Written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue, Vagabond is based on Eiji Yoshikawa's 1935 novel Musashi. It started serialization in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Morning on September 3, 1998. [a] Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on March 23, 1999. [23] As of July 23, 2014, 37 volumes have been released. [24]

Loo, Egan (January 4, 2010). "Inoue Confirms End of Vagabond Manga by Year's End". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on April 3, 2014 . Retrieved February 26, 2014.Vagabond is light-years ahead of Slam Dunk in storytelling. Visually, it is Inoue's best work to date and he has taken to explore more mature themes than his perpetually funny basketball manga.

After unsuccessfully defeating the swordmasters of the Yoshioka School – which afterwards went on fire, due to the drunken mishaps of Musashi's former friend Matahachi – Musashi wakes up to be reunited with the "damn monk" Takuan, as well as meeting for the first time Jōtarō, a young orphaned boy who wishes to be Musashi's apprentice after hearing about his battle in the Yoshioka School. It is a delight seeing the return of Takuan whose brutally acute and honest attitude remains humorous, whilst he asks Musashi to give him a long overdue haircut. Aronson, Michael. "Vagabond 3 review". Manga Life. Archived from the original on October 14, 2007 . Retrieved May 10, 2023. Vagabond Vol. 15] (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009 . Retrieved June 28, 2009. Vagabond Vol. 12". Viz Media. Archived from the original on October 18, 2006 . Retrieved June 28, 2009.It has been serialized in Weekly Morning magazine since 1998, with the chapters collected into 37 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha as of July 2014. Viz Media licensed the series for English release in North America and has published 35 volumes as of March 2014. Vagabond won a 2000 Kodansha Manga Award and the 2002 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and has sold more than 82 million copies worldwide.