Luo Yanmeiwei, Wu Longfu, the founder of golf… “Kai! The “spice” of “Otoko Juku”, Minmei Shobo’s masterpiece of “Tong Demo Unpu”.

There is a lack of “Minmei Shobo” in Japan today!
Minmei Shobo” refers to the legendary manga that supported the golden age of Weekly Shonen Jump (Shueisha) from the late 1980s to the 1990s, Akira Miyashita’s “Kai! Otoko Juku” (hereafter, “Otoko Juku”), a legendary manga that sustained “Weekly Shonen Jump” (published by Shueisha) from the late 1980s to the 1990s.
Otoko Juku” is the story of a group of ruffian men who engage in crazy battles in the unprecedented and anachronistic “Otoko Juku” private school. The spice of the story is the “big lie” explanatory text quoted from a vast amount of books published by Minmei Shobo, which are added to martial arts and techniques that have never been seen or heard of before.
It is no exaggeration to say that the base of knowledge and thinking of men around 50 years old today was formed by Minmei Shobo.
Minmei Shobo’s books cover not only martial arts and sports, but also the humanities, history, natural science, medicine, and a wide range of other subjects. I would like to pick up again seven masterpieces of commentary and introduce them here.
The Mysterious Persuasive Power of the “Minmeishobo” Lies
The truth is that it was cruel. ⁉︎ Rugby
Rugby is a death game in which all the players take a deleterious drug and fight over a steel ball containing the key to a safe that contains the antidote, using weapons. The origins of this game are described in “The Origins of European Medieval Sports” (Minmei Shobo) as being in the English region of England, the birthplace of rugby in the distant Middle Ages of Europe.
According to the commentary, it was fashionable for princes to have rugby teams and compete against each other, and such brutal practices were used several times in order to strengthen their own teams. Some boys may have learned of the cruelty of the princes of medieval Europe through “Luo Guan Mi Wei.
● Golf originated in China: ⁉︎
From the commentary on the secret technique “Tenga Soshindan” used by Gekko in the semi-finals of the final league of the Tianchao Olympic Grand Tournament. The founder of this technique was a man named Go Ryufu, according to the book “Sports Origin Ibun” (published by Minmei Shobo).
What is surprising is the following sentence: “Incidentally, golf originated in England. Incidentally, it used to be a common theory that golf originated in England, but recently the dominant theory is that it originated in China, as evidenced by the name of the aforementioned founder, Wu Long-fu. The origin of golf is China! The phrase “the theory that ~ is the dominant theory” is also cleverly used without daring to make a definite statement. In addition, the explanatory text of “Otoko Juku” often begins with the sentence “By the way,” which reveals a surprising fact.
● The origin of “Dosu-koi” is a Mongolian warrior: ⁉︎
From the commentary on “Chaga Porte,” a dueling technique in which the Kyrgyz Khan, one of the three deadliest Mongolian warriors, excelled. According to “Sumo Jinsei no Waiting” (Sumo Life: No Waiting) published by Minmei Shobo, it was invented by the 17th century tyrant Jimi He Khan, who built a ring 15 meters above the ground and fought for life and death in this spectacular style of fighting.
The next sentence, which begins with “By the way,” states that there is a theory that the call “Dosukoi” used in modern Japanese sumo derives from the name of Doskoi Khan, the greatest hell-wrestling warrior of all time.
The name “Doskoi Khan” sounded so good that some elementary school boys must have believed it. A similar story of a fastball type is “Dzai Morn,” a Mongolian word meaning “drowning,” from which the word “Dozaemon” was derived.
The best of Minmei Shobo’s commentaries
The origin of the word “rakkyo” comes from a master of the mollusk fist: ⁉︎
From the commentary on “晏逅寺軟体拳” (晏逅寺軟体拳), a profound art mastered by one of the guardians of the Valley of the Kings (Pharaoh Sphinxes), Neskongsu of Kunumu. According to the book “Sekai no Kaiken/Kiken” (published by Minmei Shobo), he mastered this fist technique by living and growing in a large jar filled with vinegar, which made him super flexible.
Incidentally, the name “rakkyo” is said to have originated from the fact that the mollusk kung fu master Chen Rakkyo produced and sold rakkyo during his training in order to obtain daily sustenance. Incidentally, the recently released gacha “Kai! Otoko Juku 3D Minmei Shobo Daizensen” includes “晏逅寺軟体拳,” and almost all the people who have played it have said, “I got Chen Rachinji! The origin of “hopping” is Chinese.
● “Hopping” originated from a Chinese Han Dynasty martial arts master: ⁉︎
From the explanation of “Tekki Ho-Dan,” the third deepest technique of Helber of “The Road to the Palace. The Tekki Ho-Dan is a tool that doubles the quickness of body movement in kung-fu by utilizing the repulsive force of the spring and body weight.
According to ” The Wisdom of Ancient China as Seen in Toys” (Minmei Shobo), it was invented by “Houbingu, a Chinese martial arts master in the Han Dynasty,” and the name “hopping,” a toy popular among children in Japan in the 1950s, is also derived from him. As one would expect, even the children were a bit skeptical about these stories.

What is the secret of “Rama Yoga”? ⁉︎
Raja Mahal, one of the Sixteen Masters of the Phoenix Island, has developed the secret of “Rama Yoga. The Miracle of Yoga” (Minmei Shobo) The Miracle of Yoga” (published by Minmei Shobo ), it is a technique that can “change even the composition of bone cells and transform them at will. It is the secret of Rama Yoga that allows the body to bend freely and flexibly.
Date-sinjin was astonished , saying, “Nuh-uh, that is the Rama Yoga that the world has heard of…! However, since Rama Yoga exists and classes are held here and there in Japan, it seems that there are readers of “Otoko Juku” who keep wanting to learn it themselves. This is an example of how skillfully mixing a lie with something real can increase its credibility.
●”Blutzfon Point” is the umbilicus of an object: ⁉︎
The “Brutzfon Point” is said to be one of the best explanatory texts of the Minmei Shobo.
According to “Molecular Nuclear Structure and Its Theory” published by Minmei Shobo, “When an impact is given to the weakest point of cohesion in a molecular aggregate, the chain reaction between the molecules destroys the object quite easily. This “navel of an object” is academically called the “Blutzfon’s point.
The children were suspicious of the pun, but when he brought up a law of physics that they had not yet learned in school, they were completely amazed. In particular, this was a very likely theory and naming, and those who had experienced sudden breakage of things tended to think that they, too, had somehow hit the Blutzfon’s Point. Similar explanatory statements include the ” illusion of distance effect” and“Keppel’s law.
Of course, since they are fictitious publishers, such books do not exist, and the explanatory texts are all bullshit. However, at the time “Otoko Juku” was serialized, there were not a few inquiries about Minmei Shobo’s books from bookstores and libraries.
Through Minmei Shobo, children who read “Otoko Juku” learned to look with suspicion at “plausible things” in the media, and came to know history and facts by examining evidence on their own. In a way, they were acquiring media literacy through Minmei Shobo.
With the House of Councillors election coming up, the world is full of “plausible things. With the recent dramatic increase in the number of people who believe in a mixture of facts and lies, we should once again remember Minmei Shobo.
Interview and text by: Kumao Oyama PHOTO: Kyodo News, Photo Library