Kenji
I’m going to talk about a little-known manga (Japanese comic book) called Kenji that I discovered a couple of years ago. It quickly became my favourite martial arts manga ever and one of my top 5 shonen (series marketed to a younger male audience). It’s a martial arts adventure like no other I’ve read. The story takes place in the real world around the 70s/80s, no fantasy elements. Every martial art named is a real style from our world, so are most techniques or training concepts. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday between 1988 and 1992 and collected in 21 tankobon (collected editions of the originally serialized manga). It’s allegedly inspired on the actual life of Kenji’s writer, Matsuda Ryuchi, who apparently is also the author of several books on martial arts including A Historical Outline of Chinese Martial Arts (published only in Japanese and Chinese from what I could gather).
The Story
The story follows the adventures of Goh Kenji from his childhood to his teenage years. Kenji is a boy from Japan who from a young age starts training in the art of Bajiquan with his grandfather Goh Kyotaro. Early in the story, his grandpa decides to go back to China to find his kung fu brother. Kenji keeps practicing what he knows but his training remains incomplete, so he starts training in different styles to fill the gaps in his fighting skills. Eventually, after finding a Bajiquan teacher he decides to go to China to find Kyotaro. With the help from influential members of a Chinese secret society, he travels to Taiwan, Hong Kong and finally the north of China. During his journey to find his grandfather he meets several masters and students of many different styles of kung fu, makes many friends and some enemies.
The Martial Arts
So, this is what brought us all here (and caught my interest from this particular manga). There’s a huge list of martial arts and, maybe a shorter list of actual real historical martial artists portrayed and/or mentioned in the story. As I’ve already mentioned the main one is Bajiquan (八极拳), this is the first style Kenji learns and the one he goes back to. Bajiquan’s main characteristic is its short-range power, and it is wonderfully depicted in the manga.
In his journey to become a better fighter, he meets Takayama sensei, who introduces Kenji to his version of Shotokan Karate and teaches him footwork. Through him, we also learn a bit about Daito Ryu Aiki jujutsu.
In Taiwan, Kenji gets to study with Master Liu Yunqiao (last student of Li Shuwen) and his disciples, all real martial arts masters. He learns a bit of Baguazhang and Chen Style Taijiquan. Again both styles are as faithfully represented as the medium allows. This tells me the author really knew what he was writing about. But the art, by Fujiwara Yoshihide, is what makes all of this knowledge shine and translate into a sequential narrative. So each move is faithfully depicted but it doesn’t feel like a martial arts manual.
Through Kenji we get to see a lot of Chinese styles, southern, northern, internal, external, some more known like Taijiquan or Hung Gar, some less so, like Piguaquan or Xinyi Liuhe Quan. But the author also pays homage to Sumo, western boxing and even Karate. That said, his description of Shotokan, and the character of Takayama sensei makes me believe the author didn’t hold much love for his native arts. His description of Karate makes it sound a bit of a one-note martial art. I also don’t recall any mention of Judo. Being a Chinese martial arts guy myself I share his love for those arts. But as an amateur scholar of martial arts, in general, I believe he might’ve lacked research. Then again Matsuda did practice some Karate, which might’ve left the wrong impression. Also, back in the 80s, research was not as easily done as today.
Wasn’t this a review?
Though I could go on about the martial arts, I do not mean to write a long list of bullet points. It’s hard on any review of anything with a plot to communicate why it’s good or bad. As I said at the beginning this is by far my favorite martial arts comic (from anywhere, not just manga). What makes it so you might ask? Well, the martial arts themselves are one thing. This is not my first martial arts comic by a longshot. However, this has by far the best rendition of real world fighting styles I’ve seen. There’s quality and quantity and there’s something there for almost everybody. Also, you learn about famous exponents of different styles and even some modern masters appear. But that might not be enough for most readers to give Kenji a try. So Let me try to elaborate a bit more.
Our hero
Kenji starts the manga as a very young boy (third grade). He’s someone who cares for others and tries to help them at all costs. That is how he meets his friend Taichi, by saving him from bullies. He does what every martial artist should do, and that is train incessantly. He trains, for years even, after his teacher (his grandfather Kyotaro) leaves for China. When he finds his training isn’t complete, he tries to learn what he can from other teachers, even other styles, but everything informs his Bajiquan. He becomes better at his main style by adding what he learns from others. This gets to me as it is my belief that most (if not all) traditional martial arts are complete systems. Maybe some things aren’t taught explicitly but a fighter can’t be a good one without footwork, or physical strength training or speed.
Kenji becomes a complete fighter but in the end, he always goes back to the basics. You see this clearly when Master Liu Yunqiao decides he needs to learn Baguazhang and Taijiquan. He sees Kenji, our protagonist, has a strong foundation but he lacks certain skills that he can learn better from those styles.
Kenji fights a lot of people (this is about martial arts after all), but as a winner or a loser, most of his rivals become his friends. This shows another aspect I think is desirable in any fighter: the ability to acknowledge opponents and try to ultimately make peace with them. The first one is Hotta, Takayama sensei’s disciple. He meets Kenji very early in the story, becoming his rival and friend. But he is far from the last and Kenji is always open to learning from all of his rivals.
The Supporting Cast
Taichi and Hotta are both lovable characters. Taichi wants to become strong but he doesn’t have Kenji’s aptitude for martial arts. Hotta becomes a friendly rival to our protagonist for a short bit. Kyotaro appears early in the story and then we don’t see much of him for a long while. He’s your typical fictional martial arts master. He’s a nice old man, quite carefree. He loves martial arts and Kenji, and they share this love that binds them. In Takayama sensei, the author shows us a young (compared to other masters we see) yet seasoned fighter and teacher.
Akira is sort of the love interest. There’s no actual romantic plot but she’s devoted to Kenji, even after he travels abroad, and helps him on several occasions. Tony Tan, our main antagonist, has a tragic past that made him hard and violent. He’s ruthless and has little to no remorse about killing. Because of that attitude, he’s never allowed to learn Bajiquan. He envies Kenji and follows him to China, trying to learn the best and deadliest techniques to defeat him. He is Kenji’s moral opposite, which makes him the second least relatable character, but he’s still a good villain.
The Art
And let’s not forget the penciller. This is a comic after all. Fujiwara Yoshihide draws simple but anatomically accurate characters. It’s manga from the 80s so the art style can feel a bit dated for some. As I said before, styles and techniques are wonderfully depicted. It almost looks like a manual, to the point that even someone not familiar with them can understand them. But again, this is first and foremost a comic and you get that. It’s sequential art and that is not lost to exposition and manual like pictures.
Conclusions
This is a story every kung fu lover should read. I’d go so far as to say most martial artists too (if they enjoy martial arts comics). The characters feel like people one could know, even though our protagonist at times seems too virtuous. The story is entertaining, the art depicts the martial arts faithfully, and the fights are quite realistic. Some are quick street fights that end after one blow, some are ring bouts, there’s even a sumo match. It’s clear Matsuda knew what he was writing about and the art makes the story enjoyable. Sadly I don’t know if there’s an official translation into English, but you can find it online.
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