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Jiraiya
6 Feb 07
Edwards, Osman. Japanese Plays and Playfellows. New York: John Lane, 1901.
I was dazzled by Jiraiya. He bewildered my senses with sleight of hand and foot; he soothed my conscience with bold sophistries. For two rin I would have caught up an uncouth pike, assumed outrageous armour, and followed that robber-chief unhesitatingly to glory or to death. Vaguely I could remember being stirred in boyhood by the prowess of Robin Hood, by the fortunes of Aladdin, but here was a magnificent being who rivalled and surpassed both heroes in his own person. Like the outlaw of Sherwood Forest, he defied the powerful and helped the humble; judges and soldiers trembled at his name, which was breathed with blessings by the poor but grateful receivers of stolen goods. When the Government at last put forth its strength to crush him (and here his superiority was incontestable), instead of calling on his men in green to empty their trusty quivers, he had merely to summon his attendant sprite, a green frog, which could be trusted to spout fire until the last representative of futile authority shoud be utterly consumed. I had seen him dancing on the back of an awful dragon, which the frog vanquished before the beast had time to swing its tail; I had seen him dancing defiantly on a mountain covered with snow, while his whirling spear threatened a score of enemies dancing round the base: suddenly the mountain changed to a fire-spitting frog, and the enemies danced no more. Perhaps it was this decorative fashion of dancing in battle which reconciled me to the wholesale slaughter of so many brave men. At the moment I merely felt that they were hostile to Jiraiya and well deserved their doom. Similarly, it seemed no more than the deserts of my loyal enthusiasm when a courteous attendant, bowing to the ground, brought a message to my box to the effect that Jiraiya would be pleased to see me in his dressing-room when the curtain fell. (262-263)
Speaking of Jiraiya, am I the first to notice the resemblance?
Posted by pzed on February 6, 2007 at 7.40pm
Categories: fragments, graven images, ninja, scripture
Comments on "Jiraiya"
I don’t know if you came up with it first but I did this a couple days ago. I’m totally jazzed that I’m not the only one to think of it!
http://itcomesinphases.livejournal.com/30800.html
Posted by Andy on August 17, 2007 at 12.09pm :: link
omg!! i wuz thinking about this a couple of days ago!!! thank you for letting me know im not crazy!!
Posted by Iris on December 9, 2007 at 3.32am :: link
:O
Oh my god, you’re right! Thats really creepy. Gosh, now every time I see Bowie I’m going to think of Jiraiya.
Posted by Danni on January 13, 2008 at 5.01pm :: link
O.O!!!
OMG…
Google brought me here :P
I haven’t noticed the similarity…
o.O
Posted by Zen on February 1, 2008 at 2.59am :: link
WTF your so right my sides hurt I’m laughing so hard, now all im going to see is bowie riding around on a giant frog through a labyrinth …
Posted by OTTER on February 24, 2008 at 9.41pm :: link
oh,oh,oh…….i’m not beliving that kishimoto stolen all his ideas from japanese mythology,and also from this”THING”,lol,what a shit……….lol………and i want to thank the guy who posted this
Posted by TERRO on February 29, 2008 at 3.32pm :: link
For all the years I`ve been watching Naruto…I just noticed that!!
Posted by Kiko on March 22, 2008 at 11.21pm :: link
lol google bought me here from looking at jirya pictures and ur right
Posted by Aaron on March 24, 2008 at 9.14pm :: link
I’ve never noticed that but it’s completely true! :D
Posted by Flounder on March 26, 2008 at 9.59am :: link
OMG!!! like the others, google brought me here…
and..
is so amazing!! they are so… alike!!
Posted by kari on July 4, 2008 at 7.46pm :: link
Wow the bit above is interesting about the folk law, though I’m not really surprised that his character was based on someone in Japanese myths. Manga artists seem to do that quite often, look at Gintama! (if you’ve heard of its awesomeness)
Posted by blech on July 7, 2008 at 2.04pm :: link
Woah, that is sooo creepy!!
Yup, google brought me here too, and now I am definitely going to think of Jiraiya now whenever I see Bowie
LOL that cracked me up hard out XD
Posted by Del on July 18, 2008 at 12.03am :: link
Did’nt Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi play jiriha in at tv show?
Posted by whaaa on July 24, 2008 at 1.14am :: link
I feel like this needs to be repeated a few more times:
O_o
Posted by Person on August 3, 2008 at 1.20pm :: link
indeed…O_O …. i’m dead….if bowie wanted to make a cosplay, he didn’t need to… amazing ….
Posted by Anna on March 26, 2009 at 12.45am :: link
i love jiraiya!!!!! pervy sage…
Posted by chrystel on May 30, 2009 at 3.21am :: link
omfg!!! that’s so true, now i cant stop thinking about that bowe looks almost exactly like him!!!!! i love naruto, but i just thought that i would look at this for a sec… omg thats so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by tessa on July 29, 2009 at 6.15pm :: link
