Allusions to Kami in chapter 13?

[dylanmorgan17]

I was just doing a bit of re-reading of Dragon Ball volume 2 when I stumbled upon dialogue between Gokuu and Muten-Roshi.

Goku: This Kin-to'un you gave me is awesome.
Roshi:Of course it is! I got it straight from Kami-sama himself!*

Is Roshi infering that he met the Guardian of the earth at some point or could he just describe the good feeling of receiving something? I must note that I vaguely remember refering to Kami after he got wished back in the Piccolo arc but I cannot remember the dialouge or maybe he is refering to Karin/Korin who if memory serves me correctly may have been the originally intended guardian of the earth due to Toryama writng by the seat of his pants. I do remember Korin going on about Roshi and the Kin-to'un during the Piccolo arc too.

I must also be reminded what was Karin purpose on Earth?

Sorry about any incohearences I am tired and need my sleep.

[Piccolo Daimao]

That's Viz's version, isn't it? I would assume that the original version's different, because it's stated later that Karin was the one who gave him the Kinto'un. Unless that was a retcon.

[Savage68]

I'm 99% sure that Roshi said the Kinto'un was given to him by God in the original dialogue. But I'm also 99% sure that the god he was talking was not the green old guy with antennae that we see way later on in the Piccolo arc, and was just some abstract entity.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I'm 99% sure that Roshi said the Kinto'un was given to him by God in the original dialogue. But I'm also 99% sure that the god he was talking was not the green old guy with antennae that we see way later on in the Piccolo arc, and was just some abstract entity.

Really? Then I guess it was just Toriyama not thinking far ahead, and it later being retconned by Karin giving him the Kinto'un. In-universe, though, Karin may not have ever told about the God of Earth (Goku never knew of him until he had to go up to him to restore the DBs and be trained by him to defeat Piccolo), and he was just talking about some abstract entity. Like how some parents call their children "a gift from God".

[Herms]

Yes, Kame-sennin says in Japanese that he got Kinto-un from "Kami-sama". But "Kami-sama" is simply Japanese for "God", and not a name. It's like how Bulma says in the first chapter that the last guy to collect all the dragonballs become a king, and then later on we meet the King who rules Earth. That doesn't mean these are necessarily supposed to be the same character, just that they're both kings. So Kame-sennin got Kinto-un from a god, but not necessarily the God of Earth. Anyway, later in the series we learn he got it from Karin, and Karin is supposed to be a "god of the martial arts", so I guess that fits. According to the guide books, Karin's specific role on Earth is to serve as intermediary between Earth's God and its people, which sounds like a polite way of saying that he's the one who does all the work.