Works influenced by Miyamoto Musashi

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
I don't think a similar thread exists for this subject, but I can see it being really interesting, since Musashi was an incredibly influential man. However, this first post is just for pure comedy :troll:

Anyone remember Shinobi, for the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive? Here's the description of the Virtual Console release of the game for the Wii, which came out today.
Description: Here's a bit of helpful advice to all you criminal organizations out there: If you're going to hatch an elaborate plot that involves kidnapping children, don't kidnap children who have ninjas for parents. That was the big mistake that a group called Zeed made when it went after the offspring of the Oboro clan. Now Joe Musashi is on the hunt to rescue the young hostages and take out Zeed's leaders, the Ring of Five. As you scour each stage, leave no children behind - Joe can't proceed to the next level without freeing them all. With an unlimited supply of shuriken, his sharpened katana and his deadly fists and feet, Joe will show Zeed why you don't mess with family.
Hmmmmmmmmm... It sure is strange that Musashi's apparent relatives in this fictional game world would switch over to becoming ninjas in the future.

Not to mention the countless other video game references to Musashi there have been, most notably in the SNK fighting game series Samurai Showdown, two characters were said to be based on Kojiro and Musashi. Haohmaru, the series lead character, is based on Musashi and Ukyo, the silent, feminine swordsman with a long sword, is based on Kojiro (and even has a "swallow cut" special attack). The same series also features a Jubei Yagyu, the grandson of Sekishusai, who fights using Shinkageryu.

And the least of which, Brave Fencer Musashi by Square in 1998.... ugh.

I didn't even think to look on Wikipedia until I was finishing up this post but ... many, many more connections/references in video games can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyamoto_Musashi_in_fiction#Video_games
 
The latest is probably this thing: http://www.skullknight.net/forum/index.php?topic=10297.0

That Square game and its PS2 sequel are laughable. I think the sequel's character design is even more ridiculous than the first one, check out Musashi:

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:casca:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Eluvei said:
The latest is probably this thing: http://www.skullknight.net/forum/index.php?topic=10297.0
I guess what I meant was things that are more like shout outs and homages to Musashi and his story than a straight up adaptation of his life. That goes beyond being "influenced by" and becomes "based on".

But yeah, that game is some gross looking shit.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I think the above game literally fits the vibe of a "shout out" rather than a real adaptation. :ganishka:


Anyway, when I was a kid I had the Usagi Yojimbo Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series action figure:

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He's a fighting ronin rabbit partly based on Musashi, and I remember my father got a kick out of it as a fan of the film Yojimbo. I only knew Usagi Yojimbo from his appearance on the Ninja Turtles cartoon and the toy and thought he was just another weird fighting animal character made up for the Turtles, but it turns out it was technically a crossover; he was only licensed for a couple of episodes and the toy (more on that here), and had his own completely independent comic series:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usagi_Yojimbo said:
Set primarily at the beginning of Edo period of Japan (early 17th century), with anthropomorphic animals replacing humans, it features a rabbit ronin, Miyamoto Usagi, who is partially based on the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Usagi wanders the land on a musha shugyo (warrior's pilgrimage) occasionally selling his services as a bodyguard. Usagi Yojimbo is heavily influenced by Japanese cinema and has included references to the work of Akira Kurosawa (the title of the series is derived from Kurosawa's 1960 film Yojimbo) and to icons of popular Japanese cinema such as Lone Wolf and Cub, Zatoichi, and Godzilla. The series is also influenced somewhat by Groo the Wanderer by Sergio Aragonés (Sakai is the letterer for that series), but the overall tone of Usagi Yojimbo is typically less comedic.

The books consist of short stories, and occasionally novel-length stories, with underlying larger plot-lines which culminate in long extended story lines. The stories include many references to Japanese history and Japanese folklore, and sometimes include mythical creatures. The architecture, clothes, weapons, and other objects are drawn with a faithfulness to the period's style. There are often stories whose purpose is to illustrate various elements of Japanese arts and crafts, such as the fashioning of kites, swords, and pottery. Those efforts have been successful enough for the series to be awarded a Parents' Choice Award in 1990 for its educational value through Stan's "skillful weaving of facts and legends into his work."[1] The series also follows the standard traditional Japanese naming convention for all featured characters: their family names followed by their given names. Usagi was named the thirty-first greatest comic book character by Empire Magazine.[2]

Who knew?
 
