Goemon - The Name Game: Features - The Armchair Empire

Goemon: The real man had a much more tragic life.

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Goemon

For quite some time ninja in videogames were, well, stereotypical. It was all about the dark jumpsuit, mask, and shuriken, as characters like Shinobi’s Joe Musashi, or Ninja Gaiden’s Ryu Hayabasu traveled the globe hunting evil clans of ninja, demons, and whatever else the forces of evil had to throw at them. By the time that the SNES came along, Konami had a new entry into the world of ninja gaming ready to go in the form of Goemon, most well known for his Legend of the Mystical games on this side of the Pacific. He brought a light-hearted breath of fresh air into games that involved ninja, and has become quite popular over the years.

However, Konami didn’t just pluck the idea for Goemon out of thin air. He is actually loosely based on a famous bandit who lived in Japan during the latter half of the 16^th century by the name of Ishikawa Goemon. Unfortunately, there are no detailed written records from when Goemon actually lived, chronicling what he did. About all that was said was that he was a renowned bandit. However, this did help to launch him into folk hero status, as many filled in the blanks on their own as to what he

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did, telling tales of him being a merchant by day, and thief by night, a runaway thief who killed his master, and even tales portraying him as a Japanese Robin Hood who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.

Even the exact nature of the bandit’s death is not known for certain, but scholars will agree that it wasn’t pleasant. After a failed assassination attempt on Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japan’s leader at the time, Goemon was sentenced to death.

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Some say he was killed alongside his family, while others claim it was Goemon’s band of thieves that died with him, but the saddest of the stories says that not only was the bandit sentenced to death, but his infant son as well. Making things even more tragic was that the two were to be boiled to death in a large cauldron of water. According to the tale, Goemon held his son above the boiling water as long as he could. Eventually the bandit died, and sank into the bubbling brew followed by his helpless son.

Due to the amount of lore behind Goemon, he has remained popular in Japanese storytelling for centuries, appearing in various Kabuki plays, films, and now videogames thanks to Konami.

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