Yamada Asaemon, The shogun’s executioner receives many strange requests from the condemned–a woman who bequeaths her severed locks to her beloved, a gardener who ask for the beheading of a chrysanthemum. And while strangers to Asaemon, their final moments and the stories behind their appeals can sometimes reveal more of a person’s character than a lifetime of association.

From Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, legendary creators of Lone Wolf and Cub, comes the final omnibus volume of Samurai Executioner, a dark, complex exploration of Edo-period feudal Japan and the depths of the human spirit.