- This is a Japanese name; the family name is Ishikawa.
Ishikawa Goemon (石川 五右衛門? 1558-1594) was a legendary ninja warrior and bandit hero who stole gold and valuables and gave them to the poor. There is little historical information on Ishikawa's life, and thus he has become a folk hero, whose background and origins have been widely speculated upon. He is notable for being boiled alive after a failed assassination attempt on Toyotomi Hideyoshi. A large iron kettle-shaped bathtub is now called a Goemon-buro (Goemon-bath). In one version of the story, Ishikawa tried to assassinate Toyotomi to avenge the death of his wife and capture of his son, Gobei. He entered Toyotomi's room but knocked a bell off a table. The noise awoke the samurai guards and he was captured. He was sentenced to death by being boiled alive in an iron cauldron along with his young son, but was able to save his son by holding him above the oil. In another version, Ishikawa wanted to kill Toyotomi because he was a despot. When he entered Toyotomi's room, he was detected by a mystical incense burner. He was executed on August 24 along with his whole family by being boiled in oil.[1]
Ishikawa Goemon in culture
- He has been the subject of many Kabuki plays.
- He was the subject of a movie, Shinobi No Mono (Review)
- He is mentioned in connection with the Sanmon Gate at the Nanzen Temple in Yukio Mishima's work The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.[2]
- He is the main character in a video game series produced by Konami known as Ganbare Goemon in Japan and as Mystical Ninja elsewhere.
- He recently appeared in the Koei game, Samurai Warriors, wielding a mace and with a cannon on his back but was omitted from the second game.
- He also appeared in Warriors Orochi, with improved attacks and different voice. One day he stole Wei Yan's treasure which was presented to him by Liu Bei. While Izumo no Okuni kept Goemon at bay, Wei Yan and Xing Cai recovered the treasure Ishikawa left behind. Goemon then joins Shu Han.
- He is claimed to be the ancestor of Goemon Ishikawa XIII in the Lupin III movies, the first in a lineage of renegade samurai. In one of the Lupin TV movies, Burn, Zantetsuken!, the opening sequence shows Goemon Ishikawa XIII weeping while watching the famed kabuki performance based on his ancestor's life.
- He appears in the third and fourth episodes of the anime series where it is hinted that he is a lineal ancestor of the title character, Kureha Misaki.
- In a Neo Geo fighting game called Ninja Master's, Goemon appears as one of the selectable characters. This rendition of him, however, carries a large cannonesque gun that he uses in battle.
References
- ^ The legend of Ishikawa Goemon (has several pictures)
- ^ Mishima, Yukio (1959), The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, New York: Alfred A. Knopf
