Most people know Jiraiya as that loveable character in the Naruto franchise, but did
you know that he was based on an old Japanese story called the Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant?
Sit back and let me recount the tale of Jiraiya and I think you’ll come to appreciate Naruto
even more.
And if you don’t know what Naruto is, look it up and sorry for breaking up your relationship.
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He was the son of a powerful lord, and was given a powerful name.
Jiraiya (児雷也) meant Young Thunder.
He had an easy little boy life and had the envy of the other boys because
c'mon that name though.
But the little boy was about to learn a little life lesson.
Every good thing comes to an end, and in medieval Japan that end came in the form of your dad
dying.
One day a rival warlord killed Jiraiya’s father and took over the castle, and he woulda
killed Jiraiya too if it wasn’t for his father’s meddling samurai.
One of his father’s samurai retainers stole the little boy away, escaping to a distant
province.
There, the boy grew into an adult under the protection of his father’s faithful samurai,
never forgetting where he came from.
His goal in life was to restore his father’s good name and his family’s honor.
But again, life smacked him in the face.
One day some robbers killed his guardian, leaving Jiraiya alone.
He became a wanderer, exploring the world unencumbered by a physical home.
He was homeless is what I’m saying.
Somewhere along his journey, the young man lost his way.
His fearlessness and swordsmanship allowed him to lead a band of thieves.
They were quite annoying, with all the robbing and killing and such.
They soon became rich and their infamy-- Linfamy--preceded them.
One night in the mountains, on his way to rob a crippled kid no doubt, Jiraiya ran into
a snowstorm.
Luckily he found a small house in the darkness where a woman lived.
She was very nice and let him stay to wait out the storm.
But Jiraiya wasn’t a good guy.
At midnight, the bandit king grabbed his sword and stepped into her room.
She was reading, her back to the door.
Jiraiya raised his sword, and struck.
He didn’t know it, but that was the moment that turned Jiraiya’s life around, forcing
him back on the righteous path.
At that moment, the woman changed into a old man.
The man broke the sword and casually tossed the pieces the way Natalie Dormer tosses away
my emails.
The old man revealed that he was a sage who had lived in those mountains for centuries.
His real body was that of a large toad.
The sage boasted he could kill Jiraiya with one hand.
On the other hand, Jiraiya was strong, the sage had plans for him.
He would teach Jiraiya toad magic.
And so Jiraiya trained for weeks to call forth storms and rains and floods.
He learned how to control frogs and toads and could even force them to grow to enormous
sizes, large enough to ride.
At the end, the toad master gave his student an order:
“Stop hurting the poor you nitwit.
Instead, help the poor and the suffering.
You can steal from corrupt rich people though.”
With that, the old man turned into a ginormous toad and hopped into the horizon.
And so Jiraiya set forth into the world, defender of the poor and innocent.
The people rejoiced whenever our hero robbed some rich douchebag.
“The Young Thunder has struck,” they would say.
The name of Jiraiya became the rallying cry of the poor.
At the same time, there lived a beautiful maiden by the name of...can you guess...
Tsunade (綱手).
She was nice to everyone, and was an obedient daughter.
One day while gathering wood in the mountains, she ran into an old man.
He revealed himself to be a sage who had lived in those mountains for centuries.
His real body was that of a slug.
He offered to teach her slug magic, which she accepted.
Among other things, she learned to walk on water because that’s what slugs do.
After her training, the slug sage said to her:
“Fight the wicked and help those who
defend the poor.
Oh and marry the man Jiraiya to combine your powers.”
With that, the old man changed into a ginormous slug and...
didn’t go that far.
Tsunade eventually did wed Jiraiya.
Unfortunately, Tsunaiya’s married life was interrupted by a war.
The couple found themselves on one side, while the other side enlisted the help of a powerful
man.
This man’s father was a human and his mother a serpent.
His name was Orochimaru (大蛇丸).
He wielded snake magic, which sounds much cooler than the other two.
Let me know in the comments if you agree.
Orochimaru and his followers went around robbing and killing people, rich and poor alike.
Turned out Orochimaru would be Jiraiya’s greatest enemy.
As you know, snake magic is strong against toad magic.
Fortunately, slug magic is strong against snake magic.
So their battles were epic.
After one such battle, Jiraiya and Tsunade retreated to a monastery to recover.
There, they met a princess who was Orochimaru’s not yet wife.
“Wife” because Orochimaru decided to marry her.
“Not yet” because she decided to run and hide in a monastery rather than marry someone
she had no interest in.
Orochimaru got news of where they were hiding so he poofed into a snake and infiltrated
the monastery.
He spewed his venom all over Jiraiya and Tsunade while they were sleeping, then stole the princess,
leaving the couple dying of Orochimaru juice.
Alas, the antidote for the venom only existed in India, thousands of steps away.
Don’t worry, one of Jiraiya’s followers, a boy of 14, had learned Tengu magic.
He sprouted wings, got on a cloud, and flew to India, then came back the next day with
the antidote and cured Jiraiya and Tsunade.
Afterwards, in another great battle, the slug toad duo killed Orochimaru and ended the war.
Oh they also rescued the princess.
Jiraiya became lord of Izu Province and the couple lived the rest of their days in peace.
So this tale has different versions, each with their own differences, but they all involve
the conflict between Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru.
The version in this video was written by William Elliot Griffis, who was an American that was
invited to Japan in 1870 to modernize the school system.
While there, he absorbed a bunch of folktales and retold them in a book.
But the first written version of this story was from an illustrated book series called
Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (児雷也豪傑物語), the Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant.
The initial book published in 1839 and ran for a whopping 29 years.
There was also a kabuki play, which the Naruto franchise actually pays homage to.
So guys if you wanna see more Japanese folktale videos, check out this playlist.
If you don’t, check yourself out the door.
Just kidding.
I wanna thank this week’s new patrons Paul Bultman, that’s a strong name Bultman, and
Robert, nice and simple.
Alright much love guys, and spread the knowledge.