Nyoi-Bō

Nyoi-Bō
如意棒 (Nyoi'bō)
Manga Anime
English Name(s)	Nyoibo or Nyoi-bô (Viz) Power Pole (Funimation)
Manga Debut	Dragon Ball Chapter 1
Anime Debut	Dragon Ball Episode 1
Appears in	Manga & Anime

Nyoi-Bō is Son Goku's staff which serves as his primary weapon from the introduction of the series through the 23rd Tenka'ichi Budōkai. It had been handed down from master to student over many years, having previously been owned by Karin, the Turtle Hermit, and Grandpa Gohan before being gifted to Son Goku. The pole features the magical ability to extend to nearly any length on command. The primary purpose of the staff is to connect Earth at Karin's Tower with the Heavenly Realm and God's Temple, above. The design of the weapon and its use by Son Goku are derived from the original Chinese story Journey to the West which also inspired many other elements of the early Dragon Ball series.

General Overview

Prior to the history recorded by the series, the Nyoi-Bō was kept in safekeeping by Karin at Karin's Tower. It was to be used to allow the worthy to travel from the top of the tower itself to God's Temple above. Around Age 450, Karin was pestered by his student, the Turtle Hermit, and he eventually was permitted to borrow the staff as there was no one in the world at the time worthy to meet God. Some time later, the Turtle Hermit passed the staff down to his pupil, Son Gohan, who in turn passed it down to his adopted grandson, Son Goku.

Throughout the early part of the series, Goku uses the Nyoi-Bō as his primary weapon. Even prior to chapter 1, Goku has mastered extending and retracting the staff in combat and used it to defeat a flying dinosaur in mid-air. Although Goku did not have the staff with him the first time he climbed Karin's Tower (leaving it below with Upa), Goku subsequently discovered the staff's intended use while recovering at the Tower after defeating Demon King Piccolo. He was then able to use it to ascend to God's Temple, the first person to do so in hundreds of years, and receive training from God. Goku retrieved the staff and carried it with him to the 23rd Tenka'ichi Budōkai, but he had stopped using it as a weapon by the time of the arrival of Raditz.

For the remainder of the series, the Nyoi-Bō was placed back between the Tower and Temple several times, always off screen. Often, but not always, it was removed during major threats. When Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Goku's other friends trained with God to prepare for the arrival of Vegeta and Nappa, it was in place, however it was not in place during the battle itself. It remained in place during the battles against the Artificial Humans. Years later, it was still in place until just prior to the arrival of Babadi, but was disconnected before the battle with Boo and remained so for the remainder of the manga story.

Powers and Abilities

Murasaki is unable to break Goku's Nyoi-Bō with a sword.

In regular use, Goku wields the Nyoi-Bō like a standard Bō staff. Although the exact mechanism is unclear, Goku is able to extend the length of the staff for a distance strike. Frequently, this is done while he yells "Nobiru, Nyoi-Bō" (伸びる如意棒!) or a variant. The limits of this ability have not been confirmed; the farthest it was seen to extend in the manga was when it was connected to God's Temple. An earlier depiction where the Bō stretched all the way to the moon may have been a gag; see below. The Nyoi-Bō also appears to be unnaturally strong, able to deflect sword-strikes and other attacks without damage.

Connecting to God's Temple

Son Goku attaches the Nyoi-Bō to the top of Karin's Tower

A key function of the Nyoi-Bō is to make a path from the top of Karin's Tower to God's Temple, high above. This connection is spiritual as well as physical as the Temple is actually located in the Heavenly Realm. Son Goku and other worthy individuals could place one end of the Nyoi-Bō in a receptacle at the very top of the tower. By extending it from there, it connects to a matching receptacle on the underside of the Temple. Goku was able to use this method to ascend to the Temple to train with God and Mr. Popo after defeating Demon King Piccolo.

Anime and Movies

Karin antes up the Nyoi-Bō in a card game.

