This is the summary of the whole story. It describes what hasn’t happened in the published episodes yet, so let me warn you of some spoilers ahead. For the summary of the previous installments, go to ‘Story so far…’
It was the night before their final charge against Lord Yoshizane’s foxy arch-enemy Kagetsura in a clearly losing battle; their food supply had been cut off and there was scarcely any stamina left in his soldiers. In his final quiet moment to himself and his beloved dog Yatsufusa, Yoshizane made a promise in jest that if the dog got the enemy general’s head he would marry him to his daughter. When the dog Yatsufusa actually kept his promise and brought back the severed head of none other than Kagetsura, Princess Fuse bravely persuaded her father into keeping his promise and letting herself and the dog quietly live deep in mountains far away from any human society. Fuse-hime (Princess Fuse) was determined to keep her celibacy and to train to attain enlightenment together with the canine husband.
Some years later, in a desperate attempt to bring his once-fiancée back to her family and to civilization, Daisuke took his rifle into the mountains to shoot the dog, but the single shot not only killed the dog but took his precious princess’s life, making eight of the princess’s rosary beads fly into eight different directions in the sky. Each of these beads bore a single Chinese character which represents one of the eight principal virtues; benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom, fidelity, sincerity, filial piety, and camaraderie.
At about this time, eight unrelated families in the county of Awa came into possession of strange precious stones. In these crystals appear some kind of mysterious inscriptions which were neither curved nor painted. All the eight sons born to these families bore a birthmark which looked like a peony, as if to signify eight extraordinary fates to be converged. Thus Eight Samurai Hounds were born. This story tells you of all the adventures and bravery of Fuse-hime’s eight dog soldiers and of other heroes and heroines, until they finally gather under the name of Lord Yoshizane to bring peace and justice for his people.
The Legend of the Eight Samurai Hounds 