| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I know of Yoshitsune from Tale of the Heike and of course the major players of the Sengoku period like Nobunaga and Kenshin have fantastic elements.
Are there accounts of samurai that go on epic quests similar to Sir Gawain or Odysseus?
Momotaro. I had a fully illustrated book with this story. One of my favorites as a kid.
Lone wolf has a few stories within it, and plenty of ideas. For further game ideas, ever seen Hyouge Mono? Very historically based, and it is about a samurai that is trying to secure the masterwork art pieces of the day deep in the Sengoku period.
Having to complete the course of the marathon mountain monks, could be another quest.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Musashi's tales sound pretty epic to me. Also The Tale of Genji.
I'll look into Hyouge Mono.
You're right, I guess I hadn't considered the Musashi's life to be a quest but it certainly fits.
I'd also throw in Goemon but he's not so much on a quest.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Tomoe Gozen --she was actually a real person. But several years ago there was a trio of fantasy novels about her. I can't remember the author, but the title I remember is "The Golden Naginata".
Look up Yagyu Jubei.
Also, I would not avoid looking at more contemporary works, as many of them also reference old samurai tales... famously Usagi Yojimbo's real name is "Miyamoto Usagi" -- referencing Miyamoto Musashi. Lone Wolf and Cub is also a great contemporary samurai tale.
Also for history go back to your Tale of the Heike... it is sometimes a boring read (IMO) but it references many major samurai of legend. Tale of the Heike is basically comparable to the Iliad in relative terms of scope and importance, or at least so I was taught in college.