Kitarō

Kitarō (鬼太郎, Kitarō), also known as GeGeGe no Kitarō (ゲゲゲの鬼太郎), is a yōkai boy born in a cemetery after the death of his parents. Aside from his mostly-decayed father, Medama-Oyaji, he is the last surviving member of the Ghost Tribe. He fights for peace between humans and yōkai, which generally involves protecting the former from the wiles of the latter.
His name comes from a pre-war era picture story show entitled Hakaba Kitarō, featuring a character with a similar backstory. Shigeru Mizuki gives credit to author Masami Itō for inspiring the character of Kitarō.
His father is Medama-Oyaji, and his mother was Iwako.
==Cast==
*Masako Nozawa
**First Anime
**Second Anime
**Radio Drama
**Motion Comic
**GeGeGe no Kitarō All Night Nippon
**Kitarō Witnesses Our Noble Deaths
**Hakaba Kitarō
**Kitarō, The Search for Happiness: 100 Years of Tōno Monogatari
**Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside Oni-ō no Fukkatsu
**Yo-kai Watch: Wibble Wobble
*Keiko Toda
**Third Anime
**Bingo 5 commercials
*Miyuki Sawashiro
**Sixth Anime
**The Birth of Kitarō: Mystery of GeGeGe
*Anime
**Yōko Matsuoka (Fourth Anime)
**Minami Takayama (Fifth Anime)
**Mika Kanai (Shigeru Mizuki's Yōkai Gadan)
*Live Action
**Makoto Mutsu'ura (Monday Dramaland)
**Motoyoshi Wada (The Demon Flute)
**Eiji Wentz
***2007 film
***Sennen Noroi Uta
**Yūko Ōshima (Start Today: Zozotown)
*Video Games
**Rica Matsumoto
***GeGeGe no Kitarō: Ibun Yōkai Kitan
***GeGeGe no Kitarō: Kiki Ippatsu! Yōkai Rettō
***GeGeGe no Kitarō: Gyakushū! Yōma Dai Kessen
**Rina Satō (GeGeGe no Kitarō: Black Kitarō no Yabō)
==Origin==
===Hakaba Kitarō===
The original kamishibai that inspired Kitarō was first written around 1933 or 1935 by Masami Itō. Itō's story was based on local legends describing the same or similar stories.蛸島 直, もう一人の鬼太郎とその原像 ──伊藤正美作「墓場奇太郎」をめぐって──, 愛知学院大学学術紀要データベース Itō also noted that Kitarō was inspired by Japan's ghost stories such as Kosodate-Yūrei which was originally based on Chinese folklore from 12th to 13th Centuries.加藤徹著『怪力乱神』ISBN 978-4-12-003857-0 pp.228-231青空文庫・中国怪奇小説集(10)で、岡本綺堂による「餅を買う女」の訳を読める。
Because the original art has been lost since the war not much is remembered about the story. What is recalled is that it told the story of Kitarō(奇太郎) a horrid looking child (or snake-like child) being born out of a graveyard after his parents' deaths and seeking revenge on their enemies.
===Mizuki's Kamishibai===
Mizuki began using the character that would become Kitarō in 1954 in various kamishibai stories, including Serpent Man, Karate Kitarō, Gallois and Ghost Hand. While Itō's kamishibai wrote the name Kitarō as 奇太郎, Mizuki wrote the name as 鬼太郎, using the character for devil for Ki.
However, Kitarō's background in these stories is quite different from the Kitarō to come. In Serpent Man, Kitarō is a human born from the belly of snakes who seeks revenge on those who mistreated him as a child. In Karate Kitarō, he trains under a karate master named Gichin (modeled after real-life karate master Gichin Funakoshi) and eventually faces him in battle and defeats him.
===Rental Manga===
In 1960, Mizuki introduced Kitarō in the rental manga story The Ghost Family. It is here that Kitarō's official backstory is established. In The Ghost Family, Kitarō is a yōkai child born out of a graveyard after his mother dies.
==Appearance==
Kitarō looks like a young boy. He has long brown hair that covers his left eye, and he wears a black and yellow striped chanchanko over a navy blue Showa-era school uniform. He also wears Japanese style wooden sandals, called geta. His school uniform was made out of the beard of a wizard and has lasted over 100 years. His undergarments consist of a shirt made out of a water nymph's robe and an oni loincloth Medama-Oyaji claims to have gotten from Momotarō. He is modeled after Mizuki's nephew when he was 3 or 5. His hair was light gray, white, or sliver in the original manga, but from the 2nd anime on it is brown.
He is missing his left eye. The origin behind this varies depending on the story. In the Hakaba Kitarō manga, it is just assumed he bashed his eye while climbing out of the grave, but in the Hakaba Kitarō anime it is explained that after he emerged from the graveyard, a terrified Mizuki threw him away and ran, and the infant Kitarō hit his eye against the edge of the gravestone. In the rental manga, Kitarō is sometimes depicted missing his right eye instead. It was also common for Medama-Oyaji to rest in the empty socket and emerge from Kitarō's bangs, usually startling people. After the GeGeGe no Kitarō era began, whether or not Kitarō was missing an eye depended on the adaptation.
