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Son Goku, is one of the faces of the hero with thousand faces, IMO one of the greatest of all personification of the myth, from the perspective of someone from

Son Goku, is one of the faces of the hero with thousand faces, IMO one of the greatest of all personification of the myth, from the perspective of someone from Latin America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces

deathemperor 3y ago
from my perspective of someone from Southeast Asia, Son Goku is definitely Sun Wukong the Monkey King from Journey To The West https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King
- nindalf 3y ago
  How?? The Monkey King is a trickster and quite frankly, mean to a lot of people. Goku is the exact opposite. The only thing they have in common is the extending rod that Goku would fight with as a child.
  - Jensson 3y ago
    Watch the original episodes, he is very much like a trickster monkey. Then he matured into what people remember him as and became very different, but he didn't start that way.
    - xandrius 3y ago
      He is inspired by Wukong for episode 1 and then pretty much stopped being that... Literally never seen Goku tricking anyone, there are a few instances in which he plays with the enemies but they were the baddies.
      - peoplefromibiza 3y ago
        > then pretty much stopped being that not true The original Wukong [1] flies on a "golden cloud" (does that rings a bell?) and uses as a weapon a growing stick (Ruyi Jingu Bang, transliterated in Japanese as Nyoi Bo, the name used in the Dragon ball anime and manga) that obeys to voice commands In Dragon ball the golden headband (that can shrink as a form of punishment) is missing, replaced by a regular red headband that sometimes Goku wears EDIT: of course I forgot the most important one: Goku can become a monkey. Wukong is a monkey, the monkey king. [1] https://external-preview.redd.it/CZeTiWE13k8lyrdzQ5pGZqY6wI6bJpt3KXL2UF-uFeA.jpg?auto=webp&s=a92f5fd27958b71708dc0cf308c4abaa0f2ce5a4 https://external-preview.redd.it/CZeTiWE13k8lyrdzQ5pGZqY6wI6...
        saalweachter 3y ago
        It was crazy reading Journey to the West and being like, "WTF, THAT part of Dragonball comes from this?"
        xandrius 3y ago
        I get that but I was talking about the behavior.
        peoplefromibiza 3y ago
        In Journey to the west Sun Wukong learns to behave and start following a path of spiritual growth and wisdom that, at the end of his journey, leads him to become enlightened and a Buddha himself. Much like Goku in Dragon ball, where trough the training and by following his master's teachings, he becomes a warrior with a noble heart that values friendship over everything else. After that, I agree, it's simply about becoming stronger and stronger.
    - nindalf 3y ago
      I didn't watch the episodes, I read the 16th century book Monkey, translated into English by Arthur Waley. Supposed to be a pretty faithful translation, which is why I was surprised by your comparison of Sun Wukong and Son Goku.
  - re-thc 3y ago
    > and quite frankly, mean to a lot of people > Goku is the exact opposite. How? How abandons his family to train or fight enemies. He puts everything at risk just for a good duel. He helps the enemy recover or throws his son out there just to see a good fight. Just because he's the MC and portrayed in a positive light... He might be a popular character but definitely not nice.
    - thatguy0900 3y ago
      Especially when you get into DragonBall super when he goes against what everyone is telling him to do and challenges super God to a fight, starting something that could have led to the death of multiple universes. And when he allows frieza to do whatever as long as it doesn't effect earth. He's very selfish in a lot of ways.
  - chemmail 3y ago
    China pumps out a Monkey King movie every year. They are all totally different interpretations other than he is a monkey and has a stick.
- fvdessen 3y ago
  I also didn't realise as a western kid that Dragon Ball is set in a Taoist / Buddhist universe. The way the gods, afterlife, etc work in Dragon Ball, the way you can get super powers through training is extremely related to buddhist / taoist mythology.
- boringuser2 3y ago
  That was his original inspiration but he has matured far beyond that.
peoplefromibiza 3y ago
> Son Goku, is one of the faces of the hero with thousand faces Son Goku from Toriyama is probably one of the best adaptation of the legend of Sun Wukong [1], one of my other favorites is Jan Kugo from Starzinger [2] and of course The Monkey from no other than the master Osamu Tezuka [3] EDIT: it definitely also fits the definition that Campbell gives of the hero [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starzinger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starzinger [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gok%C5%AB_no_Daib%C5%8Dken https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gok%C5%AB_no_Daib%C5%8Dken
- agumonkey 3y ago
  was "Goku" a transliteration of wukong ? wu -> go, kong -> ku ?
  - peoplefromibiza 3y ago
    AFAIK "Goku is the Japanese way of saying Sun Wukong"
    - agumonkey 3y ago
      thanks
  - glandium 3y ago
    孫悟空 is how it's written in both Traditional Chinese and Japanese. That's Son Gokū, as read in Japanese. For some reason it became Sangoku in France. While we're on names, did you know all names fell in themes. Vegetables for the saiyans (saiya-jin, vegetable in Japanese is yasai). Goku is Kakarot (carot), Vegita (vegetable), Raditz (radish), etc. Underwear: Bulma (bloomers), Trunks. Chinese(ish) foods: Yamcha (yumcha), Tenshinhan (tenshindon), Chaozu (jiaozi), and many more themes.
    - agumonkey 3y ago
      The vegetable link yeah I knew, the clothing too (they were a bit more obvious), but not saiya per se, nor the other food named chars. side note, imported mangas were my entry-point to non European languages, I went into a deep rabbit-hole to decipher the Japanese writing system. And the pair trunks/dragon was my first seed to solve that, except I didn't really know how they were spelled there torankusu / doragonu so it took a little while to associate consonants with vowels.

