Wano Country

The Wano Country is a nation in the New World. It is a country not affiliated with the World Government and is currently occupied by the Beasts Pirates. Wano Country is the primary setting of the Wano Country Arc.

It was first mentioned by Hogback, as Ryuma was from there.

General Information
Wano Country has its own warriors, the samurai (侍), who are swordsmen so strong that not even the Marines go near them. Ryuma's sword, the Shusui, is considered a national treasure of Wano.

Women from Wano are expected to be modest and speak gracefully and quietly. In addition, the chonmage is a common hairstyle.

The country follows a policy of isolationism, meaning that contact with outsiders such as pirates and other countries is prohibited. Leaving the country's borders is also considered a crime.

Layout
Wano Country is split into an unknown number of areas that are ruled by daimyo. One of them, Kuri (九里), was formerly ruled by Kozuki Oden.

During the non-canon One Piece x Kyoto event, an area called Yo, formerly ruled by the Hitaki Family, is now under the rule of Toratsugu and Princess Kikuhime.

Past
After his death, the legendary samurai Ryuma was buried in Wano Country. His legacy made him a national hero.

Kin'emon was born in Kuri, and served as retainer for the Kozuki Family.

Sometime after Kin'emon was born, someone robbed Ryuma's grave and made off with Ryuma's corpse as well as his sword, Shusui. This incident was considered a disaster that brought the country to its knees. When Kin'emon saw that Zoro had Shusui, he thought Zoro was the culprit.

At one point in time, Portgas D. Ace went to Wano Country and learned how to make a kasa, later making one for Little Oars Jr.

Recently, the Beasts Pirates have been occupying Wano Country and have taken over most of the country's regions. One of the country's daimyo, Kozuki Oden, was executed by Kaido and the resident shogun for refusing to give out information about the "True History" that he found out in his time as a member of the Roger Pirates. This caused Oden's son, Kozuki Momonosuke, and three of his retainers, Kin'emon, Kanjuro and Raizo to flee the country towards Zou, where they could meet with two other retainers of the Mink Tribe, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi. For safety reasons, Momonosuke was instructed by Kin'emon to pretend to be his own son.

According to Kin'emon, several warriors from Wano Country who are against the rule of Kaido and the shogun have been gathering together in order to form a rebellion. Kin'emon also claims that Kozuki Oden's last words before leaving his retainers was to open the borders of Wano.

Zou Arc
The Kozuki Family formed an alliance with the Straw Hat Pirates and the Heart Pirates in order to battle Kaido's forces and liberate Wano.

Wano Country Arc
After parting ways with the Sanji Retrieval Team, the remaining Straw Hats along with Kin'emon and his allies eventually arrived in Wano. To ensure that they would not be detected by the current shogun's forces, Kin'emon suggested that everyone go undercover and assume civilian identities until he and his comrades can assemble an army to combat the shogun and his forces.

One Piece x Kyoto
Toratsugu served as a teacher of flower arrangement for the Hitaki Family, the family of the daimyo of the Yo district in Wano Country. Since childhood, he was friends with the princess Kikuhime, and the two gradually came to love each other. They got engaged, but a few days later, Toratsugu witnessed prince Lark murdering the daimyo. Lark pinned the murder on Toratsugu and imprisoned him, with the prince next in line to become daimyo. However, Toratsugu managed to escape his imprisonment the night before his public execution, and came to a beach. Starving, he ate a Devil Fruit, which turned out to be a Mythical Zoan that allows him to transformed into the yokai nue, and he took residence in a mountain temple.

Not too long afterwards, Kikuhime and Lark got engaged, and Toratsugu broke into the mansion where their wedding ceremony was held. He kidnapped Kikuhime, with Lark being unable to take him down, and took his past love to his mountain temple. Lark then approached the Straw Hat Pirates, asking them to go and take down Toratsugu in return for a considerable reward.



Shortly afterwards, the Straw Hat Pirates reached the temple at the behest of Lark, and Toratsugu battled their captain Monkey D. Luffy. After a brief battle, Toratsugu fell down a ravine, where he transformed back into a human and sustained injuries. He was healed by Chopper, and revealed his past to the Straw Hats. They sympathized with him and agreed to go take down Lark, and Toratsugu took them to him in his nue form despite his injuries.

As the Straw Hats went off, Lark barricaded himself in an encampment, and swore to kill Toratsugu as he revealed to Kikuhime that he killed her father. No longer having a use for Kikuhime, Lark pushed her off a balcony, but she was suddenly saved by Luffy as he flew in on Toratsugu. Luffy then defeated Lark with a punch to the face. A banquet was held afterwards, and Toratsugu and Kikuhime bid farewell to the Straw Hats as they resumed their life together.

Translation and Dub Issues
The name is a pun, as "Wa no Kuni (和の国)" is used as a name for Japan. The kanji for "Wa" appears when Brook mentions the country in the Punk Hazard Arc, but the country's name is written in katakana (ワノ国), where "no" is a part of the name rather than being a possessive article.

Trivia

 * The Wano Country is clearly inspired by the Feudal Japan. Its people, dialect, architecture, culture and general atmosphere heavily support this.
 * The fact that the swordsmen in this country are called "samurai" and its closed-door policy are also a reference to Japan in their Feudal era.
 * The location Kuri means "Nine Li", Li being a unit of measurement originating from China, but adopted in Korea and Japan, roughly being 500, 393, and 3927 meters, respectively. Since Wano Country is based on Japan, Kuri may be translated as "35,345 meters" or "21.96 miles".
 * So far, when a character native to Wano Country has been introduced in the present manga, their information has been seen on a Japanese scroll rather than the regular information box. The country itself was introduced in this way.
 * Momonosuke's fake introduction was an exception (perhaps hinting that the introduction was duplicitous), but when his real identity was given, he also had a scroll.
 * Ryuma was introduced in a different manner, as he predated One Piece and originally first appeared in the oneshot Monsters, and upon reappearing in One Piece, it was not really him, but his zombie.
 * When Franky, Usopp, Robin, and Zoro appeared as their aliases, they were reintroduced in that manner.
 * Wano is the first, and so far only, canon location that was first visited during a non-canon story.

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