Guin Saga
#6273.71 adjusted 3.87 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 4 books Status Complete 1979–1980 Reading commitment Low Kaoru Kurimoto Last reviewed 2026-08-29
Overview
Guin Saga is a Japanese-language sword-and-sorcery epic begun in 1979 by Kaoru Kurimoto, following Guin, an amnesiac warrior with a leopard mask magically fused to his face, as he navigates a sprawling continent of warring city-states alongside the royal twins of a conquered kingdom. One of the longest single-author prose fantasy sagas ever written, Kurimoto wrote 130 of its eventual 150-plus volumes before her death in 2009, after which other authors continued it; the full saga and its side-story novels have reportedly sold around 30 million copies in Japan. It won the Seiun Award in 2010 and has been adapted into two manga series and a 26-episode anime (2009); manga artist Kentaro Miura cited it as an influence on his own work. English-language publishers have compared it to The Lord of the Rings and Conan the Barbarian.
Sword & sorcery · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (4 works) counts toward ranking
The Guin Saga (English-translated volumes) Kaoru Kurimoto
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Leopard Mask | 1979 | 1 | core | 3.55 (380 ratings) |
 | The Marches King | 1979 | 2 | core | 4.01 (76 ratings) |
 | Prisoner of the Lagon | 1980 | 3 | core | 3.95 (83 ratings) |
 | The Battle of Nospherus | 1980 | 4 | core | 3.86 (127 ratings) |
The four confirmed English-translated volumes of Kaoru Kurimoto's Japanese-language Guin Saga (Vertical Inc., translated by Alexander O. Smith). A fifth title once catalogued here ('The Wind Sword's Shadow') was removed as unresolvable after thorough research found no matching real Guin Saga volume, English or Japanese. The full Japanese-language saga (130 volumes by Kurimoto herself before her 2009 death, plus further volumes by other authors) runs far beyond this Core Canon; the untranslated remainder is a documented future research lead, not part of this admission.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Guin Saga? Guin Saga's Core Canon is 4 books.
- What is the reading order for Guin Saga? Publication order, starting with The Leopard Mask. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Guin Saga finished? Complete (1979–1980).
- How much reading does Guin Saga take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 4 Core Canon books · ~1,045 pages).
- How is Guin Saga ranked? #627 in this site's official ranking, based on 666 reader ratings across 4 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #627?
Ranked #627 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.71 across 4 core books.
- A smaller readership (666 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.55 to 4.01.
- 0.15 behind #626, The Redemption of Althalus.
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 4 books · Complete · 666 ratings · Ranks #627 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment sword-and-sorcery universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (4 Core Canon books)
- The Leopard Mask (1979)
- The Marches King (1979)
- Prisoner of the Lagon (1980)
- The Battle of Nospherus (1980)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- Seiun Award, Best Long Fiction (2010, posthumous)
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.71 across 666 ratings on 4 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit Guin Saga (Kaoru Kurimoto) accepted 2026-08-29
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-30
Rule: Core Canon = the five English-translated volumes (Vertical Inc.) of Kurimoto's 130-volume Japanese saga; the untranslated remainder is a documented future lead, not part of this admission.