deathemperor 3y ago

from my perspective of someone from Southeast Asia, Son Goku is definitely Sun Wukong the Monkey King from Journey To The West https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King

nindalf 3y ago
How?? The Monkey King is a trickster and quite frankly, mean to a lot of people. Goku is the exact opposite. The only thing they have in common is the extending rod that Goku would fight with as a child.
- Jensson 3y ago
  Watch the original episodes, he is very much like a trickster monkey. Then he matured into what people remember him as and became very different, but he didn't start that way.
  - xandrius 3y ago
    He is inspired by Wukong for episode 1 and then pretty much stopped being that... Literally never seen Goku tricking anyone, there are a few instances in which he plays with the enemies but they were the baddies.
    - peoplefromibiza 3y ago
      > then pretty much stopped being that not true The original Wukong [1] flies on a "golden cloud" (does that rings a bell?) and uses as a weapon a growing stick (Ruyi Jingu Bang, transliterated in Japanese as Nyoi Bo, the name used in the Dragon ball anime and manga) that obeys to voice commands In Dragon ball the golden headband (that can shrink as a form of punishment) is missing, replaced by a regular red headband that sometimes Goku wears EDIT: of course I forgot the most important one: Goku can become a monkey. Wukong is a monkey, the monkey king. [1] https://external-preview.redd.it/CZeTiWE13k8lyrdzQ5pGZqY6wI6bJpt3KXL2UF-uFeA.jpg?auto=webp&s=a92f5fd27958b71708dc0cf308c4abaa0f2ce5a4 https://external-preview.redd.it/CZeTiWE13k8lyrdzQ5pGZqY6wI6...
      - saalweachter 3y ago
        It was crazy reading Journey to the West and being like, "WTF, THAT part of Dragonball comes from this?"
      - xandrius 3y ago
        I get that but I was talking about the behavior.
        peoplefromibiza 3y ago
        In Journey to the west Sun Wukong learns to behave and start following a path of spiritual growth and wisdom that, at the end of his journey, leads him to become enlightened and a Buddha himself. Much like Goku in Dragon ball, where trough the training and by following his master's teachings, he becomes a warrior with a noble heart that values friendship over everything else. After that, I agree, it's simply about becoming stronger and stronger.
  - nindalf 3y ago
    I didn't watch the episodes, I read the 16th century book Monkey, translated into English by Arthur Waley. Supposed to be a pretty faithful translation, which is why I was surprised by your comparison of Sun Wukong and Son Goku.
- re-thc 3y ago
  > and quite frankly, mean to a lot of people > Goku is the exact opposite. How? How abandons his family to train or fight enemies. He puts everything at risk just for a good duel. He helps the enemy recover or throws his son out there just to see a good fight. Just because he's the MC and portrayed in a positive light... He might be a popular character but definitely not nice.
  - thatguy0900 3y ago
    Especially when you get into DragonBall super when he goes against what everyone is telling him to do and challenges super God to a fight, starting something that could have led to the death of multiple universes. And when he allows frieza to do whatever as long as it doesn't effect earth. He's very selfish in a lot of ways.
- chemmail 3y ago
  China pumps out a Monkey King movie every year. They are all totally different interpretations other than he is a monkey and has a stick.
fvdessen 3y ago
I also didn't realise as a western kid that Dragon Ball is set in a Taoist / Buddhist universe. The way the gods, afterlife, etc work in Dragon Ball, the way you can get super powers through training is extremely related to buddhist / taoist mythology.
boringuser2 3y ago
That was his original inspiration but he has matured far beyond that.

peoplefromibiza 3y ago

> Son Goku, is one of the faces of the hero with thousand faces Son Goku from Toriyama is probably one of the best adaptation of the legend of Sun Wukong [1], one of my other favorites is Jan Kugo from Starzinger [2] and of course The Monkey from no other than the master Osamu Tezuka [3] EDIT: it definitely also fits the definition that Campbell gives of the hero [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starzinger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starzinger [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gok%C5%AB_no_Daib%C5%8Dken https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gok%C5%AB_no_Daib%C5%8Dken

agumonkey 3y ago
was "Goku" a transliteration of wukong ? wu -> go, kong -> ku ?
- peoplefromibiza 3y ago
  AFAIK "Goku is the Japanese way of saying Sun Wukong"
  - agumonkey 3y ago
    thanks
- glandium 3y ago
  孫悟空 is how it's written in both Traditional Chinese and Japanese. That's Son Gokū, as read in Japanese. For some reason it became Sangoku in France. While we're on names, did you know all names fell in themes. Vegetables for the saiyans (saiya-jin, vegetable in Japanese is yasai). Goku is Kakarot (carot), Vegita (vegetable), Raditz (radish), etc. Underwear: Bulma (bloomers), Trunks. Chinese(ish) foods: Yamcha (yumcha), Tenshinhan (tenshindon), Chaozu (jiaozi), and many more themes.
  - agumonkey 3y ago
    The vegetable link yeah I knew, the clothing too (they were a bit more obvious), but not saiya per se, nor the other food named chars. side note, imported mangas were my entry-point to non European languages, I went into a deep rabbit-hole to decipher the Japanese writing system. And the pair trunks/dragon was my first seed to solve that, except I didn't really know how they were spelled there torankusu / doragonu so it took a little while to associate consonants with vowels.