Goku - Conception and Creation

Conception and Creation

Goku was based on one of Akira Toriyama's earlier characters named Tanton, a fictional protagonist who appeared in a one-shot series called Dragon Boy. In this story, Tanton has a pair of wings. When Toriyama created Dragon Ball, he was inspired by Chinese author Wu Cheng'en's 16th century classic novel Journey to the West. The name Goku is the Japanese version of 孫悟空 (Sun Wukong), the central character of the novel. Toriyama designed Goku as a human boy with a monkey's tail, rather than a complete simian, because the tail would be visible even when Goku was trying to hide. Similarly, in Journey to the West, Sun Wukong can assume human form, but retains his tail. Toriyama initially planned to make Goku an Earthling, but given the introduction of fighters from other planets, it was later established that Goku is a Saiyan. To increase the pace of the story, Toriyama gave Goku the ability to teleport to any planet in seconds.

Wanting Dragon Ball to have a Chinese appearance, Toriyama modeled Goku's gi (martial arts uniform) on the robes worn by the Shaolin monks of China. During early developments of the manga, readers commented that Goku looked rather plain, so the author changed his appearance and added several characters like Master Roshi and Krillin, then created the World Martial Arts Tournament to base the storyline on fighting. To defy the assumption that Goku would win the tournaments, Toriyama made him lose the first and second but win the third. With the conclusion of the Cell Saga, Gohan was intended to replace his father as protagonist, but Toriyama decided that Gohan was unsuitable for that role.