X

Xem

Guest
The thing that instantly comes to my mind was in Samurai Champloo.

After Jin falls into the river he is rescued by an old crazy fisherman who eventually "accidentally" teaches Jin a valuable lesson relating fishing to swordplay. Then, right as Jin is about to leave, he asks the old man what his name is and the old man becomes very serious for a second and says "Miyamoto Musashi" in a deep voice, then quickly returns to acting crazy.

I guess it's sorta more like a cameo (assuming the fisherman wasn't joking... hard to tell), but it pays tribute at the least.
 
Sun and Steel, an Iron Maiden song, was based on his life.

Well, you killed your first man at 13,
Killer instinct, animal supreme,
By 16, you had learned to fight
The way of the warrior, you took it as your right.


Sunlight, falling on your steel,
Death in life is your ideal,
Life is like a wheel.


Through earth and water, fire and wind,
you came at last - nothing was the end,
Make a cut by fire and stones,
Take you and your blade and break you both in two - break you both in two.


Sunlight, falling on your steel,
Death in life is your ideal,
Life is like a wheel - rolling on and on!


Sunlight falling on your steel,
Death and life your ideal,
Life is like a wheel - and it's rolling still...
 

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.
Pretty cool Eluvei! :serpico:

[quote author= tvropes.org]Pokemon — In the original Japanese version, Jessie and James are named Musashi and Kojiro... although the character named Musashi is female.
◦Also, Jessie/Musashi's mother (who was also a Team Rocket agent) was named Miyamoto, according to the drama CD version of Mewtwo's Birth

•Nightmare's joke weapon in Soul Calibur 2 is a wooden oar with the description "Perhaps it was modified by someone who heard the legend of the Japanese swordsman who won a duel with an oar and decided to try it himself."

[/quote]
 
X

Xem

Guest
aufond said:
Akira Kurosawa has stated that Kyûzô from Seven Samurai was based off Musashi.

I was thinking about something related to this later in the day when I originally posted in this thread. I didn't post this because it's kinda stretching things but....

When George Lucas was creating the original Star Wars, he was heavily influenced by Seven Samurai. The entire Jedi thing is extremely samurai-inspired in general, but also very Buddhist-inspired. Something that directly connects to Musashi as well (as well as other Samurai, so note that Musashi himself might not be a direct influence).

Anyway, it's all very interesting. Musashi's influence is very broad and vast. Yoda from the original trilogy = Musashi in his elder years?! :p
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Deci said:
Yoda from the original trilogy = Musashi in his elder years?! :p

Haha, well, this is a 180, since you could definitely call the geezers, particularly In'ei, and particularly in the Viz translation, a homage to Yoda. :SK:



Here are a couple of interesting works, Musashi NES games! Musashi no Ken and Musashi no Bouken, and by interesting, I mean strange; Brave Fencer Musashi hasn't got shit on these. Musashi no Ken is a Mario-like side scroller where you're presumably Musashi and you must defend yourself from, I'm not kidding, goombas, spiked bullets, killer suns, and bamboo spears falling from the sky, all while racing a dog that's running through solid ground underneath you, and not to be a one trick puppy, through thin air between cliffs as you'll see... yeah.

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There's Musashi and his canine nemesis, along with your pertinent information at the top of the screen, such as where you are in relation to the dog at all times!

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The coolest part about it is actually the sword controls, Musashi has three stances and accompanying attacks, basically low, middle, high. The controls otherwise take some getting used to, to put it nicely. Not bad, but definitely a little learning curve to get over if you really want to excel.

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You also collect little swords like coins, and can just about hit every object with your sword and collect items that fly out, including other little swords that do... I don't know what, helmets to increase your armor and presumably how many hits you can take (default is 2 and you're dead), and power ups that shoot you through the level. I find that other than the latter one, they're mostly useless.


