Miyamoto Usagi

He is an anthropomorphic rabbit (Usagi is Japanese for rabbit) and a ronin now walking the musha shugyo, the warrior's journey. He is a highly skilled swordsman and one of the best in the land.

Usagi was born the only son of a village headman in Mutsu. His two childhood playmates were Kenichi (with whom Usagi would have a less-than-friendly rivalry his whole life) and Mariko (one of the reasons for the boys' rivalry).

For years, Usagi was the exclusive student of Katsuichi-sensei, and although he proved a mischievous pupil who got into various misadventures, he also excelled at his studies to become a formidable warrior.  At the end of his training, Katsuichi brought Usagi to a fencing tournament hosted by the Dogora school. Usagi won the tournament, his final match being against his old "comrade" Kenichi.  The region's daimyo, Lord Mifune, was observing the contest and was impressed with Usagi's skill enough to offer him a position as a retainer.

Lord Mifune was killed by an arrow barrage; Usagi performed his final duty, which was to escape with his lord's head to prevent the enemy from displaying it. As he fought free, he had his (so far) only personal confrontation with Hikiji, which left him with his distinctive arched forehead scar. Usagi escaped into the forest, buried Lord Mifune's head, and eluded pursuit by Hikiji's forces. (By saving Lord Mifune's head from desecration, Usagi felt he had atoned for the disgrace of losing the battle. Otherwise, he would have felt compelled to commit seppuku.) Usagi has since avenged his master's death upon both Toda and Gunichi, although Hikiji remains beyond his reach.

Now a ronin, Usagi traveled the backroads of the region making a living as a bodyguard for hire (yojimbo). In the course of his "warrior pilgrimage", he made deep friendships with many including the young Lord Noriyuki of the Geishu Clan and his valiant bodyguard, Tomoe Ame, the cynical rhino bounty hunter Murakami Gennosuke, the brilliantly astute Inspector Ishida, the cat kunoichi (female ninja) Chizu, and the sly street entertainer/petty thief,