Zen course

Zen Course - Assignment #1 - A Duel on Gojo Bridge

Benkei and Yoshitsune: Friendship and Loyalty

For this assignment we were asked to capture one to three images that connect to the story of the Duel on Gojo Bridge.

While listening to Sensei as he read to us, I couldn’t help but think that the story of Benkei might have influenced one of the characters in Star Wars, General Grievous. 

Similar to Benkei collecting katanas as he defeated the samurai on Gojo bridge, General Grievous would collect the lightsabers from the Jedi that he defeated.  Reading more about each character’s description, Benkei and General Grievous are reported to have stood up to 7 feet tall, and have fought with multiple weapons, where Benkei reportedly carried 7 different weapons with him and General Grievous was written to have additional arms that would wield various lightsabers he brandished from his cloak.

Picture Credit: https://www.cbr.com/star-wars-general-grievous-lightsaber-color-explained/

The physical description of Benkei being large and ‘monstrous’ is similar to how General Grievous is also drawn/depicted as being a fearsome-looking and extremely intimidating cyborg.  Although I could not find a confirmation online that Benkei influenced George Lucas and the creation of General Grievous’ character, I did find a TV-Movie entitled, Star Wars: Evolution of the Lightsaber Duel.  Hosted by Mark Hamill, this documentary details the choreography and training that influenced the duels throughout the Star Wars films, namely the history of the samurai and how the samurai’s armour influenced the concept of Darth Vader.

I am curious if anyone from our dojo has seen it before?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6289242/

Picture Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Evolution_of_the_Lightsaber_Duel

Another movie/story that the Duel on Gojo Bridge reminds me of is the epic tale of Robin Hood.  Our ‘seasoned-with-age’ dojo members, may remember Mel Brooks’ film, Robin Hood: Men in Tights; specifically the (hilarious) scene of Robin Hood and Little John fighting on a bridge over a very shallow stream.  The humourous re-telling of Robin Hood was quite something.  In folklore, Little John is characterized to be 7 feet tall (similar to Benkei and General Grievous…see a pattern?).  In similar fashion the end-result of the story of Benkei and Yoshitsune, Benkei becomes Yoshitsune’s friend and brother-in-arms; and Little John becomes Robin Hood’s loyal friend who fights alongside him to bring down the corruption found in Nottingham.  One difference to note is that Yoshitsune was victorious in his fight against Benkei, whereas Robin Hood was defeated by Little John (and in some stories, knocked into the water below the bridge).

Picture Credit: https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt0107977/

I continued to read more about Benkei and Yoshitsune, and I learned that Benkei continued to serve Yoshitsune and protect him in many battles all the way until their deaths.  It is written that Benkei fought and killed 300 soldiers, and died standing upright after being killed from a barrage of arrows that were shot at him.  He kept his stance by leaning on his naginata (2 meter halberd).  While he held his ground, Yoshitsune was able to commit seppuku.

Picture credit: https://katana.store/blogs/katana-blog/benkei

This ‘ride or die’ mentality describes the friendship between Benkei and Yoshitsune, as well as Little John and Robin Hood.  Hence, I chose to take a picture that shows my son (Mitko) and his best friend (Eric) at opposing sides of a path, depicting differences, while showing a playful friendship between them.

Although they are not on a bridge, and there is no water below them, this picture depicts their loyalty and friendship they have for each other, despite being so different.  Their backgrounds and upbringings are quite different, and sometimes they do disagree; however, they have formed a solid bond and an unwavering loyalty towards each other which can only be expressed as brotherhood.

One final note, Mitko did suggest earlier this week that I should have taken a picture of him in his Halloween ninja costume on a bridge in Scarborough; however, I thought it may have detracted from the exact representation I wanted to capture for this assignment.  Perhaps I’ll find a use for it in a future assignment, if suitable :)