Next is Musashi no Bouken, a Musashi J-RPG akin to Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, EarthBound, and Zelda (as in, it resembles them, not that it's that good), and which reminds me more of Dragon Ball than Miyamoto Musashi. I'll let the opening speak for itself:

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Yeah...

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This is the house and town you start in.

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Here's where you heal, save, etc.

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Map and menu screens.

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I sure am.

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HOLY SHIT!

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Typical battle menu, but I think I'll test the ability to strategically retreat... doh.

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Darn!

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Way to rub failure in my face, pretty harsh for a continue.​

Anyway, I haven't gotten very far in either, but thought they were both mildly interesting, so if any of you play/have played them, let me know what you think.

[attachment deleted by admin]
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
More Musashi no Ken! I played through the whole game with liberal use of save states, sorry I didn't get more screens of each stage (there were only like 4 and they were all really hard, not in a satisfyingly challenging way but in that, "this game is just hard to play" way). In any case, at the end I was surprised to see you actually have kendo battles, a tournament in fact. This left me wondering what the hell actual fencing had to do with Musashi and Kojiro... and a little research revealed this thing was actually based on an old sports manga and anime called Musashi no Ken, not on Miyamoto Musashi himself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashi_no_Ken said:
Musashi no Ken (六三四の剣?) is a Japanese sports manga series written and illustrated by Motoka Murakami that focuses on kendo. It was serialized by Shogakukan in Shōnen Sunday between April 1981 and October 1985. Musashi no Ken received the 1984 Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga.[1]

The manga was adapted as a 72-episode anime television series by Eiken.

The manga was also adapted into an NES Platform game called Musashi no Ken - Tadaima Shugyō Chu (六三四の剣 ただいま修行中?, lit. "Sword of Musashi - Now in the Middle of Training"). The game was developed and published by Taito Corporation. It was released in Japan on August 8, 1986.[2]

Oh well, I'm going to go over it anyway, if anything that makes it even more in line with the ethos of the thread as Wally explained it (Musashi "shout outs"). So here goes...

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Here's the title screen and our friend the dog (Ein?).
I bet that 2 player option is the kendo matches, that would be pretty cool.

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FIGHT!

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YEAH, take THAT! This is what you collected all those swords for BTW, you can use them to power attack in these matches, and you're going to need it because I found them really impossible to master. I lost the point like 80% of the time, and that might be a conservative estimate. You have to fight like 5 guys, and if you lose in any match, you start over and have to fight from the first guy again, and oh, you only get the same 2 extra lives you started with and if you lose them, game over, and you start from the beginning of the entire game. Needless to say, this game is in Angry Nerd territory, maybe beyond, so thank God for save states.

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Here's the final boss, who, at the time, I thought was Kojiro.

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Let's do this!... Doh!

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I got used to that image.
A hundred reloads later...

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Apparently I somehow won this point... I'll take it, fucker.

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Tossing a giant trophy while doing double victory V's? Even the real Musashi never had such glory.

musashinoken16.gif

Then after that, the game starts over, except it's faster, there's more enemies, and the background is all dark and serious. It's not fucking around anymore, and I'm not either, this game was annoyingly hard, probably impossible to beat conventionally, and your reward for winning (besides the trophy) is the game gets even harder...?

I'm done with this spiral of death and killing. :void:
 

Th3Branded0ne

I'll be back.
you pointed out, this shit is hard, I only got half of the second stage. I don't know if you got it or not, but I tried to hit everything and a key popped out and it takes you about a third ahead of a stage. I only got the key at the begginning of the first stage, on the second high pole you get to see. I also got a hear on the second stage on some invisible part right before the brigdge is ending and the rock is starting. So I"m just hitting away in case I find more stuff hidden like that. Good challenge though, so I"m going to see how far I get without the save states. :guts: 1000 points!
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Yeah, I think I've gotten to stage 3 playing it straight, but that was a while back. I can't imagine being able to beat this thing legitimately unless you just kept playing it every day until you were perfect at it, and even then how many times would you have to replay the whole game just to get good at the fencing part? The problem in the levels for me is you can't get a good flow going because you'll just land on a random enemy at some point, since they isn't a set pattern. There's something enticing about it though, maybe I'll look for the manual online... :guts:
 
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