Fatherhood in Dragonball: The Five Fathers' of Son Goku
Gohan, Yamcha, Roshi, Ox-King & Kami
Don’t worry I will next week deal in the second of my Japanese adventures for those wanting an update. But for now, I wanted to discuss a different topic; fatherhood in a piece of Japanese media, notably that of Dragonball.
It is an interesting fact that Toriyama poured so much energy and intelligence into the role of fathers in their sons’ lives. Contrary to the claims of some, Son Goku for example was not a bad father, nor was he eternally absent from the life of his son Gohan, to the contrary. In flashbacks, as in filler movies and episodes we see him spending most of his time that ought to be spent training, with Gohan or Chi-Chi. It is evident from the Cell Games that he loves nothing more than to idle a day away fishing and picnicking with his wife and son. Sure he likes a good tournament, but the life and death struggles never truly appealed to him (he is a sportsman, after-all), and this can be seen in DB, and in how he carries himself.
Goku though did not have the same benefits Gohan did though; where Gohan had a father figure and then later a uncle in Piccolo, then another uncle to help him out on Namek in the form of Krillin, Goku did not have these things. He might have been better off had he had Piccolo and Krillin type figures.
But as it is, he only had an immature, and highly superficial Bulma whom he had a hot and cold fraternal bond with, his elder brother figure Yamcha and maybe Roshi. Sure he had Grandpa Gohan, but as he passed away when Goku was very young, yet he deserves a mention.
Of the three major figures who acted like fathers’ to Goku, Gohan was the first.
This first figure was honourable, kind and already quite old by the time he took Goku in, at first he was alarmed at the violence of his young charge and struggled with him. It was not until Goku fell from a great height, struck his head that he became gentle and finally was able to begin to take in Gohan’s lessons.
Gohan was gentle and instilled in Goku the values he would carry over to the present day, and that he would instill in his own son, who was named in honour of the adoptive father who taught him everything. However, Gohan did not much educate his son (not that he had much time to do so), his charge had a genius IQ and was quite clever, but the trouble for Gohan was that the boy had a monkey-transformation problem.
The next father figure was oddly the most consistent in Goku’s life; Yamcha. I know a lot of Vegeta fans hate Yamcha for some reason (likely having to do with Yamcha claiming ‘Bulma’s ‘V’-Card’, and being her first love), but Yamcha is really in some ways the ‘Unsung Hero of Dragonball’ and of the whole Son family. Yamcha was more older brother than father, but he counts as a type of father figure, as he was the one who was to help double down on Gohan’s teachings, on top of that there is something in how Yamcha behaved around Goku that is deeply moving to observe.
Yamcha doesn’t act like a cad, sure he’s pushed around by Bulma a lot and has to deal with her cheating on him consistently but he still tries to protect her image, that of others such as Oolong from Goku. He also does his best to show his maturity and to explain concepts and ideas that Goku as a child didn’t understand, in a way the boy could. Sure Goku was stronger than him, but it should not be in any doubt that part of Goku’s honour code (and he does have one) is- nah the whole thing is derived from Yamcha.
Case in point is when Goku didn’t understand what marriage was, he turns to Krillin and Yamcha to explain it to him, only for him to decide he MUST marry Chi-Chi because it was the right thing to do as he had given his word. It is also interesting that at times as a kid he sought to impress Yamcha with how ‘grown up’ he could be so that one can see some measure of hero-worship there.
Also, it is funny that Goku tends to clown on others, putting on a ‘buffoon’ act (and it is an act as confirmed after the first meeting with Trunks), and otherwise trolling people, yet the only one Goku never does this to are Yamcha and Ox-King. He clowns on Kami, Piccolo, Chi-Chi and even Krillin in affectionate ways, even Tien (his next elder brother) yet Yamcha & Ox-King are held as almost sacro-sanct by him.
Even the ‘no-fighting girls’ rule that Goku later developed and clung to was inspired by Yamcha. It is interesting that Gohan gave Goku his heart, Yamcha his honour so that now we must turn to the one who refined him and polished his muscles.
Roshi is a great father figure, but also a terrible one. A lech, he did instill in Goku a work-ethic and general plan for how to work out; work hard in the morning, chill out and study after a hearty lunch then nap/sleep until supper.
Roshi evidently worked hard on Goku’s education but there was only so much catching up that you could do given how in disarray that thing was. It is also interesting to note that Goku in the manga later comments to Kami that he finds Roshi to be a pervert, but that the man was a good mentor all things considered.
So Goku was aware of the man’s flaws, and was wise enough to prefer not to emulate them. Still he took from him what he needed and moved on in life, and was to incorporate the lessons of Roshi and apply them throughout all of DBZ.
