Since the two great obsessions of my life have been Japan and Star Wars, I enjoy it when they come together in interesting ways. Star Wars is of course heavily based on concepts borrowed from Japan, from bushido-infused Jedi Knights wearing kimono to the Obi-Wan-as-ronin themes to the word "Jedi" itself, which comes from jidai-geki, or historical period dramas. One of the most famous Japan-related inspirations in Star Wars was Darth Vader's helmet, which is based on the kabuto helmet of Masamune Date, 1567-1636 (family name pronounced dah-tay). He was an enigmatic daimyo who founded the city of Sendai in northern Japan, and who did some amazing things, like sending Japanese envoys to Mexico, Spain and Rome in 1619 to negotiate trade, just as the Tokugawa clan was beginning its policy of isolation from outside cultural influences. The pro-Christian daimyo was always open to new ideas, and he loved international gourmet food, which has given the city of Sendai a reputation for excellent restaurants today. His helmet is one of the most iconic in history, with perfect Darth Vader-style dimensions and a large metal crescent on the top, symbolizing animal horns. I personally believe the famous samurai lord contributed his name to cause of the Sith, too, since "Date" seems too close to "Darth"
to have been an accident.
Darth Vader's helmet is based on a famous samurai's kabuto.
4 comments:
to expand on this, it turns out that masamune funded an exploratory ship, the date maru, which was the first Japanese ship to sail around the world. 5 of these sailors remained in Spain, and today, about 600 of their descendants still live there, with the surname "japôn".
learn more at the Wiki-page for "masamune date": fascinating stuff.
Yes, I love stuff like that. Imagine being such a pioneer that we can track what your ancestors are doing 400 years later?
George Lucas also got inspiration from Akira Kurosawa film Hidden fortress( 隠し砦の三悪人) and I also heard somewhere that Yoda was based off ガマ仙人。
By the way, he is also a character in several video games, including Sengoku Basara.
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