[2] In February 2022, First Second Books announced that it licensed the title, and an English-language edition, translated by Alex Dudok de Wit, was released in the United States on November 1, 2022.

Before passing away, he tells Shuna how he was once a young prince in a similar position to him and how he began his quest for the living grain after encountering the previous owner of the seeds.

Later that night, he meets an old traveler who explains that the seeds come from a land further west that is the home of the moon and where the mythical beings known as god-men grow the grain and trade it to the man-hunters for fresh slaves.

After defeating the pursuers with a trap, Shuna sees the moon sweep across the sky and knows that it is heading over the cliff in the direction of the land of the god-men.

Shuna sinks into a sleep of exhaustion, and upon awakening, sees that the ocean has calmed and a sandbar has appeared connecting the beach to the land of the god-men.

Crossing the sandbar, Shuna finds himself in a paradise full of extinct plant and animal species, along with strange and passive moss-like giants.

After realizing that time is accelerated on the island upon seeing his rifle, sword, and clothing deteriorate before his very eyes, Shuna takes some of the golden grain heads; causing great pain to himself and the giants in the process.

In his afterword published in the Shuna booklet, Hayao Miyazaki wrote that he took the Tibetan folktale, "The Prince Who Turned into a Dog", as a source of inspiration for the novel.

[7] Kentaro Takekuma traces Miyazaki's stylistic inspirations back to the adventures he read as a child and identifies his 1969 illustrated story (絵物語, emonogatari) People of the Desert as a precursor for Shuna's Journey.

[2] Shuna's Journey partially inspired the 2006 anime film Tales from Earthsea, directed by Hayao's son Goro.