Researchers Compare "Naruto" and the Edo Period Adventure Novel "The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya", Finding Quite a Few Similarities

Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru—the so-called "Legendary Three"—are an essential part of Naruto. However, it might surprise you to learn that a very similar trio with identical names appears in a story written during Japan's Edo period.

So today, we'll be going over the similarities and differences between that novel—The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya—and Naruto.

Our guides on this journey will be researcher of Japanese literature Noriko Yamashita (Professor Emeritus, National Institute of Japanese Literature), and researcher of ukiyo-e (a style of art popularized in Edo period Japan) Kenji Hinohara (Head Curator of the Ōta Memorial Museum of Art). The two of them will help us follow the story of how Japanese literature and ukiyo-e art has been used in Naruto.

Professor Noriko Yamashita (hereafter, Yamashita): It was quite surprising to me that the main character, Naruto, is a ninja. His energetic personality, blond hair, and fox-like whiskers also really stood out to me.

Previous ninja manga, such as the works of Sanpei Shirato like The Legend of Kamui or Sasuke, tended to portray the darker aspects of being a ninja. But in Naruto, that darkness feels more like something that must be overcome. For example, even though Naruto has a very bright and cheerful personality, he's considered to be a problem child at ninja school, and experiences a lot of loneliness as a result of being shunned by the people around him. However, in what I thought was a rather bold depiction, he overcomes that loneliness and rises to all subsequent challenges, presenting a far more positive tone than ninja-focused manga had generally used.

Hinohara: When Naruto began its serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump, I remember that the fact that it was about ninja gave it a certain amount of nostalgia. Professor Yamashita touched on this earlier, but ninja manga is a storied and varied genre. However, in the early 90's that style, or perhaps its popularity, had really started to fall off. So at the time it surprised me that a ninja manga was being started near the end of the 90's.

—Before we dive into the Legendary Three, who are key characters in The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya and Naruto, could you two explain what a gōkan is, as well as what kind of story The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya is?

Hinohara: A gōkan was a kind of novel popular during the Edo period that used illustrations alongside text to tell a story. Although they were technically novels, every page had an illustration, so they're more like today's manga.

Yamashita: The novels were sold in shotai bags, which were used to protect the books as well as to ensure that people didn't read the content without purchasing it. The designs of these bags were also stylish.

Hinohara: The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya was published from 1839 to 1868 in the late Edo period and while never finished, it is extremely long. With a total of 43 parts and 172 books, it is legendary among gōkan for its status as an "unfinished masterpiece".

In addition, the text was written by a series of four different authors, with illustrations done by seven ukiyo-e artists.

Yamashita: The tale is based on a Chinese story about a bandit named Garaiya. In 1806, this was adapted into a yomihon (a type of book during the Edo period) titled Jiraiya Monogatari in Japan, which was then adapted once more into The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya gōkan about a benevolent thief with mystical powers. Although there were illustrations in a yomihon, it was more text heavy than a gōkan and catered towards adults.

In The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya, the protagonist Jiraiya's given name is Shuma Hiroyuki, the child of the once-influential Ogata clan from Higo (now Kumamoto prefecture), which has fallen on hard times. Shuma Hiroyuki goes into hiding as a commoner and works in Shinano (now Nagano prefecture), but he eventually becomes a heroic outlaw named Jiraiya who does good deeds, and dedicates himself to rebuilding his family. This is the beginning of the plot in the gōkan series.

—From a thief in a yomihon to a benevolent outlaw in a gōkan, then a ninja in Naruto. It's very interesting to see how the role of Jiraiya changes in each work.

—What differences and similarities are there between the Jiraiya of Naruto and the Jiraiya of The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya?

Hinohara: Well, if I had to sum up the differences—and I think Professor Yamashita touched on this too—the Jiraiya of The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya is not a ninja, but rather something more akin to a bandit sorcerer. The association between the character of Jiraiya and ninjutsu is believed to originate from the much later Taisho period movie Goketsu Jiraiya (Jiraiya the Hero) which starred the famous kabuki performer Matsunosuke Onoe.

Naruto's Jiraiya, being both an accomplished ninja and Naruto's teacher, to me comes off as more of a composite of the original Jiraiya and the Hermit Sage.

—I see, so they have somewhat different roles. What about their characterization? Naruto's Jiraiya is frank, cheerful, and nicknamed "Pervy Sage", but is the original Jiraiya the same?

Yamashita: Well, another big difference from Naruto is that in the gōkan, Jiraiya is the type of male lead you'd see on a movie poster.

In the initial gōkan, Jiraiya's character was drawn in the likeness of Onoe Kikugoro III. He was an Edo period actor who played both male and female roles, and was very popular—these days we'd probably refer to him as a "heartthrob". If the lead isn't attractive, your play isn't going to get a lot of fans, thus Jiraiya got turned into a hot guy (laughs). As for why Onoe in particular, I think one reason is because he'd already played a kabuki role for a toad sorcerer.

Hinohara: In the yomihon Jiraiya Monogatari that was the base for The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya, Jiraiya is described as a bit of a macho man, with rougher features and lots of muscles.

