quest for revenge against Katō and the Seven Spears. Because of the abuse she and the others suffered at the hands of Katō and his subordinates, Ochie develops an aversion to all men and at first refuses to accept Jubei's help yet gradually comes to respect him as both a mentor and a comrade. : The attendant and confidante of Ochie, Ofue is the most easily distinguished of the Hori women due to her shorter, brown hair. The most outspoken of the Hori women, Ofue is easily riled which makes her a prime target for Jubei's teasing. She frequently serves as comic relief. Though she hates Jyubei at first, she gradually develops a large crush on him, which she reveals in the fourth volume of the manga, much to the amusement of the other Hori women. : The daughter of Mondo's brother Manabe Shobei and cousin to Ochie. Quiet and introspective, Sakura is sometimes assigned by Jūbei to spy on their enemies as her close-cropped hair allows her to disguise herself as either a woman or a young man. : The wife of Mondo's brother Tagei Matahachiro and aunt to Ochie and Sakura. Osawa is a talented seamstress whom Jūbei assigns to create whatever costumes and disguises are required to spy or entrap their enemies. She serves as a mother figure to the other Hori women. : The wife of Mondo's vassal Kanemaru Hansaku. Although dedicated to avenging her clan, Oshina is the most timid of the surviving women and rarely speaks. : The daughter of Mondo's vassal Itakura Buden. Despite her plump frame, she possesses both great agility and balance which aided her during her duel with Magobei. : The wife of Mondo's vassal Inaba Jyuzaburo. When the Seven Spears start terrorizing Edo and kidnapping couples on their wedding night to lure out Jyubei, Okei and Jyubei disguise themselves as a recently married couple and allow themselves to be kidnapped by the Spears. They are taken to the Katō mansion, where they plan to take Lord Akinari hostage. The plan goes awry, and without the surprise intervention of Ochie, Ofue, and Sakura, who had followed them in secret, they both would have perished in the mansion. After the ordeal, the other Hori women begin to show jealousy toward her, thinking that Jyubei had begun to favor her ever since she played the role of his bride.
The Katō Clan and the Ashina : The daimyo of Aizu and lord of the Katō clan (the historical Katō Akinari ruled Aizu between 1631 and 1643). Sadistic and perverse, Katō ruthlessly slaughters any who oppose him and spends his days fornicating with the constantly changing members of his harem. Although Katō's public face is of a fearless and powerful noble such as when he held his own against the attempted intimidation by Date Masamune (a bold man known as The One-Eyed Dragon); his private moments reveal him to be an insecure and apprehensive individual plagued by nightmares and constantly overshadowed by the legacy of his father.
The Ashina A clan of ninja who once ruled over Aizu, the Ashina rescued Lord Katō seven years prior to the manga's beginning when he was attacked by an unknown assailant while out hawking. In gratitude, Katō selected seven of the strongest Ashina to be his personal bodyguards and enforcers, naming them the Seven Spears of Aizu after the historical Seven Spears of Shizugatake whom his father, Katō Yoshiaki, had led. The Ashina are as perverse as their Lord and whenever Katō grows bored with any of his consorts, the unlucky women are given to the Seven Spears who rape and torture them to death.
: The primary villain of the second half of the series. Dohaku is Lord of the Ashina ninja clan and vassal to Katō. He trained the Seven Spears and holds the true power in Aizu, ruling from behind Katō's throne. He is 107 years old, the father of Oyura, and the twin brother of the High Priest Tenkai. His life is inextricably linked to that of his holy brother: if one is wounded the other will also feel pain; if one is killed, then the other one will die at the same time. But like Yakushiji Tenzen, the villain in Basilisk (Yamada/Segawa's previous work), Dohaku seems to be unkillable, and any attack to his body will heal in a matter of moments. His ultimate goal is for the Ashina clan to obtain complete and legitimate dominion over Aizu by joining the Kato and Ashina houses through Lord Akinari's union with Oyura. Dohaku plans to assassinate Akinari's son Akitomo so that Akinari and Oyura's child (Dohaku's grandchild) will become the new heir to Aizu's power. After dealing a death-blow to his own daughter while trying to kill Jūbei, Dohaku tries to destroy himself with the intention of also destroying his twin brother Tenkai, but Tenkai's determination to thwart Dohaku proves overpowering and Jūbei is able to strike Dohaku down. : The daughter of Ashina Dohaku. Oyura is beautiful and seductive, and serves as Lord Akinari's main concubine in Aizu. She first appears in the sixth volume and the seventh one reveals her to be as cruel and sadistic as Katō, and delights in slaughtering many of the women kidnapped and imprisoned beneath Aizu castle. She and Katō are almost always seen being extremely intimate with one another regardless of where they are and who is present, including her own father who simply ignores their affairs while he discussed certain matters with the Seven Spears. However, after Jūbei's capture, she ultimately fell in love with him, to the point of taking a fatal blow from her father meant for Jūbei (though not realizing it would kill her).
The Seven Spears : The oldest of the seven spears, Tessai wields a two-handed scythe that can be split in half to form a kusarigama. The weapon also contains a weighted chain in the butt of the handle and a retractable secondary scythe blade in the head. Tessai is easily angered and will even lash out at his allies if he feels they've insulted him. Tessai often goes to the Yoshiwara brothel district to purchase women on his lord Akinari's behalf. In fact, a flashback in the first volume reveals that Tessai was the one who requested that Hori Mondo send his daughter (Ochie) to serve as Akinari's mistress. In response, Mondo rebuked Tessai, insulted Akinari, and later lead the doomed rebellion against his cruel lord, setting off the events of the story. Tessai dies at the hands of the Hori women, ambushed at dusk in the streets of Yoshiwara. After a short fight, the women trap and immobilize both ends of his chained weapon, then rush in from all sides to stab him with their blades. He is the first of the Spears to die.