The world of Japanese animation and manga is bigger and better than ever across the world, and experienced anime fans will no doubt pick up on many trends, running gags and odd tropes when they consume this media, from strong nosebleeds from pervy characters to talking animals and much more. And then there's the classic game of rock paper scissors.
Western anime fans are used to rock paper scissors being a simple and fun game for kids, usually played to decide something quickly and fairly. However, this game is much older than anime fans might realize, and it can be traced all the way back to Japanese brothels and mainland China alike. Only later did this game find its way into anime.
The Origins Of Rock Paper Scissors
The game now known as rock paper scissors/janken is over 2,000 years old, and it can be traced back to ancient China, although it didn't go by either of those names at the time. While the game has existed in various forms since its origins in China, the basic concept remained the same from then to the present. It involves two players who must throw one of three different moves, with each move defeating one and losing to another. This game later spread from China to other parts of the world such as India and Japan, where its name and the concept behind the hand gestures changed according to local cultures and interests. It later arrived in Japan, where the three gestures were changed to slug, frog and snake and was named mushi-ken.
In the 1600s, the Japanese developed the modern version of the original Chinese game and renamed the three gestures rock, paper and scissors; the version that continues to the present in real life and anime alike. The game was played almost exclusively in Asian regions for a few more centuries until it finally arrived in the West in the early 20th century, partly due to Japan's increased contact with foreign powers such as the United States and European nations. In particular, rock paper scissors arrived in the United States in the 1930s, where it gained popularity as a children's game and a way to make quick, impartial decisions. At the same time, in France, it was known as the "Japanese game." Later still, this game arrived in the world of anime and manga, where it thrives today.
Rock Paper Scissors, Or Janken, In Manga And Anime
Many scenes in anime and manga depict the game of janken, or rock paper scissors, often in slice-of-life anime where two characters need to make a quick decision and have no time or interest in arguing. They might play this game to decide who has to do a certain chore, for example, or who gets to go first in a game. However, some anime titles, especially shonen action stories, take it even more seriously.
A notable example is the long-running series Hunter x Hunter, where protagonist Gon Freecss has been known to play janken with his best friend and rival Killua Zoldyck -- a classic example of kids using this fun and fair game to make a decision. Most of all, Gon has learned to incorporate janken into his Nen fighting style, and he has won more than one fight by throwing either rock, paper or scissors at his opponent. True to the original game, Gon sometimes uses mind tricks and meta-knowledge to throw off his opponent and minimize the factor of random chance in these battles. True janken is played in the mind, not with the hands.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has an entire character dedicated to janken -- the troublemaker Oyanagi Ken, who wields a Stand called Boy II Man. Ken's game-based Stand can steal people's souls piece by piece if the opponent loses to him in a best-of-five match of janken. Ken challenged the genius manga artist Kishibe Rohan to this game, and at first, Rohan did well until Ken figured out a cunning strategy to outmaneuver Rohan and put him on the defensive, with two-thirds of Rohan's soul captured. Only at the last moment did Rohan turn the tables on Ken and win the fifth janken game to reclaim his soul. This game has never had such high stakes.
