HOW ‘JIRAIYA GOUKETSU MONOGATARI” HELPED IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE THREE LEGENDARY SANNINS IN NARUTO.

 

Jiraiya Gouketsu Monogatari ©Wikiwand

The growth of Anime in India isn’t a fresh case coz at some point in our life we Indians may have watched anime on our television sets. The Japanese animated shows were introduced to the Indian Audiences around the mid-2000s in the form of Doraemon and Crayon Shinchan which successfully led to the creation of multiple fanbases in India and they still exist.

The sudden inclination of Indians towards these above-mentioned Japanese animated shows resulted in the arrival of Shonen anime like one piece, Naruto and Dragon ball z (which was quite popular in India) that was aired the around early to late 2000s in Cartoon Network India.

Unfortunately, Naruto and One piece weren’t that famous coz only a few dubbed episodes were aired on TV sets back in the late 2000s. Surprisingly, Naruto turned out to be the second most popular show among teens during that period despite running for a very short period on television

One who starts watching Naruto will develop a sense of curiosity for the world of Ninja and who they really were in Ancient Japan. Ninjas have always been an essential part of ancient Japanese History.

I am sure that most of the Non-Japanese Naruto Fans are unaware of the fact that three of the most famous characters in Naruto (Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru) were adapted from the Japanese folktale “Jiraiya Gouketsu Monogatari”.

Dear readers, you will be amazed that the name of the main characters in this mythical tale is also “Jiraiya”, “Tsunade” and “Orochimaru” but the relationship showed between the three characters is significantly disparate compared to which we saw in Naruto.

INFORMATION ON JIRAIYA GOUKETSU MONOGATARI:

The writer of this legend was Onitake Kanwatei who exhibited the beautiful tale of a Ninja duo (Jiraiya and Tsunade) who went after their nemesis Orochimaru (who was possessed by an evil serpent’s spirit). This famous “Jiraiya Gouketsu Monogatari” was also reiterated in a graphic novel back in 1839 and was also revamped into a Kabuki stage playback in 1852. A movie adaptation of this legend was also released back in 1966. Surprisingly, this folktale is around 180 years old and was inspired by a Chinese song named “Wo Lai Ye”

 

THE STORY:

Jiraiya sensei©way of ninja

The tale begins with a nameless evil serpent spirit who wished to annex the entire Japanese subcontinent. His mission begins by taking command of the “Tsukikage clan”.  Firstly, he made up his mind to capture the Gunryo Miyukinosuke the Daimyo (Feudal lord) of the Tsukikage clan unjustifiably.

The serpent spirit acted by possessing Orochimaru (adopted son of the Daimyo). After his first move, the serpent spirit manipulated the Feudal lord and convinced him to make his adoptive son (Orochimaru) the only successor of his clan (Tsukikage clan).

The second major step taken by the serpent spirit was to annihilate the Matsuura and Ogata clan coz these clans own authoritative stamps i.e the Insignia stamps of the shogunate. These insignia stamps can mark any document as an injunction from the shogun (Military Dictators). The superiority of these seals (stamps) attracted Orochimaru towards it.

The third lethal move of the serpent spirit begins when the Kunio (countryman) persuade the shogun by falsely claiming that Ogata and Matsuura's clans were planning to go against him. This paved an easy way for Orochimaru to destroy both the clans (Matsuura and Ogata) which he did and procured those superior insignia stamps.

He captured the heirs of both the clans. Both of them were thrown off a cliff with a desire to kill them but his efforts didn’t turn out to be a success because an old sage named Senso Dojin rescued both of them.

Here comes the Jaw-dropping moment for Naruto fans, the name of the extricated heirs was Tsunade Matsuura (Matsuura Clan) and Hiroyuki Ogata (Ogata clan) later Hiroyuki adapts a name called “Jiraiya” for hiding his identity.

Senso Dojin played a crucial role in the upbringing of the royal duo. He trained them in Yamabushi magic and Shinobi techniques. Jiraiya (Hiroyuki) was indoctrinated in the art of Toad magic whereas Tsunade was inculcated in the art of Slug magic.

Later, Tsunade and Jiraiya were married to each other.

THE FIRST ASSAULT:

The Royal Duo’s (Tsunade and Jiraiya) first Face off with Orochimaru didn’t turn out to be a triumphant attempt to defeat him as Jiraiya was badly wounded and poisoned by Orochimaru. Under Tsunade’s Slug magic Jiraiya’s body was partially healed from the deleterious effects of Orochimaru’s poison yet this imperfect treatment wasn’t enough for Jiraiya to reach its 100%.

The only cure for the downright treatment from the poisonous effect was the blood of Jiraiya’s sister. Quite expectedly, his sister sacrificed herself so that her brother will be healed enough to annihilate the vicious Orochimaru who destroyed her clan (Ogata clan).

Astoundingly, the second assault by the iconic Husband-wife duo wasn’t sufficient to Vanquish Orochimaru because they didn’t wield a Dominant weapon named “Nakimaru” sword which was a necessary weapon to dissipate the serpent spirit that possessed Orochimaru.

The duo set off on a venturesome journey to find the Nakimaru sword. After procuring it, they used it against the immoral Orochimaru and liberate him from the serpent’s spirit.

CONCLUSION:

Jiraiya sensei ©Mashashi Kishimoto

The aforementioned tale is one of the esteemed interpretations of this popular Japanese folktale among the natives in Japan. As a matter of fact, there are multiple versions of “Jiraiya Gouketsu Monogatari “which are dissimilar from each other yet famous in different regions of the island country.

It’s astounding that the creator of Naruto (Mr Mashashi Kishimoto) adapted the characters of the three legendary Saanins from “Jiraiya Gouketsu Monogatari” which not only enhanced the quality of the show but it also attracted more audiences towards it and made it popular worldwide.

Finally, I would like to conclude by saying that the various concepts of Naruto are inspired by the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies which were combined with all sorts of unnatural and imaginary ideas of “Jutsus” that is impossible in reality.