In the live-action films starring Eiji Wentz, Kitarō is 170 centimeters tall and wears a black shirt with black shorts reaching to his knees with silver hair like in the original manga. In the movie, similiar to Hakaba Kitarō, he has a Chanchanko with 3 yellow stripes instead of the 2 yellow stripes of later and earlier versions, both his eyes are intact, despite wearing his hair over his socket like the other versions.
Kitaro68 Design.jpg|Kitarō in the 1968 anime.
Kitaro71 Design.jpg|Kitarō in the 1971 anime.
Chara thum01.jpg|Kitarō in the 1985 anime.
Kitaro 1996 Chara.JPG|Kitarō in the 1996 anime.
Kitaro1.jpg|Kitarō in the 2007 anime.
KitaroManga.jpg|Kitarō in the Hakaba anime.
==Age==
His birth year is 1954 in Hakaba Kitarō. In Kitarō's Night Tales, he was at the first grade of an elementary school in 1961.
Within GeGeGe no Kitarō series, it was implied that Kitarō could be older than his incarnation in Hakaba Kitarō.
*It was described in the Series 1 Episode 3 that Tantanbō's gang was last seen a century ago and Mr.Yamabiko, who is a near-120 years old elder of the village, said he was around 20 years old at that time, and he noted that he had read about Kitarō in a book "long time ago" when the latest (current) event was in early to mid Shōwa period. His birthday is unknown (Nezumi-Otoko claims it to be February 30 in the 1968 anime). 
*He has been alive at least since Edo Period in the 1985 anime and The Battle of Mt. Atago.
*In the 1996 anime, Miage-Nyūdō who was sealed by a monk "long-time ago" by Medama-Oyaji's standard, knew Kitarō.
*In the 2007 anime, he saved a boy from Mōryō and Shibito-Tsuki 50 years ago with the unchanged appearance, and he and others have battled against a group of Western Yōkai on multiple occasions for several decades or more to protect the Amami Tribe and other inhabitants on Kikaiga Island. In the Series 5 Episode 2, Medama-Oyaji noted that Neko-Musume, a hanyo, "would become a beautiful lady in about 200 years", and it is possible for Kitarō to have already lived for more than centuries while there are Yōkai like Miu to age similar to that of humans.
*In the live-action film series, he is 350 years old and this is somewhat consistent with the 1985 anime and The Battle of Mt. Atago where Kitarō being alive at least since Edo period.
**The original legends of "Kitarō" and Kosodate-Yūrei (Yūrei-Candy) are also from Edo periods.
==Family==
Kitarō is the last descendant of the Ghost Tribe, which is a tribe of yōkai rather than literal ghosts. Although in the manga GeGeGe no Kitarō: Kitarō Jigoku Arc (and it's subsequent anime adaptation) he is said to be the son of a yōkai father and a human mother, this lineage has never been used another adaptation.
*Father - Medama-Oyaji
*Mother - Iwako
*Sister - Yuki-Hime (appeared in Yuki-Hime-chan and GeGeGe no Kitarō only but Shigeru Mizuki Memorial Museum states Yuki-Hime as a sister officially)
*Wife - Mary (appeared in After GeGeGe no Kitarō only but Shigeru Mizuki Memorial Museum states Mary as a wife officially)
*Unborn Son - Mary became pregnant, but as Kitarō lost his physical body, Kitarō's soul possessed the yet soul-less embryo of his son and reborn.
*"Uncle" - Kemedama (Kitarō's Vietnam War only)
==History==
Kitarō's mother, Iwako died while she was still pregnant with him, and she and his father were buried by the blood banker Mizuki. But three days later, Kitarō crawls out of her womb and the grave by his own power. His birth story is usually not depicted in the anime series, with the exceptions of the 3rd,GeGeGe no Kitarō (1985): Episode 114 4th,GeGeGe no Kitarō (1996): Episode 78 and Hakaba Kitarō anime.Hakaba Kitarō Anime: Episode 1
After his birth he was taken in by Mizuki, but Kitarō treated him coldly and ran away at age 6, leaving on an aimless journey with his reanimated father (see Medama-Oyaji), eventually settling into a peaceful life in GeGeGe Forest. As a child, he attended Yōkai Elementary with Neko-Musume. According to Nezumi-Otoko, Kitarō attended the Yōkai Study Hall with him. In the live-action movies he is said to have attended a semester at Under the Grave Middle School.
===Day to Day Life===
Kitarō usually lives together with Medama-Oyaji in a tree house commonly referred to as the GeGeGe House, although in the manga chapter Shinigami he lives in Sunakake-Babaa's Yōkai Apartments. Because he owns various Human World goods it seems he has money, but this is never made clear. He essentially lives a poor life, and in the original manga he is seen rummaging through garbage cans. In the serialized mangas and the animes, he doesn't usually receive a reward whenever he solves incidents, at most he will receive free food and bedding whenever he stays with someone. Some clients will offer him a large monetary reward, but he usually recommends they put that money towards hospital bills or, if such is the case, offerings to the Yōkai they disturbed.