The yomihon was mostly read by adult men, but the gōkan had a much wider audience that included women and children, so having a more idol-esque character might have been seen as important for capturing their attention.

However, Onoe Kikugoro III was already in his late fifties at the time that The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya was made. It was later adapted into a kabuki stage play as well, but in order to preserve the image of Jiraiya as an attractive lead, younger, more contemporarily popular "heartthrob" actors were chosen to play him.

—The visual design of the original Jiraiya was based on a popular kabuki actor of the time, and the influence of kabuki can be clearly felt in the design and mannerisms of Naruto's Jiraiya.

Hinohara: That's right. The Jiraiya of Naruto has red lines on his face that run from the base of his eyes down over his cheeks, and these bring to mind kabuki's kumadori (a type of stage makeup that emphasizes the actor's expressions by highlighting the facial muscles and blood vessels).

It's particularly impactful when Jiraiya fights using Sage Mode. For example, there's a scene where he draws marks on his face with his own blood.

Jiraiya's marks resemble sujiguma, so perhaps he's trying to increase his power by adding more lines.

—What about Orochimaru and Tsunade?

Yamashita: The Tsunade who appears in The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya is a beautiful woman with superhuman strength from the "Village of Leaves" (konoha no sato), which is something that got carried over into Naruto.

—Unlike Jiraiya, it seems that Tsunade and Orochimaru have many similarities when compared to the originals.

Yamashita: Well, one trait of the gōkan Orochimaru's that didn't carry over is that he's quite fond of women, and he even falls in love with Princess Tagoto of the Tsukikage family. In Naruto, however, he's much more dispassionate and focused on his goals, which is quite different.

On top of that, there's the fact that in The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya Tsunade and Jiraiya are eventually married, which might come as quite a surprise to Naruto fans.

Yamashita: Yes. And the characters used for the original Katsuyu's name can also be read to mean "slug". In the gōkan, when Jiraiya and Orochimaru are confronting one another, Tsunade goes on a rampage with the short sword Katsuyumaru, and rides away on a slug not unlike Naruto's Katsuyu. She's a very strong and pure-hearted woman.

Getting back to the story, as an expression of the strong relationship between them, Tsunade saves Jiraiya when he's being attacked by Orochimaru and other enemies. In other words, you could say the plot is of Jiraiya and Tsunade joining forces to fight Orochimaru. I think one reason Tsunade was given such a large role here was due to the large number of women reading the gōkan series.

Yamashita: They can be seen in the 12th through 14th parts.

The term sansukumi is first seen in old Chinese texts. "The three—toad, giant centipede, and snake—become unable to move" is written in the toad section of the Shiwen Leiju encyclopedia from the Song dynasty (960 - 1122), and "The small snake eaten by the giant centipede" is written in the snake section. They can also be seen in the Chinese text Bencao Gangmu, a book many Japanese people would have been familiar with back then.

However, it is unclear why the giant centipede was changed into a slug after these texts were introduced in Japan.

—I wonder what the authors wanted to express by incorporating the sansukumi.

Yamashita: I believe they were trying to mirror the game rock, paper, scissors, which was very popular at the time.

—Rock, paper, scissors?

Yamashita: "Mushi-ken" is considered to be the oldest form of rock, paper, scissors in Japan, and was the game to play during the Edo period. The sansukumi of "the snake beats the toad, the toad beats the slug, and the slug beats the snake" turned into the rules for the game.

Hinohara: Ukiyo-e artists also created numerous artworks that featured hand games like mushi-ken.

Yamashita: If the sansukumi is interpreted as a "never-ending battle," then this idea may have been the driving force behind the continuation of this unfinished masterpiece. Literary works without a conclusion like Hizakurige (a story about the characters Yaji and Kita who travel on the Tokaido path) were well-liked at the time.

I think the social climate at the time also influenced its popularity.

Near the end of the Edo period when The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya was published, the shogunate system was at a standstill, and society was facing various challenges. I think this is why people became immersed in and entertained by these fantastical stories.

—Although they're hardly identical, it's clear that Naruto has inherited many elements from The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya. Given Naruto's 15-year run and 72 volumes, these two widely-beloved works are also similar in that they spanned a long period of time.

Yamashita: You really can see the resemblance in how they were both adored by many readers—ranging from children to adults—and continued their sagas for years.

Hinohara: I could sense a particularly strong parallel between The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya and Jiraiya's final moments in Naruto as well. He says, "The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant... Now it'll end a bit better I hope." then sinks into the depths. The Edo period's The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya is an unfinished piece, and it seems that Jiraiya's story in Naruto shares that fate.

—That's true. And that also ties in with how the sansukumi can symbolize something "never-ending".

Hinohara: But then Jiraiya decides the title for his sequel: "The Tale of Uzumaki Naruto". When you think about how Jiraiya entrusts Naruto with the continuation of the story, and how Naruto itself is following in the footsteps of the unfinished The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya, it seems almost as if the original Jiraiya passed the baton to the next story... It's certainly excellent worldbuilding on Naruto's part, but to me it also feels like something fated.