Miðgarðsorm

On 6/5/2023 at 2:48 AM, DarthEnderX said:

I mean, you don't have to be from the same place as an animal to adopt it's motif.  You can just think the animal is cool.

 

Look how much medieval European shit has lions on it.

True, but there's a reason lions have entered European mythology and jaguars have not. It's because lions were known to European cultures, for millennia. Before AD 100, lions still lived as far north as Greece and Spain (lion itself is a word derived from the Ancient Greek λέων leon). It wasn't complicated at all for the Romans to find a lion for their circuses, during a period when lions lived almost everywhere around them except north. England imported many traits of its culture from Ancient Rome first and later from France, both places where lions had already entered mythological status and were everywhere in fables, tales and general culture. Heck, the Vikings knew what a lion was, and they likely never saw one in their lives. By the time of Richard the Lionheart (12th Century), the lion was already a symbol of courage in all the world known to christendom after centuries the animal itself had already gone extinct in Europe (also, the French were the first to give him that nickname, quor de lion, during the Third Crusade: so "Lionheart" came from a translation from Norman French). Similarly, South Asian cultures knew lions (because they lived as far east as India and Bangladesh, and India spread its culture everywhere in the East with Buddhism), leopards and tigers. Japan is no exception, as neither lions nor leopards nor tigers live in Japan, but they nevertheless knew them through Buddhist culture passed through Chinese illustrated texts and characters: 豹 hyō (leopard), 虎 tora (tiger), 獅子 shishi (lion).
Jaguars weren't known to anyone except Native Americans (the word comes from the Old Tupi îaûara and the Guarani yaguar, "wild beast, jaguar") until late 1500. It makes sense for someone like King from Tekken to reference a jaguar, because he's Mexican (and his original inspiration, being Japanese, obviously referenced a tiger). Not so much for Adon.

The reference I was talking about comes from, as always happens, a manga. Because manga and anime were the things SF developers read and watched when they were young. Akira Yasuda explained:

"Back then I felt that Thailand was home to the strongest fighting techniques in the world. After being inspired by a certain manga, I thought to my self what if an evil organization used their funds to create a fighting empire of sorts?"

The original Japanese wording is その当時はタイこそが世界で一番格闘技が強い国なんじゃないかと思っていたからです。そういう漫画を読んだ影響ってのもあるけど、悪い組織が資金力を使って格闘帝国を作った、というのがいいんじゃないかと思ったんです。"Back then i thought that Thailand was the country with the strongest fighting techniques in the world. Of course I was also influenced by that sort of manga(s), but I thought: wouldn't it be cool if an evil organisation used their economic clout to create a fighting empire?" That sort of manga(s). The Japanese language only rarely specifies a plural. Because there were various works using Thailand as the "country with the strongest martial arts" to build up a direct enemy the Japanese protagonist had to beat. All works by Ikki Kajiwara.

If we talk about the most widely known, it's obviously Karate Baka Ichidai, which also was the main inspiration since SF1. But there are also other less known mangas by Kajiwara, most notably Kick no Oni and, above all, Kurenai no challenger, all of which reiterated some of Karate Baka Ichidai's main concepts (Kajiwara loved self-plagiarism and constantly repeating the same tropes and characters, just to hammer the point home... and also because he was lazy, lol) while introducing many more things Street Fighter series reused.

 

Karate Baka Ichidai (1971-1977) was divided into two distinct parts, each with three story arcs, cleary distinguishable because drawn by two diverse artists. The first part (1971-1973, the first three arcs) was drawn by Jirō Tsunoda and depicted the heavily fictionalised story of the real-life karateka Masutatsu Ōyama. The second part (1973-1977) was drawn by Jōya Kagemaru and focused on Ōyama's disciples, particularly Yoshiji Soeno, and featured what many in the FGC already know as the primary source of inspiration for SF1: the never happened confrontation between Soeno and the fictional Rēban (NOT "Reiba", that was a typo of the first review appeared on the net which everyone kept parroting), that inspired Ryū and Sagat. But Sagat wasn't inspired only by Rēban; rather, he was a mashup of fictional Thai fighters who appeared in Kajiwara's mangas. All those mangas had a common point: Muay Thai was always presented as a fearsome art, the most terrible in the world, whose champions were regarded by the local population more as gods than humans (a frequent scene was the mothers overjoyed if the champion touched or carried their newborns, which was thought to bless them for life); also, Thailand's exotic locations were constantly shown, and those all ended up somewhere in SF backgrounds. 

Before Rēban, even Karate Baka Ichidai's first half already had Ōyama fight a Muay Thai champion, "The Emperor" (帝王 teiō) Black Cobra. Yes, "Emperor" ALSO became Sagat's title... It wasn't just Rēban, every Thai champion (and not only them... more about this later) in Kajiwara's mangas held that title LOL. Like Rēban after him, Black Cobra had a scarred eye (but no eyepatch). Kajiwara simply loved handicapped badasses as rivals or mentors of his protagonists - think of Danpei Tange in Tomorrow's Joe for example. Black Cobra ALSO had a bullet wound on his chest, which for a second Ōyama considered to attack but changed his mind as it was an obvious weak point, so it would've been a cowardly tactic. That's the first step towards Sagat's chest scar... Notice how Black Cobra cradles a child to bless him. Before the match, Ōyama also visits Wat Arun in Bangkok and the reclining Buddha... Which is actually in Wat Lokayasutharam, located in Ayutthaya Historical Park, 80 km north of Bangkok. Capcom wasn't the first to mix locations...

