Star Wars - Stole More from Wuxia than from Samurai Cinema?!?

[sanjuro_ronin]

Yoda is based on the Japanese "Tengu", the mythical "goblin like" creature that taught many of the creators of japanese koryu.

There is more Japanese and Ki in Star wars than any other influence.

[David Jamieson]

Yoda is based on the Japanese "Tengu", the mythical "goblin like" creature that taught many of the creators of japanese koryu.

There is more Japanese and Ki in Star wars than any other influence.

Like I said, look to Akira Kurosawa and The Hidden Fortress which Lucas has confirmed as a heavy influence on several occasions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Fortress

This doesn't discount the joseph campbell material, the kabbalah material et al that got employed throughout the original trilogy.

specific to Lucas/Kurosawa:

Armond White has said The Hidden Fortress "clearly influenced Hayao Miyazaki's anime feature Princess Mononoke."[2]

George Lucas has acknowledged heavy influence of The Hidden Fortress on Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,[6] particularly in the technique of telling the story from the perspective of the film's lowliest characters, C-3PO and R2-D2.[7][8] Kurosawa's use of frame wipes (sometimes cleverly hidden by motion within the frame) as a transition device also influenced Star Wars. Lucas' original plot outline for Star Wars also had a strong resemblance to the plot of The Hidden Fortress.[9]

[sanjuro_ronin]

Like I said, look to Akira Kurosawa and The Hidden Fortress which Lucas has confirmed as a heavy influence on several occasions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Fortress

This doesn't discount the joseph campbell material, the kabbalah material et al that got employed throughout the original trilogy.

specific to Lucas/Kurosawa:

Meh...
Every culture has their notion of "inner force", be it the "ruach" in Hebrew or the "prana" or Chi and Ki.
I don't think Lucas needed to go outside the far eastern motif to get his idea of "the force".
That said it wouldn't surprise me if he did.

[GeneChing]

You all saw that documentary, right? We discussed The Science of Star Wars on our Shaolin Documentaries thread (or at least I posted on it )

Yoda is based on the Japanese "Tengu", the mythical "goblin like" creature that taught many of the creators of japanese koryu.

What? Oh hell no. Yoda was the ******* child of Kermit and Gonzo (and this coming from someone who is nicknamed Yoda in certain circles ).