It was also Roshi who beat him and Krillin as Jackie Chun, in order to give the two someone worth aspiring after. Only Yamcha figured out the truth, with Tien initially being an enemy and after he beat Roshi, Roshi gave his blessings for the youth to defeat Goku and Krillin as he knew they needed someone to aspire after so that they would not get bored of martial arts.
Next came Ox-King, and it might seem odd to dub him a father figure, but what is interesting is that Roshi found Goku difficult to raise. Goku was a spontaneous, energetic spaz with too much energy for the old man, he just could not keep up with the young Saiyan. This was completely unlike Yamcha who could handle Goku fairly well, something he had in common with Ox-King.
Observing Dragonball the manga and the anime closely, one will detect something interesting in Goku’s behaviour around Ox-King. Once the latter is redeemed, Goku treats him with reverence and is obedient to him, when Ox-King tells him to calm down and sit with him, Goku does so unquestionably. When the middle-aged widower tells him to be nicer to Chi-Chi, Goku goes and does so, when the man gives him some advice, Goku immediately takes it to heart.
It is easy to detect a certain element of filial piety here, so that maybe to some extent the choice of Ox-King as a father-in-law was always there. One might say that Ox-King had ulterior motives and just wanted to facilitate marrying his daughter to Goku, but I don’t see it. Sure he went along with his daughter’s desires, but he also genuinely seems to have wanted a bond with the boy, as Goku was Gohan’s adoptive son and Gohan was an elder brother to Ox-King. And watching the anime he seems to have genuinely come to love and respect Goku, who in turn respects him in such a way that he didnt’ with Roshi and Oolong for some reason.
Ox-King and Goku are undeniably close, with Goku in the child portion of the story seemingly hero-worshiping and constantly holding Ox-King’s advice on the same pedestal as that of Grandpa Gohan and Yamcha (high praise). Honestly, the Ox-King scenes with Goku are amongst the most wholesome.
Lastly we have Kami, a heart-sick old man who stopped believing in himself, Kami is gentle, kind and wise in a way no other mentor is. He’s also sincere, and evidently loved Goku as a father would a son, and Goku is honestly pious towards him. But the trouble Goku finds is the self-loathing that Kami feels. Kami’s belief that King Piccolo and himself are the same person and that because of this Kami must be punished and must die, if only to ‘make up for his sins’ seems to frustrate and anger Goku.
Then there’s the fact that after King Piccolo dies and reincarnates himself into Piccolo, who is far gentler and more honourable, with Kami initially refusing to see this fact, also adds to Goku’s annoyance towards his final paternal figure.
Kami oversaw Goku’s education (afterwards we get lots of references to pretty complex mathematical and physics based questions), he oversaw a great expansion in Goku’s martial arts education and was to always treat him warmly. This relationship was the perfect one for a teenage Goku, with Yamcha and Ox-King likely not to have known how best to handle a maturing Goku. But Kami did know how to handle him, and did so with dignity and class.
The few flashbacks to this point we get show Kami to have been genial, patient and even having an easy smile. One could see that it was probably the happiest time of Kami’s life oddly enough, as he had a student worthy of him but also one hungry for a father, and as hungry for a friend as Kami was hungry for a son and friend also.
It is interesting how lonely the two were, and how they both needed one another here, and how Goku set about in the Piccolo arc not to kill Piccolo as Kami wished but to redeem Piccolo. Because it seems that to Goku’s mind if Piccolo was a part of Kami, there had to be good in him just as there is an edge to Kami.
Quite a bit of discernment, but it is also at this time that Goku utilized and mastered all the lessons that the five father figures in his life had instilled in him. Sad as it was that he had a pretty troubled, and hardly stable life, but he nonetheless was given some of the greatest lessons any man can receive and applied them perfectly.
Gohan gave him heart, Yamcha honour, Roshi a work-ethic and muscles, Ox-King gave him the ability to listen with eyes unclouded/wisdom and Kami gave him discernment and maturity.
Loving this analytic series on DBZ. I’m a big fan of the show. I totally forgot how crucial the earlier episodes were in guiding Goku into becoming Earth’s savior rather than its destroyer. Also says a lot about the power of role models and influence on future generations, especially since Goku was barely one generation removed from the destructive, often expected, tendencies of the Saiyan culture.
He doesn’t get much screen time, but Goku’s real father, Bardock, plays a role somehow in the more beyond-the-grave, bigger-than-life ways that guide Goku during key moments. Sure, he’s not present, but he made the fundamental decision to send Goku off-world before Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta (at least in the retconned Broly movie), and then faced Frieza head on like a true leader would (King Vegeta is never shown putting up a legit fight against Frieza). So whether it was through vague references or spiritual connection, Goku does revere Bardock in some ways, albeit very minimally. So I appreciate the focus on the physical presence in your essay.
Great read! Thank you 🙏
Yamcha is the desert bandit and the girls love the bad boys. Once you point it out the big brother thing is clear. With Yamcha falling away as a character is Gohan growing up.