21st Century Gallant
How Understanding Jiraiya’s Folktale Namesake Deepens His Legacy as a Mentor
Spoiler warning for the death of a beloved character. You’ve been warned.
Jiraiya sharing a popsicle with his disciple Naruto.
The deaths of mentors are classic storytelling devices, especially in a shounen series like Naruto. Whether it was the Third Hokage, Asuma, or Jiraiya (to name a few), their deaths almost always evoked the theme of self-sacrifice for the sake of the next generation. Trusting that their ideals would live on in their disciples, these mentors gave their lives without a second thought.
Jiraiya’s death appears to fit particularly well into this theme, since he believed his sole success over a lifetime of failure was that of his role as a mentor. Although Jiraiya could boast of his title as one of the “Sannin” – a trio of legendary ninjas – and as an accomplished author, nevertheless he felt that he did not deliver results when it mattered most. Yet right before his death at the hands of the antagonist Pain, Jiraiya discovered that his greatest contribution was that mentoring Naruto. This realization inspired him to trust that his disciple would be the one to bring peace to the ninja world. As these final thoughts played in his head, Jiraiya met death with a smile and named his life story “Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari,” or “Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant.”[1] An epic end to one of Naruto’s most beloved mentors.
I find that Jiraiya’s death carries more thematic weight than meets the eye due to the choice of his namesake. His name comes directly from a famous 19th century Japanese folktale, also titled “Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant.” Yet the Jiraiya from the folktale is renowned as a warrior. Thus, what does it mean for Naruto’s Jiraiya to be named after this legendary hero, but have his greatest achievement be that of mentoring the true hero? To answer this question, I will illustrate how the folktale character represents a “traditional” interpretation of success, and explain how Naruto Jiraiya’s death scene reiterates the series’ theme of actively choosing one’s legacy, but this time on whether one’s life is perceived as a success or failure.
(From here on out, I’ll refer to the original folktale character as “Jiraiya Ogata,” and the Naruto character as “Jiraiya-sensei”)
A woodblock carving depicting Jiraiya battling a giant snake.
The original “Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant” follows a standard hero’s journey, albeit in the context of late Tokugawa era Japan. Popularized through a series of novels published between 1839 and 1868, the folktale tells the story of Jiraiya Ogata who is a master of toad magic, along with Tsunade who masters slug magic, and Orochimaru who wields snake magic.[2] For those familiar with Naruto, those bells that are ringing are not your imagination.
The story begins with a snake demon who schemes to rule over all of Japan. It possesses Orochimaru, and then turns to remove other obstacles in his path – namely the Ogata and Matsura clans. These two clans guard the feudal seals that embody the authority of the Shogun – the ultimate seat of power at that time. Orochimaru falsely accuses the two clans of trying to overthrow the Shogun by exploiting the feudal seals, and offers to eliminate this threat.[3] The Shogun agrees, and Orochimaru leads a massacre of the two clans, during which the infant Jiraiya Ogata and Tsunade Matsura are thrown off a cliff and to their supposed deaths.[4]
The infants survive and are raised by an old sage. When Jiraiya Ogata learns that his clan was unjustly murdered, he sets out with Tsunade to seek revenge in accordance with the ideals of justice and courage.[5] After overcoming multiple challenges ranging from being locked in a magical stalemate to sacrificing his own sister in order to cure a poisoned snakebite, Jiraiya Ogata finally defeats Orochimaru (using the magical sword Namikirimaru) and more importantly, banishes the snake demon. At that moment, the Shogun suddenly arrives. He declares that the false accusations against the Ogata and Matsura clans have been overturned, but that Orochimaru must be punished for his role in the conspiracy. In a final act of virtue, Jiraiya Ogata demonstrates mercy by declaring that Orochimaru should be forgiven, since the snake demon has left him.[6] [7] This conclusion enshrines Jiraiya Ogata as a paragon of gallantry thanks to his martial and moral strength.
