Spoiler:
we'll see about that.
(Yoshitsune portrayed with Benkei. guess which is which.)
Biography:
Spoiler: Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a Japanese warlord from the late Heian period to early Kamakura period. He's known to win the genpei war against the Taira clan for his half brother, Minamoto no Yoritomo, and also met his tragic end with betrayal from the latter. Yoshitsune is arguably one of the most famous samurai in the history of Japan, so much that the Japanese term for "sympathy for a tragic hero", Hōgan-biiki (判官贔屓, lit. Hōgan favor), comes from Yoshitsune's title Kurō Hōgan (九郎判官), which he received from the Imperial Court.
While Mushashibou Benkei is portrayed with his strength, Yoshitsune is portrayed as the skilled warrior with agility. It was said that at 10 years old, he was kidnapped by the local Tengus and ended up training with them, and by the time he fought Benkei, he was described as being so nimble that he was even able to leap on the sky, which is apparently a technique known by Tengus. At 15, he was also said to beat an entire group of bandits.
An actual historical feat of Yoshitsune is the battle of Dan-No-Ura against the Taira clan, in which the Minamoto clan is outnumbered in the naval battle. The Taira clan had a massive advantage, who is very familiar of the area and is also known to be good at naval battles in general, on top of outnumbering the Minamoto troops. the battle starts off with long range archer attacks, until tides turned in favor of them and they took the initiative to falnk the minamoto fleet and engage in melee combat. however, in the afternoon, the tides turned back against them and they had to retreat, allowing the minamoto to flank them. another factor that decided the minamoto's victory was a betrayal from the Taira's side, by Taguchi Shigeyoshi, who attacked the Taira clan from the rear and also told the minamoto clan which boat actually harbors the young emperor, emperor Antoku.
Assuming you have read my thread about Mushashibou Benkei, you know how it ends. Yoshitsune was accused of betraying the then emperor and half brother Minamoto no Yoritomo, he was chased by the emperor until he was surrounded in a castle and commited seppuku. But what you didn't know about is that he was said to sent a letter to Yoritomo pledging for his loyalty, in the Koshigoe letter. Also, in Ainu folklore, it was said that Yoshitsune and Benkei didn't actually died, but instead ran away so far into mongolia and turns into the figure better known as Genghis Khan.
on a somewhat unrelated note, there was a crab species native to Japan called Heikegani. its back looks like a human face, and it led the locals to believe that they are the reincarnation of the fallen Taira troops. Also, i know i can't do the mythology of Yoshitsune justice, but if you're interested, Unseen Japan has a 40 minutes long video explaining about Mushashibou Benkei and Minamoto no Yoshitsune, along with their influence in modern media, which is basically my source for that Benkei thread and this thread.
Now that we're done with the part no one wants to read about, let's talk about Yoshitsune inspired characters in anime.
CheezePie wrote:now you shall never make your 1000th post
we'll see about that.
(Yoshitsune portrayed with Benkei. guess which is which.)
Biography:
Spoiler: Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a Japanese warlord from the late Heian period to early Kamakura period. He's known to win the genpei war against the Taira clan for his half brother, Minamoto no Yoritomo, and also met his tragic end with betrayal from the latter. Yoshitsune is arguably one of the most famous samurai in the history of Japan, so much that the Japanese term for "sympathy for a tragic hero", Hōgan-biiki (判官贔屓, lit. Hōgan favor), comes from Yoshitsune's title Kurō Hōgan (九郎判官), which he received from the Imperial Court.
While Mushashibou Benkei is portrayed with his strength, Yoshitsune is portrayed as the skilled warrior with agility. It was said that at 10 years old, he was kidnapped by the local Tengus and ended up training with them, and by the time he fought Benkei, he was described as being so nimble that he was even able to leap on the sky, which is apparently a technique known by Tengus. At 15, he was also said to beat an entire group of bandits.
An actual historical feat of Yoshitsune is the battle of Dan-No-Ura against the Taira clan, in which the Minamoto clan is outnumbered in the naval battle. The Taira clan had a massive advantage, who is very familiar of the area and is also known to be good at naval battles in general, on top of outnumbering the Minamoto troops. the battle starts off with long range archer attacks, until tides turned in favor of them and they took the initiative to falnk the minamoto fleet and engage in melee combat. however, in the afternoon, the tides turned back against them and they had to retreat, allowing the minamoto to flank them. another factor that decided the minamoto's victory was a betrayal from the Taira's side, by Taguchi Shigeyoshi, who attacked the Taira clan from the rear and also told the minamoto clan which boat actually harbors the young emperor, emperor Antoku.
Assuming you have read my thread about Mushashibou Benkei, you know how it ends. Yoshitsune was accused of betraying the then emperor and half brother Minamoto no Yoritomo, he was chased by the emperor until he was surrounded in a castle and commited seppuku. But what you didn't know about is that he was said to sent a letter to Yoritomo pledging for his loyalty, in the Koshigoe letter. Also, in Ainu folklore, it was said that Yoshitsune and Benkei didn't actually died, but instead ran away so far into mongolia and turns into the figure better known as Genghis Khan.
on a somewhat unrelated note, there was a crab species native to Japan called Heikegani. its back looks like a human face, and it led the locals to believe that they are the reincarnation of the fallen Taira troops. Also, i know i can't do the mythology of Yoshitsune justice, but if you're interested, Unseen Japan has a 40 minutes long video explaining about Mushashibou Benkei and Minamoto no Yoshitsune, along with their influence in modern media, which is basically my source for that Benkei thread and this thread.
Now that we're done with the part no one wants to read about, let's talk about Yoshitsune inspired characters in anime.
1.) Ushiwakamaru from Fate Series.
Spoiler:
now i know what you wanted to say about her, but surprisingly, it has some accuracy. for example, the tengu like ears, hat, and shoes references the mythology that said Yoshitsune trained with the tengus. also, in the battle of Gojo bridge, Minamoto no Yoshitsune is portrayed as having a feminine figure drapped with silk. Also, "Ushiwakamaru" is the nickname of Yoshitsune as a child.
2.) Yoshitsune from Shin Megami Tensei.
Spoiler:
whether as a demon or as a persona, he seems to be a staple of the series. one interesting note is that his skill, "Hassou Tobi", actually refers to his feat at dan-no-ura.
3.) Yoshitsune from Warriors Orochi
Spoiler:
in this game, he wields a light saber. also, Benkei held a giant gauntlet on top of his 7 weapons. It's dynasty warriors, after all.
4.) Yoshitsune from Nioh.
Spoiler:
5.) Crow from Break-Age
Spoiler:
i know it's strange, but hear me out. This manga is about some fictional online game called "Virtual Planet", where you can make your own custom virtual robot program (called virtual puppets) that they put on a diskette (yeah that's how old this is) and put them in their own special arcade machines to have some online gundam battle royale.
In the manga, the protagonist fought a virtual puppet named "Benkei", who is a giant robot with multiple weapons, and lost. after this, he's interested with the engineering of said robot, as by the rules of the game, it must've been impossible to have a robot that big that it would follow the size limit of the program. in order to know the owner and the engineering, he created another robot, named "Crow", which is a robot with barely any armor to make it as lightweight as possible, and equipped it with a sniper, hoping to defeat Benkei. he managed the track down the pilot of Benkei, challenged her into a battle, and defeated her with the nimbleness of Crow. but, after finding out that the pilot wasn't the maker of said pilot, they unfortunately didn't know how the robot was made.
6.) This post being the 1000th post.
Spoiler:
