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The Journey West


Qualapec the She-Wolf

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Go west young man!

....not quite.

For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about. The Journey West is an ancient Chinese fantasy novel written by Wu Ch'eng En in the sixteen century. It chronicals the antics of Monkey, a creature born from rock who becomes extremely powerful. When I say extremely powerful, I mean Superman x 100. It follows him as he protects a monk, Tripitaka, who is going westward from China to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures. Along the way they are accompanied by Sandy and Pigsy, two gods who were cast down from heaven and are trying to repent as monsters on earth. The book consists of about 100 chapters, most of these chapters consist of short stories as the four main characters travel.

I'm just curious. Who has heard of this ancient Chinese folk novel? Better yet, who likes it?

I've been reading about it online ever since my interest was sparked a few months ago. Not too long ago I bought the Arthur Waley abridged version, Monkey, and am almost finished reading it. Unfortunately I haven't been able to buy any of the four-volume translated versions that are out there.

So, has anyone read the full translated versions? What did you think?

What do you think of the story in general?

Personally I love every second of it. It's a fantastic story. Really funny too. There are some seriously hilarious (not to mention outragous) things in there, even for modern, American audiences.

~She-Wolf

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It's a famous chinese legend.

The anime "Sayuki" is based on this legend, right? ;)

The Monkey's power returns in many japan anime (for example Goku, character of Dragon Ball).

Monkey's name is Goku, or not? :-? Am I making confusion with different legends?

Yes, Saiyuki is [loosely] based of the Journey West (which, I'll admit, is what sparked my interest)... However, it does stick pretty close to the skeleton of the original plot.

I believe the Japanese name for Monkey is Son Goku, hence the characters from both Dragonball Z and Saiyuki of the same name. I think he's also called Sun Wukong in Chinese. But in the translations I've read he's just called Monkey. Or Monkey King sometimes.

The art in my sig is of the Saiyuki Son Goku. And the lettering (if you can't read it) says "Great Sage, Equal to Heaven". Which was the title Monkey demanded after evading the warriors of heaven for so long. The Jade Emperor (AKA Most Celestial Beaurocrat) gave it to him so he would stop causing trouble.

~She-Wolf

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