 

 

Kick no Oni ("the demon of kickboxing", 1969-1971, drawings by Kentarō Nakajō) even preceded Karate Baka Ichidai, and is the heavily fictionalised biography of the Japanese kickboxer Hideki Shiraha, better known as Tadashi Sawamura (1943-2021), THE kickboxer who popularised the style in Japan in the Sixties, a period when they clearly wanted to establish the superiority of the style over the original Muay Thai and as such there was a lot of enmity between them: remember that "kickboxing" is a word coined by the Japanese promoter Osamu Noguchi (1934-2016) in 1966, who created the style by fusing karate and muay thai, and he was so hated by the Thais that when he opened a "kickboxing" gym in Bangkok in 1972 he was forced out of the country by overwhelming protests and death threats. Noguchi himself appears in both the manga and the anime, which apparently was a hit in Brazil with the title "Sawamu, o demolidor". Anyway, the plot is the same as always: the Thai champions are revered as gods (there's still the scene of the child blessing), Sawamura is a karateka who loses a match against a Thai champ but then decides to do kickboxing after being recruited by Noguchi and wins again, nothing to see here. Of particular interest are Sawamura's special moves, 真空跳び膝蹴り shinkū tobihizageri ("vacuum jumping knee kick", if you ever wondered "why shinkū hadōken?") and 垂直2段げり suichoku nidan geri ("vertical two levels kick", a jumping double kick), both techniques reused by World Heroes 2's Shura (also by Joe Higashi with different names). The anime opening featured also clips of the real Sawamura, who left a lasting legacy in the Japanese pop culture: remember that the Pokemon Hitmonlee is Sawamurā in Japan.

 

 

 

Kurenai no chōsensha  (1973-1975, "Kurenai the challenger" drawn by Kentarō Nakajō) was the work where Kajiwara let himself loose as it's all fictional, and also the most interesting about Muay Thai for a number of reasons. The protagonist is the promising young footballer Toshiya Kurenai, who watches a muay thai tournament while in Thailand and is star-struck by GARUDA, the champion revered as a god in Thailand and who makes short work of his opponent, sending him out of the ring at Toshiya's feet. Unlike Karate Baka Ichidai's Rēban, Garuda is tall, imposing and has a Garuda tattoo on his chest... The only things he lacks to be Sagat are the eyepatch and the baldness, which indeed came from Rēban. Garuda is immediately compared to a yak, the guardian demons of Thai temples we know so well for Vega's stage. Notice also how in the cover of the first volume, where he has white hair, Garuda so closely resembles Urien, complete with a bindi on his forehead...

 

 

 

Long story short, Toshiya becomes obsessed with beating him, and leaves football to practice muay thai under the tutelage of Ikki Ōtone, a karate champ whom Garuda had crippled during a match and who is now an alcoholic living in a shack, consumed by his desire of revenge. Again the theme of karate (=Japan) vs muay thai (=Thailand) and the tensions between the two styles... With a lot of racism thrown inbetween, but let's not delve into that. And again the handicapped mentor... By this point, the only person who still supports Toshiya is his close friend Yoshio, who then becomes his cornerman.

 

Soon after his debut, Toshiya befriends the Japanese kickboxing champ, Hayato Kenmochi, who is a blatant Sawamura expy (to make him even more exaggerated, he uses the真空三段げり Shinkū sandan geri, a TRIPLE jumping knee kick, obvious fusion between the two Sawamura specials) and, incidentally, is also the older brother of Miko, Toshiya's love interest.

 

 

Toshiya even goes as far as to voluntarily enroll in Garuda's own gym in Thailand, 蛇の巣 hebi no su ("Snake Pit") ¹, where he undergoes the usual hellish training Kajiwara so loved. Too bad the coaches are all too loyal to Garuda and take the opportunity to torture him as punishment for a misdeed Toshiya didn't commit, but Garuda finds out his men dishonored him and beats them mercilessly, admonishing everyone to treat Toshiya like a normal student.

Amongst the unnamed coaches, there's a strangely familiar face...

 

 

 

Oh, hello, Adon.
Obviously Adon didn't come just from this character, rather from a mashup of diverse "secondary Thai rivals" scattered in Kajiwara's works, all with spiky hair (see also Sawamura's opponent above), but the pointy nose and chin of this one in particular strongly remind of Sagat's cocky former disciple.

After Garuda saves Toshiya from his coaches' lynching, he proceeds to tell everyone a story from his childhood. Garuda was born in a poor fisherman's family, but his sister was such a beauty a high-ranking (and corrupted) buddhist priest demanded her for his personal lust when Garuda was just a kid. Enraged, Garuda attacked the priest, but was quickly subdued. Since the priest couldn't kill him because of an imperial moratorium on capital punishment (if he did, he would've been stripped of all his privileges), he tortured Garuda and left him for dead in a wasteland, while Garuda's sister committed suicide. When Garuda opened his eyes, he realised where he was...

