Kubidai Hikiukenin

Cornered and on the verge of death, any man would aspire to survive. So if money could buy his life, he wouldn’t hesitate for a single second. That became the origin of this contract sealed with bloody handprint. Few historical accounts can actually testify of this practice but there is nothing surprising about it as greed is a strong desire and by the end of the Sengoku era, war was becoming common and most warriors were fighting their best without bearing any animosity towards their enemies.
It happened that when one was about to get killed off, he would offer him to give him money in exchange for his life. If he was convincing enough, his enemy would accept. He would then write on a sheet of paper or on scraps of clothes, his handprint with blood, his name, address and the amount he promised to pay. This contract would be valid for as long as you stayed alive, even 10 or 50 years later. If the contract was honored immediately, there would be no other consequence but there were a lot of impediments that could go in the way of fulfilling it.

This manga follows a recurring character, the kubidai-hikiukenin, hired to collect debts from the battlefield and assuming at the same time the role of a private investigator and of a headhunter.
With this book having 7 different stories about him each time visiting a different person to collect a debt, you could expect it to be repetitive and formulaic but it is surprisingly very far from that, each of them tackling different spheres and different genres. Some focus more on the detective side, having to search for the true identity of the debtor and being lead on false leads by the house protecting him or going through the army of a daimyo to prove his contract is real, or even having to infiltrate a fief. Some stories focus more on his fighting skills as he is caught into a war between two factions and some only focus on the life of these families whose lives are suddenly destroyed after a dozen years and are struggling to gather the money.
One story even references directly the 1962 movie “Harakiri” with ronins going to a rich house pretexting to want to commit suicide when they just want a job or some money.

This book is a tad different compared to his other publication as the codes of bushidou and other values of heroism are here portrayed as worthless and futile. Pretty much each character has his own reasons for going in opposition to them and the moral ethics are blurred as no one is completely in the right or in the wrong. The creditors aren’t always greedy bastards and debtors aren’t always despicable cowards. Every liar can have a reason for lying and the ones most faithful to the bushido can be plain monsters. These dilemmas are also presented through our supposedly cold and neutral recurring character, often shown walking with heavy steps, his face hidden by his hat as if to dehumanize him, but behind that indifferent mask, he has to constantly put himself into question as to make the right choices, even if he has to cruel and not show any pity.

As for the art, it’s hard not to repeat myself, it’s very characteristic of gekiga and samurai stories. If you ever read a manga made by Hirata, chances are you won’t be surprised by this, it offers an impressive amount of details and verges toward ultra-realism, violence shown is very raw and sword fights are breathtaking, looking like traditional paintings where blood and ink blend together to stain the pages in a splendid way.

Hiroshi Hirata once again shows that he is a true master in his craft with another book close to perfection where chaos and bloodbaths reign, even in times of peace.