Kame Sennin and Kume Sennin – The Perverted Hermits
Every Dragon Ball fan is familiar with Kame Sennin, the perverted martial arts master. But how many of you have heard of Kume Sennin, the original perverted hermit?
Many of the characters seen in Dragon Ball were inspired by traditional or pop culture. It’s well known that Goku was inspired by the Monkey King from Journey to the West, as well as martial arts actor Jackie Chan.
But not all of the characters’ points of origin are as easy to see.
Today I will reveal for the first time the original inspiration for Kame Sennin.
You’ll learn who Kume Sennin is, hear his legend, and see how his transformation into a Japanese pop cultural figure was later emulated in cinema and then once again by Akira Toriyama in Dragon Ball.
You’ll also learn why this legend is so essential to the Dragon Ball story, and how it’s so well integrated that you may never have realized it.
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Gokuism – The Church of Goku
Dear friend, have you accepted Goku as your personal lord and savior? If not, then please listen to my Good News! The Church of Goku can help you increase your power level to Over 9,000 and follow in the sacred footsteps of lord Goku by training with King Kai, hallowed be thy name.
That’s right, there is now a Dragon Ball religion. It is called Gokuism, also known as The Church of Goku.
Gokuism is the belief that the principles of Dragon Ball provide a moral compass for one’s life, and that Goku is an ideal role model and moralistic person. By some definitions, it implies that Goku provides personal, global, and universal salvation, and that his death and resurrections were for our sake.
With so many religions already existing, why create this one based on Dragon Ball?
In today’s blog post you’ll learn where Gokuism came from, what its practitioners believe, and explore some thought provoking questions about this new faith.
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Spirit Possession in Dragon Ball
Would you be willing to trade your soul to achieve worldly desires, or in exchange for more power? What about allowing your body to be controlled by God, or a demon?
In Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama incorporates spirit possession as a way to propel character development and plot.
This article explores how Toriyama was inspired by ancient belief systems and spirit possession traditions.
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The Kaio Ken Explained
The following article will reveal the origin, history and inner mechanics of the Kaio Ken martial arts technique.
What is the Kaio Ken?
The Kaio Ken is a heavenly martial arts technique taught to Goku by North Kaio.
It is one of Goku’s signature techniques used during the first few sagas of Dragon Ball Z.
The Kaio Ken amplifies Goku’s speed, power, mental acuity and physical prowess for short bursts of high intensity.
In the early episodes of Dragon Ball Z, Goku was killed by his brother Raditz, passed into the afterlife, ran 1,000,000 kilometers (10,000 miles in the English dub) across Snake Way, and then trained with North Kaio on his planet.
Not even North Kaio could fully perfect the Kaio Ken, as it is a very advanced mind-body technique.
Goku eventually surpassed his master.
Divine Combat – Zenkai Power
Super Saiyan Goku
In this excerpt from The Dao of Dragon Ball we will learn more about the martial arts as depicted in Dragon Ball.
There are many concepts that are disclosed in this chapter, such as Qi (Ki), Gong, Divine Powers, and how the popular conception of Qi in the martial arts were employed by Akira Toriyama and mixed with traditional Buddhist and Daoist spiritual views.
This particular section of the Divine Combat chapter explains the concept of Zenkai Power, and what it means both within Dragon Ball and traditional cultivation practices of East Asia.
Zenkai Power
Goku Fires the Kamehameha
Zenkai is a term used by fans to refer to the sudden power up that occurs to a Saiyan after they recover from a near death experience. Saiyans are the only ones with the genetic potential for Zenkai, but anyone with Saiyan cells in their body is able to experience a Zenkai.
The Dragon World is one in which fighting and martial arts are the primary form of cultivation recognized and supported by the gods.
The Saiyans are primed for development in the Closed Fist style of cultivation. They learn by fighting and mature through physical conflict. They do not study a set of teachings, nor do they specifically try to improve their character through looking inward and letting go of attachments. They increase their power as they train with intensity and fight against increasingly difficult external opponents. Yet they sometimes experience mortal blows; the type that would kill a normal man. Upon recovering from these grievous wounds the Saiyan is instilled with even more power, so that they can then defeat their opponent the next time they do battle. It is an accelerated form of evolutionary adaptation, and a large part of what makes them such formidable opponents.
Dragon Ball fans translated Zenkai as “Complete Recovery.” But this translation is incorrect, and there are further meanings to this term within Asian culture, Buddhism and the martial arts.
DBZ Blog Articles and e-Books in Progress
SSJ4 Goku Leads the Animals to the Space Ship
Here’s another quick progress update on some interesting dbz blog articles I’m working on.
At my current rate of development and writing it appears I finish one article a month. Keep in mind that each of these posts is an original creation and not a rehash of already known facts or information that can be found on the internet. They take a long time and a lot of late nights to research and complete.
Nevertheless, I’d certainly like to do more posts as I love writing about Dragon Ball!
It’s just a matter of balancing all of the other responsibilities in my life.
I’ll be making dbz blog article posts while I make progress on the book, and now I want to reveal some of the articles I’m writing so you have something to look forward to as the book nears its release date.
Here are a few in progress…
Dragon Ball Book Progress Update
Goku Waits Patiently
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for your support on the site and to those who have pre-ordered the book. All of you are being very patient and I want to give you a progress update.
Right now I have two chapters left to finish before the rough draft of the book will be complete.
The first chapter is Immortal and Invincible. It will discuss the history of eastern martial arts and the mind body cultivation practices of Daoism, along with a practitioner’s quest for physical and spiritual immortality. It will also unveil how a body can, from an eastern paradigm, attain invincibility.
Both immortality and invincibility are themes in Dragon Ball, and I think this will be a very interesting chapter for fans of the series.
The second chapter is Divine Combat. This chapter will reveal the history of combat and hand to hand battles in the myths and legends of various cultures around the world, and how martial arts has always played a role in our culture, including our modern society, right on up to DBZ, martial arts flicks, anime, the Matrix and beyond. The connection between legendary battles in heaven, the deliverance of martial arts from gods to man, and the progress of martial arts in our civilization will be made very clear.
I’m sincerely trying to complete these chapters before the end of October, with an e-book release in November or December.
There are so many steps needed to complete a goal like this, and I’m becoming a better writer and person in the process, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to improve.
Of course I want this book out more than anyone and I would like to once again thank all of you for your patience and support.
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