So he swore before Buddha to become more than human to get his revenge. He trained hard and became the national champ, and ultimately succeeded. During an official dinner with the Thai emperor, Garuda recognises the priest (who obviously doesn't recognise the already grown up champ) amongst the guests, and proceeds to reveal him who he really is, then denounces his crimes to everyone before killing him in front of the emperor.

Hayato challenges Garuda in Japan while Toshiya is still in Thailand and helplessly watches the match in TV, and Hayato even manages to actually down Garuda once for a count of seven with his Shinkū sandan geri.

Too bad Garuda KILLS Hayato in retaliation with his super-secret move 空中ギロチン Kūchū girochin, "Flying guillotine". So for Toshiya it becomes PERSONAL.

Garuda tells Toshiya he's now a graduate from his gym, and Toshiya resumes his career to challenge his former master. Toshiya fights many odd rivals, including a Bruce Lee clone who uses jeet kune do. Toshiya's first special move was the オーバーヘッドキック Overhead Kick, directly brought from his football past.

The second move Toshiya creates is 紅十人げり Kurenai jūnin geri, "Ten Kurenai kick", where he jumps between the ropes so fast it seems there's ten of him (lol) and then... missile dropkick.

The last move is created by accident, when Toshiya exploits a dodged punch and rolls forward in the air kicking his opponent (and hitting even the referee in the process by mistake). Ōtone dubs the move 人間風車キック Ningen fūsha kikku, "Human windmill kick".

THIS would become Adon's Jaguar kick in SF1, when it was still named simply 回転キック Kaiten kikku, "rotating kick", Adon landed almost horizontal with his body AND THE FIRST FRAME OF THE MOVE WAS INDEED A WHIFFED PUNCH.

By the time of SFZ, the finalised Jaguar Kick wouldn't resemble the original move anymore, but this was its start. Also, Bison's Double Knee Press / Scissor Kick, as Capcom said Bison stole the move from Adon.

Toshiya finally succeeds in being recognised by Garuda as a worthy challenger, and the final match happens. Before the match, we see Garuda training with his disciples in Bangkok, and some Japanese tourists who are there seeing the reclining Buddha in Wat Pho, another reclining Buddha.

 

The match is obviously extremely violent, and during the first round Garuda notices that any blow to his chest causes him immense pain. He deduces that years of muay thai fractured some of his ribs, whose fragments now are digging into his flesh and threaten his heart. The problem is that Toshiya noticed as well, and understandably he's now targeting Garuda's chest: so Toshiya must die. Garuda attempts his finisher, but Toshiya manages to escape, and as both can't use their special moves because they know how to counter everything, they continue pummeling each other using regular basic attacks. The last assault is a brutal kick to Toshiya's neck, who is already unconscious when he unleashes his last, fatal knee strike to Garuda's chest, who dies instantly for the fractured rib that pierces his heart.

 

That's the origin of Sagat's scar on his chest, although he didn't die after Ryu's shoryuken.

Toshiya is then judged by the doctor as unable to ever set foot in a ring again, IF he recovers. The last panel is Miko alone, observing the deserted arena and wondering about the sense of all that. Two men dead and one crippled for life...
"For what?"

"For something... Only a man could understand!"
Classic Kajiwara tragic ending (with an even more classic self-absolution, lol).

 

All of this is the answer to the question: "Why Thailand?". It couldn't have been anything else. Kajiwara constantly hammered Thailand down the throats of readers back then.

Even the jaguar, who isn't an Asian animal.

The very first page of Kurenai no chōsensha opens with a QUOTE FROM THE FIRST PARAGRAPH OF HEMINGWAY'S 1936 SHORT STORY "THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO".

Quote

Kilimanjaro is a snow-covered mountain 19,710 feet high, and is said to be the highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the Masai "Ngaje Ngai," the House of God. Close to the western summit there is the dried and frozen carcass of a LEOPARD. No one has explained what the LEOPARD was seeking at that altitude.

Kajiwara translated the paragraph verbatim, except that he wrote ジャガー JAGUAR over 豹 hyō (leopard). BOTH TIMES. So he clearly INTENDED a jaguar to be there, instead of a more plausible leopard.

Even in the second page, when Kajiwara continues "But HE could explain! He saw Kilimanjaro as well! Just not in the Dark Continent, but in Asia! He saw Kilimanjaro in Bangkok, Thailand's capital city! Because, since he saw it, he became a JAGUAR too, determined to climb the lethal walls of ice with an incredible zeal..."

And THIS is why Adon uses "Jaguar" in his moves.

 

¹ Call back to Tiger Mask's 虎の穴 tora no ana ("Tiger Cave"), itself a reference to the real catch-as-catch-can gym Snake Pit in Wigan, UK. If you ever wondered why Slammasters's Titanic Tim comes from Wigan, now you know.