One of the most prominent teams in Naruto is the legendary Sannin, which includes some significant characters with respect to the story: Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru. However, beyond Naruto, these Sannins exist within the pages of a Japanese folk tale spanning more than 43 books called The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant. Jiraiya is indeed based on folklore.
The three characters show a lot of similarities in their predicament with the folklore. As it is clear from the title, the folklore revolves around Jiraiya, the master of toad magic, and Tsunade, the slug princess, teaming up to defeat the evil snake spirit. Similar elements can be seen in Naruto as Jiraiya and Tsunade defend the village from the evil snake-like ninja Orochimaru.
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Jiraiya from Naruto is based on a Japanese Folklore
The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant starts with an evil snake spirit that wishes to take over Japan. The snake demolishes the three most crucial clans of Japan in order to break the balance of the country. These clans are named Ogata (which Jiraiya is a part of), Matsuura (which Tsunade is a part of), and Tsukikage.
The snake spirit decides to lunge upon the Tsukikage clan’s leader but its attempt to kill them fails due to a boy named Orochimaru. The Tsukikage welcomes Orochimaru out of gratitude, but he isn’t aware of the fact that the boy is possessed by the snake spirit.
As this was the evil entity’s plan all along, it tries to acquire power by throwing Jiraiya and Tsunade, the successors of the Ogata and Matsuura clan from a mountain top. However, both of them survive the fall and are taken in by a hermit. He teaches toad magic to Jiraiya and slug magic to Tsunade and hence they fight against the evil snake spirit.
Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto is still original despite having significant elements from The Tale of the Jiraiya the Gallant
It is pretty unfortunate to think that such a great folklore, such as The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant be lost in time. Masashi Kishimoto included a significant amount of original content in his manga despite taking several elements from the folklore. The plot shows the divergence between it and The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant, to justify calling Naruto original.
The Tale of the Jiraiya the Gallant does appear to be a story better suited to watch in animation. However, it might be a very disrespectful claim since it’s close to Japanese culture. Watching giant toads and snakes fighting against each other in Naruto and then reading the same in The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant is undoubtedly an intriguing experience. Even though this form of media didn’t exist back then, the story is worthy of being updated. The improvements in technology and the skill of animators have allowed good storytelling to become more accessible to wider audiences.