The manga series Zoku GeGeGe no Kitarō depicts Kitarō's adolescence . In this series, welfare officer Mansuke suggests to him that "this is an era where yōkai and humans can co-exist". At Mansuke's advise, Kitarō integrates into human society and works various part-time jobs for income. At first he rooms with a poor painter, but the painter finds him annoying and kicks him out. He is then reunited with Nezumi-Otoko for the first time in 7 years and lives with him in a haunted house. Hiding his Ghost Tribe lineage, he poses as a human named Getakichi Tanaka (田中 ゲタ吉, Tanaka Getakichi) and attends Under the Grave High School. He also obtains a human girlfriend named Yuriko. This series also saw Kitarō taking part in seedier elements of human society, such as sex and greed. However, Shigeru Mizuki later felt "bringing sex to Kitarō was a mistake", and so in Shin GeGeGe no Kitarō Kitarō has abandoned his human life and moved to the mountains. By Ōbora Kitarō, Kitarō's adolescence had been retconned and he was depicted as a young boy again.
==Image Songs==
*Moero! Kitarō by Keiko Toda (1985 anime)
*Kitarō Ondo by Keiko Toda (1985 anime)
*Kitarō March by Yōko Matsuoka (1996 anime)
*GeGeGe no Ondo by Yōko Matsuoka (1996 anime)
*Itazura by Minami Takayama (2007 anime)
==Trivia==
*He is considered an original character of Shigeru Mizuki. Although Kitarō's prototype has appeared originally in stories of Masami Itō, himself never claimed authorship for him during the fame of Mizuki's manga.
*Gegege no Kitarō is the mascot for the Gainare Tottori soccer club. Additionally, J.League Division 1 team F.C. Tokyo also holds "Gegege no Kitarō Day" every season.
*In Episode 6 of the Japanese drama Hana-Kimi, the protagonist Ashiya Mizuki (Horikita Maki) is quoted as saying that Izumi Sano (Oguri Shun) looks like "Kitarō", due to the way Sano's hair is styled. Sano then said that Mizuki must be "Medama Oyaji", since Mizuki always has 'his' eye on Sano. Also, in Episode 7, Noe greets the assembled couples on their way to the roof of the school on the evening of the delayed star festival (August 7) dressed as Kitarō and holding a figure of Medama Oyaji bathing in a rice bowl.
*The exclamation "GeGeGe no Ge!" is used by ShogunGekomon in Episode 15 of Digimon Adventure 02.
*In the last chapter of the manga, Ikujinashi Shiawase (Happiness of a Cowardly Boy) by Naono Bohra, character Kawada is embarrassed to look at the face of his lover, Mori, after Mori gets a haircut. Kawada complains that with his new haircut, Mori's handsome face is "too exposed" and attracts too much attention from other people. He states that Kawada used to have hair like "GeGeGe Kitarō", and he preferred it that way since his face was half-hidden most of the time.
*Japanese musician Miyavi has also described his hairstyle as a Kitarōu-cut many times (i.e.: official profile, diary, etc...).
*Shigeru Mizuki has issued a series of limited-edition woodblock prints entitled "Fifty-Three Stations of the Yokaido Road", re-interpreting the famous Hiroshige series "Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido Road" as "a haunted journey". Printed from Mizuki's original paintings, the "Yokaido Road" prints star Kitarō and his troupe, as well as many other yokai and weird creatures of folklore. Produced through the Japanese publisher Yanoman Corporation, in March 2008 the series went on display in the Information and Culture Center of the Japanese Embassy in Washington DC.
*In the Kamen Rider Den-O OVA spin off, Imagin Anime, Ryutaros refers to the show. When the other Tarōs attempt to sing the first part of the series' main theme, Deneb stopped them from getting sued from the mere mention of it by name.
*Main Mushishi character Ginko bears uncanny similarities to Kitarō. Both have similar hairstyles, pale complexions and a missing left eye (this occurs to Ginko in Episode two). The only differences occurring are eye color and hair color. It should also be noted that both series deal with supernatural occurrences.
*The Shaman King character Manta also bears a resemblance to Kitarō in the six anime adaptation.
*In a manga called Miyuki, the character Inoue who appears in chapter 55. bears a striking resemblance to Kitaro in both appearance and personality.
*The protagonist Kubo from the movie "Kubo and the Two Strings" could be reference to Kitaro, due to some similarities to the two.
*In the Episode 3 of the 1968 anime, a snake was among the three animal companions of Kitarō, and Kitarō freely controlled the snake to catch and bind Nezumi-Otoko, similar to the snake that lives in his own stomach.
*Both Masami Itō's original Kitarō and Mizuki's first Kitarō work, Jajin (蛇人 Jajin, lit. Snake Man) in 1954, the titluar characters are depicted as half-snake, half-human boys.
==References==
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