Talk:Benkei

Fictional mentions and inspiration

Benkei probably served as one of the inspirations for Jebu in Robert Shea's Shike books. Trying to think how to word this before I add it to the article. --131.207.161.152 14:05, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Take all the mentions of Benkei and stick it in a new section, list-style, and label it "Benkei in fiction", or something like that. --maru (talk) contribs 16:51, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Representations of character

I'm hoping someone knowledgeable in drama and fiction happens to be watching this page... I'm curious about the way Benkei is represented in different tales. In Kanjincho, and a number of other places, he is seen as being quite clever, calm, and reserved. However, in Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura, he is impetuous, violent, and not particularly observant, or it would seem cognizant, of the kinds of observances he, as a Buddhist monk, particularly one from Enryakuji, ought to be following. Any thoughts? Thanks. LordAmeth 20:31, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Saito

Where does "Saito" (西塔) come from? It's not mentioned at all in the Japanese article. I'm curious about the source of this part of the name. ···日本穣^{? · Talk to Nihonjoe} 01:26, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Just from looking at google there are about 100 000 hits for '武蔵坊弁慶' and 228 for '西塔武蔵坊弁慶' (several of these pages' main language not being Japanese, and so probably influenced by Wikipedia). While there's some Japanese evidence he was sometimes known as Saito Musashibo Benkei, it doesn't seem like this is how he's generally known.

--Rsm77 (talk) 19:40, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

I regret that I don't have any overly definitive sources on me right now, but Saitô Musashibô Benkei is absolutely a very common name for him, indeed, as far as I am aware, the most common name when one is not abbreviating to simply Benkei. Which kanji are used to write it, I have no idea. LordAmeth (talk) 23:30, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

He was called Musashibou Benkei (武藏房辨慶) or Benkei Houshi (辨慶法師) in Azuma Kagami (吾妻鏡). There are three occurrences of Saitou no Musashibou Benkei (西塔の武蔵坊弁慶) in Gikeiki (義経記). Saitou (西塔) probably refers to the West Pagoda of Enryaku-ji (延暦寺). Viking Rollo (talk) 04:54, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Wouldn't it be appropriate to change the title of this article to "Benkei"? This is already done by Encyclopedia Britannica [1]. It sounds like he is most commonly referred to by just this name, so much so that if we wish to use a longer name it becomes ambiguous what that name should be (three plausible suggestions were just given by Viking Rollo, and none of those corresponds exactly with the current title, which omits the "no" particle). It also seems that "Benkei" is perfectly unambiguous in Japan and elsewhere. The big statue of him in Kii Tanabe has simply "Benkei statue" inscribed in its base; a photo of this is the main feature of the Japanese wikipedia article on this topic, which also omits at least the Saitou part from its title. All the variations can of course be explained in the lead. Cesiumfrog (talk) 07:17, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

I agree. The table bellow is a quick research on Gikeiki text from http://www.j-texts.com/sheet/kgikei.html Viking Rollo (talk) 11:19, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

count	name	rōmaji
3	西塔の武蔵坊弁慶	Saitou no Musashibou Benkei
0	西塔武蔵坊弁慶	Saitou Musashibou Benkei
2	武蔵坊弁慶	Musashibou Benkei
74	武蔵坊	Musashibou
194	弁慶	Benkei

Since Benkei was just a redirect to this article, I've moved it to that title. I also see just "Benkei" far more often than the full name or any other abbreviation of the full name. He's listed as simply "Benkei" in several encyclopedias. ···日本穣^? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WikiProject Japan! 15:48, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

tanabe

Tanabe, Wakayama has a couple big statues (and a festival, etc) of Benkei. What's the connection, is that where he was born? Cesiumfrog (talk) 09:35, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Contemp refs

Longer than the actual real part of the article, I think I am going to be sick. This is getting modified to bejesus once I get my hands on some proper refs. Man Over-bored (talk) 15:40, 16 July 2015 (UTC)

Nanadogu Benkei

Is there a decent ref to the Nanadogu, or is that a myth made up by the Seven Basic Tools of Quality crowd?

Hcobb (talk) 19:17, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:

• Grupo sacerdotes.png

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. Community Tech bot (talk) 04:21, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

More on career and folklore

I have renamed "Adaptations" to "In popular culture", as it better describes the content of the section. I've also divided the info according to medium for comprehensibility. The article would benefit from additional info about Benkei's career as a retainer and the events leading up to his death (something a bit more detailed than "In the end..."). Also, there are countless folk tales revolving around Benkei, but virtually none are mentioned here. Perhaps a "Folklore" section enumerating those various stories and his influence on pop culture would be appropriate. Zargabaath (talk) 09:03, 20 May 2020 (UTC)