Tatami plays a large role in Usagi Yojimbo #8 as writer/artist Stan Sakai offers some history to the ceremonial mats grown and crafted together over the course of two years. It's the transport of these handwoven mats that garners attention of both Miyamoto Usagi, bandits, and ninja with the rabbit ronin's travels lead him back to the Northern Provinces of his homeland.
Usagi's return to the lands once controlled by his former lord brings mixed feelings, especially after running across a former samurai of Lord Mifune who know serves Lord Hikiji. That's not the only familiar face to cross Usagi's path as he runs into the former ninja Chizu while helping the fend off the Neko Ninja's attack on the tatami as a political ploy to undercut his rival Lord Gifu.
The mats are of far more importance than just their monetary value, and Usagi's involvement in their protection against the Neko isn't likely to earn him any friends among the ninja as the story concludes next month. Worth a look.
[IDW, $3.99]
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