ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how the process of adoption and indigenisation of Chinese fiction helped form the ethical foundations for Sarutobi ‘monkey-jump’ Sasuke. It considers the image of Sasuke during the politically turbulent first few decades of the 20th century, when he became a regional and a national icon. Transcultural elements derived from Chinese argot fiction played an obvious role in the creation of the Bunmeido figure of Sarutobi ‘monkey-jump’ Sasuke. After a lengthy historical exposition typical of ‘vocal literature’, the opening narration to Sarutobi-sasuke directs towards Sasuke’s lineage. Sasuke is the antithesis of Yukimura, who is calm, good-natured, and an intellectual. Sasuke is the embodiment of energy and zeal, his natural proclivity for action over words suggestive of a man with the physical capacity to win a war against the Tokugawa. Sasuke is a young provincial looking to exchange the confinement of rural life for adventure and betterment elsewhere.
