Samura, the Fastest Swordsman so Far? Kagurabachi Chapter 51 Spoilers

In the previous Kagurabachi chapter, Uruha and Hakuri make it to the Temple of Senkutsu, where we are also introduced to the next former wielder, Samura, who is more than prepared to take on any foe.

Chapter 51 is titled, “Samura”

The chapter has 19 pages.

The chapter begins with a flashback of Samura watching Chihiro train

We learn here that Chihiro is 14 years old, which means this flashback that continues from last chapter’s, is set a year or so before Chapter 1 since Chihiro is currently 18 years old.

Shiba learns from Samura that the reason the latter went blind was because he was a religious man who wanted to do away with worldly desires, including anger and lust. 

Since you need to see people to be able to experience worldly desires, he decided to cut them away.

Noticeably, Samura calls his worldly desires “vexations” because they impair his judgment and therefore his swordsmanship.

Since his time becoming blind, Samura has honed his craft and stayed focus to his swordsmanship and his Buddhist practice.

However, Shiba points out that Samura still smokes a lot but Samura claims that this is for decoration and a mere distraction from other desires.

Shiba does poke fun at Samura’s commitment to the Buddha because he has heard this story from him or others before and how he cried at being unable to read gravure magazines.

Now Samura gets mad, saying that he does not smoke and only does it for aesthetic reasons.

This anger is also pointed out by Shiba as a worldly desire that Samura mentioned earlier and Chihiro notices the two men bickering.

I wouldn’t either man a hypocrite but this shows the challenge someone faces when committing to certain practices.

However, this little bit of characterization for Samura would be quite interesting to follow as so far, among the “Kunishige simps”, we have a young man adoring his master like a god and a zealot that might be using religious commitment to veil a darkness he might not want to confront.

Who would go as far as slice off their eyes?

Perhaps there is more to this story than what Samura is willing to let on.

Chihiro recalls how Kunishige viewed Samura’s swordsmanship as the best he has known but Chihiro is in disbelief as he cuts one of the tameshigiri but it is not fully cut, so Samura intervenes and demonstrates his method.

We return to the present, where the Datenseki sorcerers burst through the Temple, looking for the former wielders.

The Guardians of the Sansou arrive to stop the minions. 

They are only three monks and as the Datenseki fodder break through the Temple walls, the monks are shocked that there are twice as many enemies as initially reported.

As such, the enemy sneaks past them easily and manage to reach Samura, surprising the monks.

Meanwhile, Hakuri talks about Samura’s senses to the Masumi pair (note: Masumi in the official translations refers to their location but it could also be their family name).

The female Masumi explains that Samura uses his nose to find old friends but not newcomers or enemies.

The male Masumi worries that the Datenseki sorcerers are coming and that Samura is joining the fray.

Uruha and the male Masumi remark that there is no point intervening when Samura joins the fray.

This is an inverse of the dynamic with Uruha, who had to be protected, which implied that as good as Uruha is in combat, he does not have the same headstrong personality or skill level as Samura, at least if we connect this to Kunishige’s comments.

Samura asks the monks’ forgiveness as he joins the fight. We also have a focus on the massive Buddha statue, as if Samura is apologizing to the Buddha as well.

While one of the Datenseki fodder was excited by the opportunity, suddenly, Samura slices off his own cigarette and slices the man’s face with a cross pattern on the right side.

The other fodder were surprised that they were easily caught by Samura. 

Uruha explains that Samura tracks his opponents through echolocation, applying iaido to strike and unsheathe his katana to determine the direction and size of his enemies from the reverberation of those sounds. 

Hakuri recalls that this was what Uruha did in the train in Chapter 49 but was far from perfecting it, unlike the one who taught him, Samura.

The remaining Datenseki fodder activate their Datenseki to try and match Samura’s speed but Samura was easily able to take them down in an amazing spread.

A single page shows Samura standing before the Buddha statue, seeing how he had killed people, especially in a sacred place like this, and says that he will definitely go to hell as well.

We end the chapter where we started, with the flashback with young Chihiro being amazed by how clean Samura’s swordsmanship is as we see Samura’s full name: 

Iai-school Assistant Instructor: Samura – Sei-ichi (座村・清市)

Wielder of the Tobimune: 「飛宗」

Chapter 52 will be released on October 5, 2024.

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