Origin

Shimura is a top Hondo City Judge forced to become a ronin to fight the corruption within his city and its justice department.

Creation

Shimura was created by Robbie Morrison and Frank Quitely and debuted in the Judge Dredd Megazine #37.

Character Development

As a cadet judge in Hondo-City, Shimura was assigned to help protect a group of civilians targeted for assassination, but the deadly Stan Lee, aka Deathfist, killed all the other judges present, as well as the civilians, and left Shimura, the sole survivor, with distinctive facial scars.

Shimura subsequently rose to become one of Hondo-City's best judges, and a top martial artist, but he lost favor when he approved his cadet, Inaba, to become the city's first female judge. Later he and several other judges were ambushed by the Kyohen Network, a cybernetic network that used robotic bodies to carry out assassinations for hire. Thirteen of the group were slain, Shimura was left for dead, and his friend Itami was captured by Judge Tetsuo, an undercover Yakuza operative.

Itami had his body stolen via a brain-swap operation by Yakuza boss Sagawa, who had paid for the hit and knew Itami was a prospective candidate for the Justice Department Council. Shimura survived, and, now a Ronin (masterless samurai), pursued a war of revenge against Tetsuo, Sagawa and the Kyohen Network in turn, sometimes with Inaba's covert assistance.

Later, having eliminated all those involved in the ambush, Shimura was drawn into conflict with mutant druglord Ryujin and his cohorts, including Deathfist. Shimura won their rematch, cutting off Deathfist's left hand.