Usagi Yojimbo is the best-known creation of American cartoonist Stan Sakai.
His crossovers with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in comics, animation, and action figures helped introduce him to audiences around the world.
Since the late 1980s, Usagi and the Turtles have crossed paths and fought alongside one another many times. Here is how that partnership began.
Chapter 1: The Beginning
Usagi Yojimbo first appeared in 1984, the same year as the first TMNT comic. Both were independent, black-and-white comics about anthropomorphic animals. One featured a samurai; the other starred ninjas. A crossover seemed like a natural fit, even if their settings were separated by centuries and continents: feudal Japan and 1980s New York.
TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird admired Sakai’s work, and Sakai liked theirs. One day, he sent them a drawing of Usagi with the Turtles, made for fun as a gesture of admiration. They liked it enough to publish it in Donatello’s first Micro-Series issue.
Seeing the drawing in print surprised Sakai. He later said in an interview that he would have put more work into it if he had known it was going to be published. That image became the first official meeting of Usagi Yojimbo and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Eastman, Laird, and Sakai stayed in touch. Sakai was later invited to contribute to Turtle Soup, a 1987 Mirage Comics special in which different artists created their own short TMNT stories.
Time travel and dimensional jumps made the distance between their worlds easy to overcome. Their first crossover story was called “Turtle Soup and Rabbit Stew.”
Chapter 2: Turtle Soup and Rabbit Stew
The story takes place after TMNT #8, following the Turtles’ encounter with Renet Tilley and Lord Simultaneous. Leonardo is minding his own business when a time portal pulls him into feudal Japan. There, a group of outlaw ronin tries to rob him, and he fights back.
Nearby, Miyamoto Usagi is walking through the countryside when Neko Clan ninjas attack him. The two battles converge, leaving only Leonardo and Usagi standing. Each mistakes the other for another enemy. They charge, but just as they strike, Leonardo is pulled back to his own time. Usagi crashes into a tree, while Leonardo crashes into his brothers.
Chapter 3: The Crossing
The second crossover appeared in Usagi Yojimbo Volume 1, #10, published by Fantagraphics in 1988. Peter Laird wrote and drew the story, “The Crossing.”
Children are playing at being a samurai and his apprentice when Usagi interrupts to tell them a story about arrogance. During a training session, he once found a monk resting beside a tree. Usagi woke him and demanded help crossing a river. The monk agreed and carried him on his shoulders.
The monk suddenly disappeared, dropping Usagi into the water. When he returned, he removed his disguise: it was Leonardo. The two agreed to continue the fight interrupted during their earlier meeting and battled for some time.
At one point, Leonardo lowered his guard. Usagi seized the opening, but lost his balance and fell. Recognizing his opponent’s skill, Leonardo chose to end the fight.
Usagi likewise recognized Leonardo as an honorable warrior, and they made peace. Back with the children, his story ends with a lesson about treating others respectfully.
Chapter 4: The Treaty
The third crossover arrived in 1989 in Shell Shock, another collection of TMNT stories by different artists. Published by Mirage Studios in December, it contained 26 stories: 19 reprints and seven new contributions. The collection was intended to raise money to fight illiteracy in the United States.
“The Treaty” follows directly from “Turtle Soup and Rabbit Stew.” Leonardo is running to April’s home to meet her and his brothers for pizza when another time portal pulls him into feudal Japan. Seeing Usagi about to be attacked by a group of ninjas, he jumps in to help.
The ninjas retreat. Usagi explains that he is carrying a draft agreement to Lord Noriyuki, intended to establish a treaty between two provinces. Lord Hikiji, one of Usagi’s greatest enemies, has sent the Neko Clan to steal the documents.
Leonardo says that he and his brothers would like to help. He also tells Usagi about New York, a place filled with people and towering buildings.
The Neko Clan interrupts their conversation with another attack. One ninja takes a young woman hostage and demands the documents in exchange for her life. Usagi agrees. The ninjas release her and leave with the papers.
Once they are gone, Usagi explains that he and his friend Tomoe staged the encounter to fool their enemies. The stolen documents were fakes. When Tomoe asks Leonardo about his pizza box, he suddenly vanishes and reappears at April’s home.
Chapter 5: Past and Present
More crossovers followed in later years. In 1993, “Shades of Green” ran through the first three issues of Usagi Yojimbo’s second volume.
In 2017, IDW published the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo special featuring “Namazu.”
IDW followed in 2023 with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo: WhereWhen, a five-issue miniseries bringing together the Turtles, Usagi, and their allies. While pursuing Dr. WhereWhen, the Turtles travel through a time portal into feudal Japan and encounter Usagi twenty years into the samurai’s future. The doctor, however, arrived decades earlier and has already established a domain populated by robot samurai. He intends to dominate both past and present timelines.
Those three crossovers are subjects for separate videos. Subscribe to the ArcadeBot channel and turn on notifications to follow the series.
Chapter 6: Usagi on Television
The partnership also reached several TMNT animated series. Usagi first appeared in the classic cartoon in its 50th episode, titled “Usagi Yojimbo.”
Donatello’s interdimensional portal machine accidentally brings him into the Turtles’ time. The brothers try to help him return home, but Shredder’s plans get in the way. They join forces to stop him.
In episode 52, “Usagi Come Home,” Shredder tries to turn Usagi against the Turtles. After fighting them, Usagi discovers the deception and teams up with them again to defeat Shredder. He still cannot return to his own dimension and remains in the present. That open ending might suggest room for further appearances, but treating it as proof of a production plan would be speculation.
For me, the 2003 series offers one of the best versions of Usagi. He appears across several episodes alongside other characters from his comics. He is a formidable fighter and builds a close friendship with Leonardo, much as Raphael does with Casey Jones.
He enters the series during the Battle Nexus storyline, across episodes 49–52. Episodes 74 and 75, “The Real World,” take place in Usagi’s universe and bring in several of his old friends and enemies.
In the 2012 series, Usagi appears in episodes 111–113, during Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The brothers travel to another dimension and meet Miyamoto Usagi. To find their way home, they must help him escort Kintaro, a child of prophecy, toward his destiny.
Usagi’s adventures continue, as does his long-running friendship with the Turtles.