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Oda-sensei likes to create important characters that are based off real-life people and/or folklore. The three old Admirals are based off characters from tale of Momotaro.

I'm curious to know if there is any in Japanese folklore on the two new Admirals: - Issho (or Isshou) is aka Fujitora (purple tiger) - "Green Bull," which Doflamingo talks about in Chapter 713.

I tried googling but I got nothing except for Metamorphic Force.

Does anyone have a clue or something about what animals (and story) these two new admirals are based off of?

кяαzєя
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JJ86
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  • So is *Kizaru* still an admiral?! We all know that *Akainu* is now the fleet-admiral and *Aokiji* left after his battle with *Akainu*. – Rahul Nov 08 '13 at 17:19
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    @R.J well i think yes, because Doflamingo only talk about "Green Bull"; another clue is: blue + yellow = green and blu + red = purple (just because the blue admiral left). – JJ86 Nov 08 '13 at 21:41

2 Answers2

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Fujitora is clearly based off of Zatoichi.

Zatoichi at first seems a harmless blind anma (masseur) and bakuto (gambler) who roams around the country, making his living by chō-han (playing dice) as well as giving massages, performing acupuncture and on occasion, singing and playing music; however, secretly, he is also very highly skilled in swordsmanship, specifically Muraku-school kenjutsu and iaido and is equally skilled in the more general sword skills of Japan, as well as Sumo wrestling and kyujutsu

Nothing has been revealed about "Ryokugyu" as of this post.

кяαzєя
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  • That was nice, thank you. I read a lot about Zatoichi, thanks to your link. Once again, Oda showed his knowledge: he is awesome! – JJ86 Mar 21 '14 at 09:22
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The story of Momotaro may be related to the old believes of the onmyodo 陰陽道　Yin-Yang Worldview. The direction of bad influence, kimon, is in the ushi-tora (bull tiger) direction. So one of the demons Momotaro is fighting has horns and the other wears a tiger skin.

And the Monkey, Dog and Pheasant are animals in the zodiac, in the opposite heavenly direction from the kimon　鬼門　. Another source for the oni's image is a concept from China and Onmyōdō. The northeast direction was once termed the kimon (鬼門, "demon gate"), and was considered an unlucky direction through which evil spirits passed. Based on the assignment of the twelve zodiac animals to the cardinal directions, the kimon was also known as the ushitora (丑寅), or "Ox Tiger" direction, and the oni's bovine horns and cat-like fangs, claws, and tiger-skin loincloth developed as a visual depiction of this term.

Eduardo
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