Ryō Azumi

Ryō Azumi (あずみ 椋, Azumi Ryō) is a Japanese manga artist whose works draw on Old Norse literature and other subjects from Northern Europe.

Azumi published her first work in 1981 and made steady contributions to Wings and other magazines in the early 80's. In 1986 she published the first part of her magnum opus, The Scarlet Sword (緋色い剣, Akai Tsurugi). The work appeared in installations up to 1993, consisting of a total of 1675 pages in 10 volumes. Akai Tsurugi takes place in the 10th century Nordic world, following both mortal heroes invented by the author and the Norse gods struggling against Ragnarök. The author attempts to situate her story naturally within the Norse literary tradition, working with such real historical themes as the social changes brought on by the conversion of the Norse peoples to Christianity. Many of Azumi's other works explore similar subjects.

More recent series by Azumi include the following.

Azumi

Azumi (Japanese: あずみ) is a manga series created by Yū Koyama in 1994. Its story concerns the title character, a young woman brought up as part of a team of assassins, charged with killing the warlords that threaten the uneasy peace in Feudal Japan in the aftermath of its long Sengoku civil war period.

Azumi was originally published by Shogakukan and serialized in Big Comic Superior, and received an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media Arts Festival and the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1998. The manga was later adapted to two feature films starring Aya Ueto (2003's Azumi and 2005's Azumi 2: Death or Love), and a video game and a stage play in 2005.

Plot

Azumi focuses upon the life of the titular young female assassin. The manga begins an indeterminate number of years after the Battle of Sekigahara. As Azumi begins her duty, the manga introduces its characters into mainstream history. Many of the early missions that Azumi undertakes are the assassinations of the prominent supporters and generals of the Toyotomi Clan, against whom Tokugawa Ieyasu expected to again go to war. The manga 'reveals' that many of the Toyotomi leaders who conveniently died of diseases or accidents prior to the final confrontation between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa were actually victims of assassinations by Azumi and her comrades, thus indicating to the reader when the events were taking place.

Azumi (name)

Azumi can be either a Japanese given name or surname.

Azumi people

The Azumi (安曇族) were a people of ancient Japan, believed to have lived in the north of Kyūshū.

References

The Azumi Basin in Japan and Its Ancient People at the Wayback Machine (archived December 31, 2013)