This folktale suggests that “success” is based on adherence to warrior virtues. Jiraiya Ogata’s great deeds such as banishing evil, saving Japan from tyranny, and even redeeming an enemy all reflect his dedication to justice, courage, and mercy. Each of these acts emphasize a different aspect of a “traditional hero,” and implies that greater adherence to these virtues would translate into greater personal glory. Therefore, Jiraiya Ogata’s legacy as a hero derives from his individual accomplishments as an idealized warrior.
The virtues of Bushido - the way of the warrior - that underpin Jiraiya Ogata’s heroic actions
In contrast, the conclusion to Jiraiya-sensei’s story focused on his contribution to the next generation, specifically to his disciple Naruto. Since Jiraiya-sensei could not point to any notable achievements as a warrior, he never considered himself to be a successful hero. Although he often emphasized that he would “sacrifice himself to protect [those he cared about],” these declarations may have simply reflected his desire to perform a deed “so great that it would obliterate all his failures.”[8] Perhaps Jiraiya-sensei even believed that only forsaking his own life would be enough to achieve “traditional” success, as personified by Jiraiya Ogata. But when finally faced with defeat, Jiraiya-sensei had resigned himself to die as a failure.
It’s only after remembering how his disciple Naruto never gave up did Jiraiya-sensei decide to live up to his own teachings. He chose to use the last of his strength to send a coded message to Naruto that revealed Pain’s weakness. By letting go of his own dreams of success and entrusting them to his disciple, Jiraiya-sensei broke free of the shadow of Jiraiya Ogata to offer his own definition of “gallantry” – that of sacrificing personal success in order for others to succeed. In other words, Jiraiya-sensei secured his own legacy by choosing to fight until the very end for the sake of others, especially for the next generation.
JIraiya’s final act of not giving up: sending a coded message to Naruto, thereby entrusting his hopes to his disciple
Comparing Jiraiya-sensei’s character arc with that of Naruto’s further emphasizes the theme of never giving up on one’s legacy, particularly when faced with a life already lived. My previous publication illustrated how Naruto chose to never give up on his dreams, despite the world only seeing him as a monster. But Naruto’s definition of success was very clear-cut: become Hokage – the leader of his village. As long as he chose to not succumb to what others thought of him, Naruto could become a hero akin to that of Jiraiya Ogata.
On the other hand, figuring out one’s legacy was much harder for someone like Jiraiya-sensei, as he had lived a lot longer and had failed at many chances for success. Thus, when Jiraiya-sensei refocused on his contribution in mentoring the true hero of the ninja world, he rejected the expectations set by Jiraiya Ogata and embraced his role in guiding the next generation. As a result, Jiraiya-sensei embodied the spirit of choosing not to let his own perceptions of failure define himself or his legacy.
Jiraiya’s lasting legacy: his final student turned out to be the hero of the ninja world
Naming Jiraiya-sensei and his life story after Jiraiya Ogata explicitly invited comparisons between the two characters. The themes of Jiraiya Ogata’s folktale drew heavily from Japan’s warrior ideals, especially from the late Tokugawa era. The folktale conveyed that “traditional” success stems from accomplishing great deeds while embodying warrior virtues. Although Jiraiya-sensei failed at following this path, he justly earned his own title of “The Gallant” by sacrificing himself so his disciple Naruto could become the true hero.
Without the context of the original folktale, Jiraiya-sensei’s final choice to celebrate his success as a mentor would have lacked the same thematic weight. By understanding the heroic architype that Jiraiya Ogata represented and that Jiraiya-sensei yearned so hard to emulate, we can better appreciate that Jiraiya-sensei’s choice to give his life for the next generation was not made just because he was a mentor figure. Instead, it was because he chose to recognize a different version of success – one that measures a legacy through what’s left behind to help others succeed.
Sources:
[1] https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/The_Tale_of_Jiraiya_the_Gallant_(episode)
[2] https://www.kabuki21.com/jiraiya.php
[3] https://www.kabuki21.com/jiraiya.php
[4] https://www.wayofninja.com/jiraiya-folklore/
[5] https://www.themartialway.com.au/bushidos-eight-virtues/
[6] https://www.themartialway.com.au/bushidos-eight-virtues/
[7] https://www.wayofninja.com/jiraiya-folklore/
[8] https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/The_Tale_of_Jiraiya_the_Gallant_(episode)
