Usagi Yojimbo: 40th Anniversary Reader

“Sixteenth-century Japan is never so entertaining as in Stan Sakai’s tales of Miyamoto Usagi.”—NPR’s Best Books of 2014

“Stan Sakai has successfully brought to American comics a collection of Japanese fables well told in the American style. Usagi Yojimbo is an enduring work. Bravo.”—Will Eisner

“I think Usagi Yojimbo is one of the most original, innovative, well-executed comic books anywhere to be found. Stan’s style of artwork, his crisp incisive writing, and his thoroughly professional pacing, all done in a relaxed and absorbed manner, have provided comics with something so rarely seen in this field—a new literary and artistic approach to illustrated storytelling.”—Stan Lee

“Sakai is a total pro and a consummate craftsman.”—Rolling Stone

Stan Sakai was born in Kyoto, Japan, grew up in Hawaii, and now lives in California with his children, Hannah and Matthew. He received a fine arts degree from the University of Hawaii and did further studies at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

His creation, Usagi Yojimbo, is the story of a samurai rabbit living in a feudal Japan populated by anthropomorphic animals. It first appeared in Albedo Comics in 1984. Since then, Usagi has appeared on television as a guest of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; and as toys, on clothing, in comic books, and in a series of trade paperback collections.

In 1991, Stan created Space Usagi, the adventures of a descendant of the original Usagi, dealing with the samurai in a futuristic setting.

Stan is also an award-winning letterer for his work on Sergio Aragones’s Groo: The Wanderer, the Spider-Man Sunday newspaper strips, as well as for Usagi Yojimbo. He is the recipient of a Parents’ Choice Award, an Inkpot Award, multiple Eisner Awards, two Spanish Haxturs, an American Library Association Award, and a National Cartoonists’ Society Division Award.

Usagi Yojimbo Book 12: Grasscutter was used as a textbook in Japanese history classes at the University of Portland.

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