Vagabond's Sasaki Kojiro is one of anime’s most remarkable differently-abled characters

Vagabond is filled with some of the coolest characters in anime, and it is not surprising. The mangaka, Takehiko Inoue, has replicated that same magic across two other critically acclaimed manga. In Slam Dunk, he made a delinquent the major character, but imbued him with traits that are uncommon among delinquents in anime. In Takehiko Inoue’s other magnum opus, Real, two out of the three main characters are differently-abled.

While Takehiko Inoue’s grandest display of empathy is in Real, where he writes about the outcasts of society, Real is not the first manga where he shines a light on society’s outcasts. The first manga is, in fact, Vagabond, and Takehiko makes the antagonist someone who is hard-of-hearing. Sasaki Kojiro is the quiet, unassuming antagonist seldom found in anime, and while he is hearing-impaired, he is not treated differently by any other character.

Many anime tend to treat the character who is differently-abled as the butt of a joke. In Naruto, Choji keeps getting comments about his size and how he eats. This is despite Naruto eating the equivalent of what Choji takes in Ramen.

Vagabond doesn’t do that; it makes the rival to one of the greatest swordsmen in Japanese history a deaf man, and it goes the extra mile by making Sasaki Kojiro the superior swordsman. Here is how Vagabond’s Sasaki Kojiro is one of anime’s most remarkable characters.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author’s opinion and may contain spoilers.

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Why Sasaki Kojiro from Vagabond is anime’s most empowering character

Kojiro and Musashi (Image via Kodansha)

Sasaki Kojiro’s character is not just one born from Takehiko Inoue’s Vagabond, it is one embellished in Japanese History. Unlike his rival, Miyamoto Musashi, who is the subject of many books and literature, Sasaki Kojiro's role is pushed to the back. He is usually relegated to the character whom Musashi defeats.

A lot of this has changed due to the advent of manga and anime. Two of the most famous portrayals of Sasaki Kojiro in anime/manga can be attributed to Record of Ragnarok and Onimusha. In each of these, Kojiro has been given some sort of supernatural ability or is in a fantastical world. However, none of their portrayals are as grounded as Vagabond’s.

A young Kojiro gaining respect over children (Image via Kodansha)

Vagabond’s Sasaki Kojiro is not just grounded but is deeply realistic. Vagabond did this by placing Kojiro in the exact historical period—the Edo Period. Not only was Kojiro placed in the period, but the conflicts of that time were also there. Takehiko Inoue made Kojiro’s character better by making him differently-abled.

Most stories would make Sasaki Kojiro see his deafness as a crutch and self-deprecate about it, but Vagabond takes a different route. The ability to not hear or speak gives Kojiro a quiet power. Instead of the brashness shown by Musashi and other swordsmen in the series, Kojiro not hearing allows him to truly focus on the sword without any distraction. This is something that is shown in the series countlessly.

Most swordsmen from Vagabond swing their weapons with an emotion behind them. In Musashi’s case, it was fear that was behind each swing of the sword. A fear of his father that he never shook off, and a fear of being perceived as weak. The same fear is also behind another swordsman in the series, Denshichiro Yoshioka, whose swings are heavily mixed with fear, self-loathing, and jealousy.

These other swordsmen fight to survive and to prove something. Kojiro is the only character who sees the way of the sword as a martial art. He doesn’t attach anything deep to it like Musashi, who wants to justify the lives he has taken in the mindless journey to be the strongest. Sasaki Kojiro just sees the sword as mundane.

Kojiro’s view of the sword is why his cuts are so precise. When Musashi sees his cuts, he is puzzled at how someone can cut something so cleanly. Musashi keeps trying to replicate those cuts, but he doesn't do it as cleanly. This is the superpower of Kojiro that Musashi does not gain for most of the series—precision. This precision comes from someone who is burdened with trauma or emotional baggage.

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Final thoughts

Vagabond’s main character, Musashi, gains the clarity that Sasaki possesses later in the manga. This clarity comes after his battle with the Yoshioka clan, where he gets injured and loses most of the function in one of his legs. In that moment, he realizes that his philosophy might be wrong, and with the direction he is moving, he might die.

Sasaki Kojiro’s portrayal is one of the most powerful portrayals of a differently-abled character in fiction. He is not treated as a joke or a pariah; in fact, he is accorded respect wherever he goes. He is written well as the series' primary antagonist.

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