Mugen and Jin - Comparison and Contrast
April 23, 2011
Jin and Mugen: Comparison and Contrast
Jin and Mugen are two very different characters in the Anime series Samurai Champloo. While Jin is the level-headed, reserved, disciplined and orthodox samurai, Mugen is the wild, aggressive, rude, unorthodox vagabond. Throughout the series their differences are displayed in great extremes, whether they come from their different backgrounds, their styles of combat, or their personalities.
Samurai Champloo is a series about the journey of an unlikely trio of three young travelers who run into many encounters and situations along the way. It starts when Fuu, a waitress at a local shop, is rescued from danger by two opposite men: A traditional samurai named Jin and an unruly street fighter named Mugen. After the incident, Fuu stops the two from trying to engage in a duel by not only making them promise to accompany her while she searches for a particular samurai that smells of sunflowers, but also by making them promise to put their duel on halt until her goal is reached. With some hesitation, they agree, and thus the journey begins.
Jin is between 24 and 25 years of age and comes from an aristocratic, traditional samurai background. For most of his life until he was around 20 years of age, he trained in Kenjutsu dojos to further his way of the samurai and develop morals in the way of Bushido. When Jin was about the age of 18, an elite samurai who was part of the Shogunate (an organization of supreme military commanders) ordered Jin’s sensei to kill him in his sleep. As the sensei attempted to carry out the order one night, Jin had no other choice but to kill him in self-defense before realizing who his attacker was. He then had to leave the dojo he was in and live the rest of his life as a ronin (a masterless samurai), constantly running and defending himself from angered students from his last dojo who think that he ruthlessly killed their sensei without justification.
Jin’s form of swordsmanship, Mujushin
Jin and Mugen: Comparison and Contrast
Jin and Mugen are two very different characters in the Anime series Samurai Champloo. While Jin is the level-headed, reserved, disciplined and orthodox samurai, Mugen is the wild, aggressive, rude, unorthodox vagabond. Throughout the series their differences are displayed in great extremes, whether they come from their different backgrounds, their styles of combat, or their personalities.
Samurai Champloo is a series about the journey of an unlikely trio of three young travelers who run into many encounters and situations along the way. It starts when Fuu, a waitress at a local shop, is rescued from danger by two opposite men: A traditional samurai named Jin and an unruly street fighter named Mugen. After the incident, Fuu stops the two from trying to engage in a duel by not only making them promise to accompany her while she searches for a particular samurai that smells of sunflowers, but also by making them promise to put their duel on halt until her goal is reached. With some hesitation, they agree, and thus the journey begins.
Jin is between 24 and 25 years of age and comes from an aristocratic, traditional samurai background. For most of his life until he was around 20 years of age, he trained in Kenjutsu dojos to further his way of the samurai and develop morals in the way of Bushido. When Jin was about the age of 18, an elite samurai who was part of the Shogunate (an organization of supreme military commanders) ordered Jin’s sensei to kill him in his sleep. As the sensei attempted to carry out the order one night, Jin had no other choice but to kill him in self-defense before realizing who his attacker was. He then had to leave the dojo he was in and live the rest of his life as a ronin (a masterless samurai), constantly running and defending himself from angered students from his last dojo who think that he ruthlessly killed their sensei without justification.
Jin’s form of swordsmanship, Mujushin
Cited: Samurai Champloo. By Shinichirō Watanabe. Perf. Kazuya Nakai, Ginpei Sato, and Ayako Kawasumi. Manglobe. 2004. DVD. FUNImation Entertainment, 2009. Skoss, Diane. "Bushido." New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 25 Apr. 2011 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.