Sarutobi Sasuke (猿飛佐助, Sarutobi Sasuke) is a ninja who appears in kōdan narrative art and fictional writings. The nickname is generally believed to have been concocted from Meiji to the Taishō period. Some argue he is based on real live personages, such as Kōzuki Sasuke (上月佐助, Kōzuki Sasuke) and Sarutobi Nisuke (猿飛仁助, Sarutobi Nisuke). His family name, meaning "monkey jump",[1] is written with two kanji; saru (猿) is the character for "monkey", and tobi (飛) is the character for "jump". He was known for his monkey-like agility and quickness,[2] especially in trees. Many depictions portray him as having been orphaned and raised by a band of monkeys,[3] therefore giving rise to the monkey-like abilities. He has been described as a superhero ninja, and caused a boom of ninjas in popular culture during the 1910s-1920s in Japan.[4][5][6]
Sasuke is commonly listed as the leader of the Sanada Ten Braves, a fictional group of ten ninja that supposedly assisted the warlord Sanada Yukimura at the battles of Osaka Castle during the final phases of the Japanese civil war era, and he is by far the best known and most popular among them. When appearing with Kirigakure Saizō, one of his fellow Ten Braves, he is often thus contrasted with his best friend/arch-rival, who usually has an elegant, or at least clean-cut, appearance and magic-like ability. Sasuke is generally said to be a Kōga ninja, whereas Saizō is an Iga ninja. As such, when the two appear together, they are almost always depicted as arch-rivals and later, after being recruited to the Sanada cause, best friends. (This rivalry parallels the Iga-Kōga rivalry and the Hattori-Fūma rivalries in ninja fiction.) It is said he fell in battle against the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Siege of Osaka in the summer of 1615;[7] but there is no historical record of this.[8] In another version, Sasuke infiltrated Tokugawa Ieyasu's stronghold during 1615 and, having caught his foot in a bear trap while escaping the enemy, cut it off at the ankle to escape and then took his own life rather than be captured.[9]
Sarutobi Sasuke's image has been very influential in ninja fiction, in which he is usually portrayed as a young boy. The character was immortalized in contemporary Japanese culture by the popular Tachikawa Bunko (Pocket Books) children literature between 1911 and 1925,[10][11] as well as in Sarutobi Sasuke, one of the more famous gag manga by Shigeru Sugiura from the 1950s (followed by Shōnen Jiraiya).[12]
He has been described as a superhero ninja.[4][5][6] By 1914, his abilities included superhuman strength, chanting incantations, appearing and disappearing, jumping to the top of the highest trees, riding on clouds, conjuring the elements (water, fire and wind), and transforming into other people or animals.[4] His popularity caused a boom of ninjas in popular culture during the 1910s-1920s in Japan.[4][5]
He is the title character of the films such as Ibun Sarutobi Sasuke (known in the west as Samurai Spy), Sânada Daisûke to Sarutobi Sasuke, Sarutobi no Ninjutsu and Sarutobi Sasuke Senjogadake no Himatsuri,[13] as well as of several other movies simply named Sarutobi Sasuke in 1918, 1919, 1922, and 1966 (the last one also known as Ninja Spy).[14] He is also the lead character in the musical film Brave Records of the Sanada Clan. Toei Animation's second full-length movie was Shônen Sarutobi Sasuke, dealing with Sasuke's childhood, which was followed by a TV series. This film was also the first time when both Sasuke and anime were introduced to the western audience (in 1961 as Magic Boy), although all the references to him being a ninja were removed in the English-language version. He is also the title character of an anime series Manga Sarutobi Sasuke, of the video game Ninja Boy Sasuke, and of Sanpei Shirato's 1962 manga, as well as of the manga series I am Sarutobi! by the "father of the modern manga" Osamu Tezuka two years earlier.