• In Dragon Ball Episode 30, written by Keiji Terui, Son Goku is able to extend the Nyoi-Bō from a distance by yelling.
• In the second Dragon Ball Z film, written by Takao Koyama, Son Gohan appears to have inherited the staff from his father. He uses it in combat against Dr. Uiro.
• In the Garlic Jr. Saga, an anime-only Dragon Ball Z arc written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, Karin is depicted as having possession of the Nyoi-Bō once again. He and Yajirobe nearly lose the staff to Maron as a wager in a card game.
• At the end of Dragon Ball GT, a spectral Son Goku attends a Tenka'ichi Budōkai with the Nyoi-Bō a hundred years after the events of the series.
• In Dragon Ball Super Episode 86, written by Toshio Yoshitaka, Dende is able to retract the Nyoi-Bō into God's Temple and fly the entire platform to another location on Earth.

Name

Nyoi-Bō is the Japanese reading of the Chinese 如意棒 (Rúyì Bàng), a shortened form of 如意金箍棒 (Rúyì Jīngū Bàng), Sun Wukong's "Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod" from the Chinese novel Journey to the West. Nyoi-Bō may be rendered as "As-One-Wishes Rod" or "Compliant Rod", or left untranslated.

Production

Origin in Journey to the West

Son Gohan, dressed as Son Wukong, holding the original Nyoi-Bō. Note the gold tips not present on the Dragon Ball version of the staff.

Like several elements within early Dragon Ball, Nyoi-Bō finds its inspiration in Journey to the West, a classical Chinese folk novel published in the 16th century by Wu Cheng'en.

In Journey to the West, the Handsome Monkey King Sun Wukong (孫悟空), not content with a mere scimitar he had stolen from the Monstrous King of Havoc, seeks a weapon to match his skill from Ao Guang (敖廣), the Dragon King of the East Sea. When he arrives, he finds that none of the Dragon King's weapons are strong enough to match his strength. After dismissing all of the significant weapons in the treasury (including a long-handed scimitar, a nine-pronged fork, and a giant halberd), all that remains is a giant, barrel-sized iron rod. The rod had been glowing for the last several days, which the dragon family takes as some sort of sign relevant to the Monkey King. Sun Wukong lifts the pillar and, content with its weight (whereas all of the previous weapons felt too light), finds that he is able to command it to both grow and reduce in size at will. The rod is inscribed with its name and weight: 如意金箍棒重一萬三千五百斤 ("The Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod. Weight: 13,500 Catties"). Intimidated by his overwhelming power and talent, the Dragon King lets Sun Wukong take the rod with him, along with fantastic clothing coerced from his fellow dragon brethren.

That piece of iron—a small stroke with it is deadly and a light tap is fatal! The slightest touch will crack the skin and a small rap will injure the muscles!
— The Journey to the West Volume 1, Translated and Edited by Anthony C. Yu (page 107)

As with other techniques and weaponry, Sun Wukong is able to immediately master his usage of the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod, which remains in use throughout the rest of the tale. Sun Wukong typically shrinks it down to the size of a needle to hide by his ear, calling it forth — and even duplicating it — at will.

He held the treasure in his hands and called out, "Smaller, smaller, smaller!" and at once it shrank to the size of a tiny embroidery needle, small enough to be hidden inside the ear. Awe-struck, the monkeys cried, "Great King! Take it out and play with it some more." The Monkey King took it out from his ear and placed it on his palm. "Bigger, bigger, bigger!" he shouted, and again it grew to the thickness of a barrel and more than twenty feet long. He became so delighted playing with it that he jumped onto the bridge and walked out of the cave. Grasping the treasure in his hands, he began to perform the magic of cosmic imitation. He bent over and cried, "Grow!" and at once grew to be ten thousand feet tall, with a head like the T'ai Mountain and a chest like a rugged peak, eyes like lightning and a mouth like a blood bowl, and teeth like swords and halberds. The cudgel in his hands was of such a size that its top reached the thirty-third Heaven and its bottom the eighteenth layer of Hell. Tigers, leopards, wolves, and crawling creatures, all the monsters of the mountain and the demon kinds of the seventy-two caves, were so terrified that they kowtowed and paid homage to the Monkey King in fear and trembling. Presently he revoked his magical appearance and changed the treasure back into a tiny embroidery needle stored in his ear. He returned to the cave dwelling, but the demon kings of the various caves were still frightened, and they continued to come to pay their respects.
— The Journey to the West Volume 1, Translated and Edited by Anthony C. Yu (page 107)

