Shura no Toki – Age of Chaos

Mutsuen Meiryū Gaiden: Shura no Toki (陸奥圓明流外伝 修羅の刻) Even since the Heian era, the members of the Mutsu family have practiced an unarmed martial art, the Mutsu Enmei Ryuu. They walked the path of the undefeated and were called the Shura no Mono (Men of Carnage).

The 15-volume-manga, published by Koudansha since 1989, contains eight story arcs, three of which were used for the anime series. Each arc is loosely based on Japanese history, focusing on a member of the fictional Mutsu clan and their influence on the life of a historic swordsman. The first part of the anime revolves around Mutsu Yakumo and Miyamoto Musashi in the early Edo era; the second continues shortly thereafter with Yakumo's son Mutsu Takato and Yagyū Jūbei; and the third shows a more distant descendant of the Mutsu family, Mutsu Izumi, who becomes close friends with Sakamoto Ryōma during the Bakumatsu era.