Life's Greatest Difficulty

by Goseki Kojima and Kazuo Koike

A story that features a young ninja who must go to great lengths in order to secure victory for the boy who would become the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1593075073
• ISBN13: 9781593075071
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
• Length: 314 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.2" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

A unique blend of action, politics and philosphy

If you haven't picked up this series yet, START! ...but don't start here. Go back to volume 1. Forget what you think about Japanese manga, and put aside comparisons to Koike's more famous work, "Lone Wolf and Cub" (written before this series) Path of the Assassin is a rare balance of action and insight into Japanese history, politics and samurai culture typical for Koike, but unique to "action" manga. Dont' get me wrong, nothing dazzles like a good super ninja story, and Koike keeps it rolling, but this ninja tale precedes a lot of later ninja tales (this one written in the 1970's) and has no direct successors except Koike himself. Later action manga might be splashier and depend on stereotypes and over top violence, but early Koike and Kojima cannot be beat for believable, human stories that are profound intellectually and emotionally, and always visually compelling. It is amazing to me that this complex story of medieval Japan is made comprehensible to Western readers simply by its great characterization. I know I don't truly understand Japanese culture, but Koike makes me think I do. Highly recommended.

A great series by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima!

I've been a long time collecter or almost everything that Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima have done, even some books and novels that were never released in the USA or translated into English. Their creative story lines and tradtional style of graphics are just outstanding!

Ieyasu comes to the greatest difficulty of his life

"Path of the Assassin, Volume 6: Life's Greatest Difficulty" consists mostly of the single epic story that gives the volume its title. Things are going well for Ieyasu, who it should be remembered is only 22-years-old at this point in his journey towards becoming Shogun and only now beginning to mull over taking the name Tokugawa. Meanwhile, Hatori Hanzo and Tsukumo have been away from their master, battling the ninja Kite Kato. Then Ieyasu comes to the event that he would speak of later as being the greatst difficulty of his life. Ieyasu had a fort built in Sasaki by Yahgi River, and now that it is completed he sets out to get some rice to stockpile at the fort, unaware that this simple act will stir up insurrections all over Mikawa, threatening not only his power but also his very life. This classic samurai series from writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goecki Kojima, originally published in Japan under the title "Hanzo no Mon," is being published in 15 volumes by Dark Horse. Because of its focus on Ieyasu and Hanzo, this magna is more historical in nature than either "Lone Wolf & Cub" or "Samurai Executioner." At this point we are in the early 1560s, as Ieyasu battles the military forces of the Mikawa Monto, a group of warrior monks, who refused to obey his orders. Again the relationship between master and servant is defined as the difference between strategy and tactics: as the insurrections begin, Ieyasu sees the big picture, and knows it is up to Hanzo to do something to make the clogged river flow again (Remember, the magna is described as being about "Lifelong friends, with the same dreams, striving to grow into a rising river"). But this time, when the stakes are the highest they have been so far, Hanzo finds his efforts backfiring. In addition to the main plotline, Iyesau's wife sends her husband a strange message and Hanzo meets up again with Toma Eno, another suppa, who makes a strange request. Both of these sequences remind us that this story is far from over, although since Iyesau was 60 when he was named Shogun by the Emperor, I have to assume this magna will end decades short of that pivotal moment in Japanese history. The second story here, "Changing Countenance," either constitutes an epilogue to this "Chapter on Shogyo Mujo," or is an interlude before the next story. It is not until Path of the Assassin Volume 7, Center of the World comes out in a couple of months that we will learn if the chapter continues or if Koike and Kojima are beginning the next one. A young girl wants to plead upon her death for Ieyasu to come and visit her dying father, a nameless, small "ashigaru" (foot solider of medieval Japan), who has a lesson to teach his master regarding the truth that can be read in the faces of men. The title comes from a series of masks the dying man has carved, to illustrate his point. Whether this presages specific events to come or is just a philosophical point raised in general, remains to be seen. This poc