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When I was looking for info on Saiyuki and learned it was based on the Chinese
novel _[Journey to the
West](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West)_ , I was reminded of
some things:

The Japanese name of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, is Son Goku.

> Sun Wukong (孫悟空) is known/pronounced as Suen Ng-hung in Cantonese, Tôn Ngộ
> Không in Vietnamese, Sun Ngokong in Thai, Sun Gokong or Sun Go Kong in Malay
> and Indonesian, Son Ogong in Korean, **and Son Gokū in Japanese.**

Source: [Sun Wukong - Names and titles (1st
Paragraph)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong#Names_and_titles)

[Some question here](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/4296/when-does-
son-goku-learn-to-fly) refer to Goku from _Dragonball_ as Son Goku.

A number of images of Sun Wukong show him on a cloud with a staff, similar how
Goku in the original _Dragon Ball_ Series is shown with Nimbus and his staff.

So, I am wondering if Goku in _Dragon Ball_ is based on Sun Wukong from
_Journey to the West_?


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culture dragon-ball-series
Is Goku in Dragon Ball based on Sun Wukong from Journey to the West?


Akira Toriyama was definitely influenced by Journey to the West in writing the
original Dragon Ball manga. In early stories, Goku rides the Flying Nimbus
cloud and wields an extendable staff, two aspects taken directly from his
inspiration the Monkey King along with his name, and the fact that he turns
into a giant ape is also a callback to his simian origins.

The quest to find the Dragon Balls was also a parallel to the quest for the
sutras, or scrolls of the Buddha, and some of the other characters from Dragon
Ball have parallels to Journey to the West characters, although they tend to
be a little tenuous at times. And, of course, it didn't take long before the
original story gave way to all the craziness and martial arts and ridiculously
scaling power levels to the extent that by the time Dragon Ball Z came along
the resemblances are superficial at best.

You can see mention of the connection in the [Wikipedia
article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Ball), although the sources are
mostly print ones so you'd have to put a little leg work in to track them down
yourself.


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The last panel of the last page of the first chapter of _Dragon Ball_ alludes
to _Journey to the West_.

> Remember your Chinese fairy tales? You don't? Not even the impish _Monkey
> King_ and his magic staff, the _Nyoibo_? Oh, well... drop in next time and
> you'll learn...

[![The last
panel](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6XMwGm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6XMwGl.jpg)


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He is based on Wukong prior to having a monkey tail some monkey magic the
power pole and the flying Nimbus including one more thing u forgot the armour
of Son Goku that some evil sold it to a pawn shop for just because he liked it
that is what insipred the Omni king to not be scared of him in Dragon Ball Z
and erased his future saying they lost


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