Sun Wukong vs. Goku — How Much Did Dragon Ball Steal?
Every Dragon Ball fan notices it immediately: Goku is basically Sun Wukong with a Saiyan engine. But is it "inspired by," "borrowed from," or something more complex? Let's break it down honestly.
The Undeniable Parallels
| Element | Sun Wukong | Goku |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Born from stone, raised by teachers in the mountains | Sent to Earth as a baby, raised by Grandpa Gohan |
| Signature Weapon | Golden Staff (Ruyi Jingu Bang) — grows/shrinks at will | Power Pole (Nyoi-Boa) — grows/shrinks at will |
| Transportation | Cloud somersault (筋斗云) — one flip = 108,000 li | Nimbus Cloud (筋斗雲) — same Japanese reading |
| Tail | Monkey tail — can be grabbed to disable him | Monkey tail — same weakness (early DB) |
| Transformation | Seventy-Two Transformations — becomes animals/objects | King Kai training, but Wukong's ability is the direct inspiration |
| Power-up Pose | Flying, staff thrust, battle cry | Visible aura, shouting — visual evolution of same energy |
| Opening Move | Powerful leap, shockwave from landing | Kamehameha wave — same visual concept |
What Toriyama Actually Said
Akira Toriyama has acknowledged Journey to the West as a source material for Dragon Ball — but stated he only read a summary, not the full novel. He also drew inspiration from Hong Kong martial arts films, Zhong Kui: Snow Girl, and other sources.
Toriyama: "I used Journey to the West as a model, but I'm not sure how much of it I actually borrowed. I read a summary, and Goku was created from that."
The Cultural Transmission Path
This is where it gets interesting. Dragon Ball didn't come directly from Journey to the West — it came through a long chain of Japanese reinterpretations:
- Uchuu Daikaiten Enpei (1926) — early Japanese film adaptation
- Saiyūki (1978 TV series) — live-action Japanese adaptation Toriyama watched as a teenager
- Confrontation! The Strongest vs. the Weakest (1971 film) — monkey hero film starring Masakatsu Funaki
The monkey hero was already a genre in Japanese pop culture before Toriyama sat down to create Goku.
Is It "Stealing"?
Artistically, this is the wrong framework. Toriyama transformed what he borrowed — taking the archetype and fusing it with:
- Mas Oyama's Kyokushin Karate philosophy
- Hong Kong kung fu film aesthetics
- Sheriff Deputy / Western film influences (Goku's Saiyan origin = cowboy outlaw)
- His own comedic timing and design sensibility
The result is a character that feels like Wukong but is entirely its own thing in execution.
Where the Influence Gets Complicated
The problem some Chinese readers have is not with the borrowing — it's with the global perception: many Westerners encounter Dragon Ball as their first encounter with the "monkey hero" archetype, and don't know the source. The cultural debt goes largely unrecognized in Western pop culture discourse.
What's your take — is attribution enough, or does Dragon Ball owe more to Journey to the West?