- This article is about the original character. For the character portrayed in live-action by Ernie Hudson, see Sifu Norris (Ernie Hudson).
"Spiritual Power. It's not unique to just me, everyone has it. It's the basic form of human energy. With proper training, one can control it at will." |
Master Mutaito (武泰斗 Mutaito) is one of the greatest martial arts teachers of all time, and the first known person to act as Earth's savior. He is Master Roshi and Master Shen's teacher and the one who taught them the most amazing skills of the martial arts.
Appearance
Mutaito is an old man with a plump body physique, having gray hair, gray eye brows and a gray mustache. He also wears a traditional martial arts gi bearing a white color, with a black collar and the emblem of his training in the chest area of the gi, and also wears a dark blue belt around his waist. He also wears red wristbands and black kung fu shoes.
Personality
Mutaito was a disciplined and honorable warrior who cared deeply about his apprentices. He tried to avenge them once King Piccolo and his demon spawn killed most of them. He hated the Demon King Piccolo for what he did to his apprentices and the world and resolved to defeat him. However he failed and was ashamed that he lost in front of his apprentices while also failing to avenge those who lost their lives. It was this failure that made him flee but also made him train more in hopes of finding a way to defeat King Piccolo. Eventually he managed to defeat the Demon King Piccolo using the Evil Containment Wave. Although it cost him his life, he died with a smile on his face as he regained his honor, avenged his apprentices, and rid the world of a terrible evil. When Goku time traveled, Mutaito showed he was strict with his apprentices, as he made Shen restart his training from the beginning once he saw he was causing harm to Goku and his friends. These traits earned the respect of Roshi who continues to think highly of his master and used his teachings to train the Z Fighters, who would later also try to protect the Earth from the forces of evil.
Biography
Background
Main article: King Piccolo wars
Mutaito using the Evil Containment Wave (Mafūba)
As he and his pupils Roshi and Shen were no match for King Piccolo, Mutaito created the Evil Containment Wave. Mutaito and his two pupils confronted King Piccolo and Mutaito managed to seal the demon into an electric rice cooker, though he died upon doing so.
Mutaito's death
In anime filler this story is extended and altered in some ways. Mutaito, together with his disciples, faced King Piccolo during his first attempt to conquer the Earth, getting gravely injured and suffering for the death of his pupils (with Roshi and Shen being among those few to have survived). Before his wounds could fully heal, Mutaito, disgraced at being defeated in front of his remaining students, went off somewhere to be alone and train while Piccolo continued his rampage. For this motive he decided to develop a special technique, training in solitude to avoid any distraction. When he finished his training several years later, during which much of Earth's population had been slaughtered and the cities destroyed, he reunited with Roshi (but not Shen) and the two went to find Piccolo. Mutaito faced Piccolo with the Evil Containment Wave and managed to conquer him in a rapid and elegant way, trapping him forever in an Electric Rice Cooker and regaining his honor in the process, but died shortly afterwards from the use of this technique which, though tremendously effective, caused death to the one who used it. This selfless act restored natural order and stopped the extinction of the human race, but was centuries later undone by Emperor Pilaf, who foolishly freed King Piccolo, allowing the evil Namekian to begin his reign of terror anew, only to be defeated by Roshi's surviving pupil, Goku.
Dragon Ball
Piccolo Jr. Saga
Main article: Piccolo Jr. Saga
Goku fighting Master Mutaito
In the anime filler episode "The Time Room", during his stay on the Lookout, Goku travels to the past (via the Lookout's Pendulum Room) to a period before Mutaito's battle with Piccolo (back when he was teaching the 18-year-old Roshi and Shen in the way of the martial artist), and fights with him.
Goku later trains with him, and Mutaito teaches Goku the basis of all Ki-based techniques. He also teaches this knowledge to his students Roshi and Shen, knowledge which Roshi later used to develop the technique that would become his and Goku's (and many others) signature Ki-based attack, the Kamehameha.
Legacy
Mutaito's actions in defeating King Piccolo would cause him to go down in history as a great hero and his teachings would inspire Roshi to train others in the way of martial arts thus creating the Z Fighters, warriors who continued the same path of Mutaito of defending the earth. Although his move the Evil Containment Wave was only supposed to be used to defeat King Piccolo the Z Fighters would use that move to defeat threats that were greater than King Piccolo.
Power
Mutaito uses a one finger Ki technique
From his battle with Goku, it was clear that Mutaito is stronger than him, although this is not his true power, as he was merely an illusion cast in the Pendelum Room, a room on Kami's lookout that creates false images.
Being the master of Master Roshi and Master Shen, along with several other pupils who were the only ones capable of combating King Piccolo's demon spawn, Master Mutaito naturally has very impressive strength & great knowledge in the ways of martial arts. During the Piccolo Wars, however, even he was no match for King Piccolo, and was effortlessly swatted away by King Piccolo's finger beams. However, after his many years of training, it appeared that Mutaito's power increased significantly, as seen when King Piccolo's finger beams were ineffective against him in their 2nd duel. Alas, Master Mutaito was still not strong enough to handle the physical strain of the Evil Containment Wave, and died shortly after using it.
Techniques and Special Abilities
- Evil Containment Wave: The technique that Mutaito created and used to seal King Piccolo in a rice cooker jar. Use of this technique resulted in Mutaito's death.
- Ki Based Techniques: Master Mutaito was actually the first person to mention the word ki (spiritual energy in the Funimation dub). He used it in the anime to beat Goku with one finger, and to slice a waterfall in two. Whether or not he was capable of using it when he was alive remains unclear.
Video Game Appearances
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A Statue of Mutaito in Dragon Ball Online
According to the video game Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, after King Piccolo defeated him, Mutaito trained in special Training Grounds. Several years later, he developed his signature technique, the Evil Containment Wave, and used it to seal a Fire Demon called Evil Flame in the Divine Crossing right before going to find King Piccolo. In the game, when Evil Flame was released by Tien Shinhan and possessed Chiaotzu before the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, Mutaito's spirit helps Tien develop the Multi-Form technique, allowing him to save Chiaotzu and destroy the monster.
Master Mutaito is also mentioned in Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo. Engravings and statues of him appear in Dragon Ball Online.
Mutaito's sprites and card's data are seen in Dokkan Battle, hinting his first playable appearances in a video game.[1]
In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Mutaito's Gi appears as an outfit for the Future Warrior which can be obtained from the TP Medal Shop.[2]
Voice Actors
- Japanese: Kenji Utsumi
- Funimation dub: Phil Parsons
- Latin American Spanish dub: Mario Sauret
- Brazilian Portuguese dub: Gilberto Barolli
Trivia
- Mutaito's hairstyle is the same as the wig Master Roshi wore when disguised as Jackie Chun. The Jackie Chun disguise was probably designed that way by Master Roshi to be a homage to his master.
- Mr. Lao, a character who only appears in the Dragon Ball Z anime filler, has a hairstyle very similar to that of Mutaito.
- Mutaito's name comes from the characters mu (武), from "martial arts" (武术) and taito (泰斗), a shortening of taizanhokuto (泰山北斗), meaning "great authority". In pinyin, the name would be rendered as "Wutaidou".
Gallery
 Master Mutaito in his dojo  Master Mutaito in his dojo  Mutaito confronts King Piccolo .jpg "MutaitoSculp(DBO).jpg (262 KB)") A Mutaito engraving in Dragon Ball Online |