The roots of this long and epic adventure will surprise you
One of the longest running anime series in history is Dragon Ball, the most important work of Akira Toriyama and one of the reasons why your mother scolded you for “going around seeing the kokun”. But do you know the origin of this work? the stories of Goku and company go back to the legendary Chinese culture.
Akira Toriyama I was a fan of movies Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, two of the martial arts masters. This passion led him to create the Dragon Boy one-shot in 1983, a preliminary version of what would be dragon ball.
For the final version of his work, he took inspiration from the Japanese novel Nanso Satomi Hakkenden from the 19th century where some heroes collect Buddhist beads, hence the idea of the dragon balls was born.
But, his biggest inspiration came from the classical Chinese epic The Journey to the West and its protagonist, Sun Wu Kong, also known as the monkey king. Already from the name we can see that Akira Toriyama there was nothing subtle about his inspirations.
The Journey to the West, the story that inspired Akira Toriyama to create Dragon Ball
The original story shows us how wukong is accompanied by the monk Tang SanZang, which bears a strong resemblance to krillin in dragon ball. He would help him on his adventures throughout China.
Although, unlike the story of Goku, this hero was born from an immortal stone and later joined the monkey clan. They honored him as their king, but their story did not end there. He traveled on a raft until he met Master Bodhi who taught him to speak properly and live like a human.
Something similar to the story of the master Roshi who created Akira Toriyama.
Thanks to his talent, he became his master’s favorite disciple. He learned to become any person, being or object. Furthermore, since very few developed the Cloud Travel, which made him the envy of the rest (any resemblance to Goku and its flying cloud dragon ball not a coincidence).
Back to his hometown, Wukong searched for a weapon worthy of him and fought the dragon of the underworld with which he earned his Golden Staff, which could be resized at will. This weapon inspired Akira Toriyama to create the sacred staff of Goku in dragon ball.
Thanks to his incredible power, he was able to defeat the dragons of the four seas and obtain his magical armor, golden with phoenix feathers and boots with which he could walk on clouds.
The beginning of the great story of Goku
But, his luck ran out when the heavenly court, the demons and himself Buddha decided to stop him, after the monkey king crossed out his name from the Book of Life and Death and ate the wine and peaches of immortality.
Buddha imprisoned him for five centuries until the monk Tang Sanzang offered to take care of him. This is where the true story begins and his journey with a pig and the monk of Sand, much like the trio he created Akira Toriyama in dragon ball with Goku, Oolong Y krillin.
But, don’t think that it will also come out Bulma or the Red Patrol in The Journey to the West. In fact, beyond the characters, the epic atmosphere and the great mountainous landscapes, this is where the inspiration for Akira Toriyama to create dragon ball, because he didn’t think he would be so successful (and that he would have to continue writing the stories of Goku).
For the martial arts tournament, he took inspiration from the model of Balinese, Indonesian who he met in mid-1985 with his wife and for the saga of boo in the jinn (jinn) described in the tale of Arabian Nights.
Follow the discussion on this and other topics on our channel Discord. You can also stop by our Youtube to see more content related to anime, movies, comics, video games and more from geek culture:
.