Pre-Dragon Ball

Two early illustrations of Son Goku, both wielding the Nyoi-Bō

One of the several next-issue preview pages from the 1984 No. 50 issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine, promoting Dragon Ball's debut in the following issue

While developing the Dragon Ball manga, Akira Toriyama drew a pair of prototype stories followed by drafts of early sequences in Dragon Ball. The first of these prototypes, Dragon Boy, released in two chapters in June and September 1983, featured a Chinese setting and other elements which would be later adopted in Dragon Ball. The Son Goku analogue in that story, Tangtong, was depicted as wielding Chinese weapons on the two cover pages: a guandao ("reclining moon blade") and a pair of crescent moon knives, respectively. Tangtong was not depicted wielding a weapon in the story itself.

Between the prototype publications in 1983 and Dragon Ball's first publication in November 1984, Toriyama developed drafts of the Dragon Ball stories with his editor Kazuhiko Torishima. The early drafts elaborated on the original Dragon Boy concept, incorporating elements from Journey to the West. One early draft depicted Son Goku as a more direct analogue of Sun Wukong, including a monkey-like appearance and a Nyoi-Bō with golden bands on the end, making the first appearance of Nyoi-Bō in any of the pre-Dragon Ball material. A subsequent draft eliminated the monkey-like traits of the character, though Nyoi-Bō was retained. This version of the staff more closely resembles the one from the final work, without the golden bands on the ends. For this final manuscript, Toriyama specifically noted his inclusion of the extending staff Nyoi-Bō:

Nyoi-Bō:
A magnificent staff that extends and retracts freely according to one's will. It appears along with the "Kinton'un" in Journey to the West. I'm planning on bringing out the Kinton'un later on, too!
— Akira Toriyama, Bird Land Press 15

In the next-issue preview within the 1984 No. 50 issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump, the splash promoting Dragon Ball's debut the following issue showcases a Shenlong facsimile, Bulma, as well as Son Goku flying atop Kinto'un with Nyoi-Bō in hand. That same month's fifteenth issue of Bird Land Press, Akira Toriyama's official fanclub newsletter, likewise featured a finalized Son Goku with Kinto'un and Nyoi-Bō as its front cover illustration.

Dragon Ball

Nyoi-Bō was retained into the final version of the manga and appeared in the series' very first chapter.

Son Goku's Nyoi-Bō in Dragon Ball differs from that of the original "Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod" from Journey to the West in many ways. The original is heavy, weighing 13,500 "Catties" (approximately 17,550 lbs / 7,960 kg). In addition to growing and shrinking in length, the rod could also adjust its width. When originally discovered, it was the width of a barrel, but Sun Wukong was able to command it down to be small enough to wield as a staff. Unlike Son Goku who kept the Nyoi-Bō on his back, Sun Wukong frequently shrunk it down to needle-size and hid it behind his ear. The original also had the power to duplicate itself as commanded. Finally, the original featured golden hoops or loops on the ends while the Dragon Ball version appears to be completely straight.

External Links

• Journey to the West Research - "That Piece of Rare Magic Iron": The Literary and Religious Origins of the Monkey King's Staff
• Journey to the West Research - A Historical Source for Monkey's Staff?
• Journey to the West Research - Deciphering the Inscription on the Monkey King's Staff
• Journey to the West Research - Misconceptions About Monkey's Staff and the Milky Way Galaxy