science

Master Roshi

Master Roshi is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Master Roshi rather than just read about it. In short: Master Roshi, known in Japan as Kame Sennin (亀仙人; lit. 'Turtle Sage') as well as Muten Rōshi (武天老師; lit. 'Old Heavenly Master of Martial Arts'), is a fictional character in the Japanese manga series Dragon Ball and its anime adaptations created by Akira Toriyama. The name Roshi is a modernized Japanese translation of the antiquated form of Old Master (Chinese: 老子), namely the ancient Daoist Sage.

Key takeaways

Master Roshi belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Master Roshi to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Master Roshi from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Master Roshi, known in Japan as Kame Sennin (亀仙人; lit. 'Turtle Sage') as well as Muten Rōshi (武天老師; lit. 'Old Heavenly Master of Martial Arts'), is a fictional character in the Japanese manga series Dragon Ball and its anime adaptations created by Akira Toriyama. The name Roshi is a modernized Japanese translation of the antiquated form of Old Master (Chinese: 老子), namely the ancient Daoist Sage. Within the series, he is an elderly martial arts master, born on March 20, who is the creator of the Kamehameha (カメハメ波) technique. His students include Grandpa Son Gohan, The Ox-King, Son Goku, Krillin and Yamcha. He is bald, sports a thick van dyke beard, and wears sunglasses, beach clothes, or martial arts suits. He usually wields a walking stick and, in early appearances, wears a turtle's shell on his back. Despite his lechery, cantankerousness, and occasional whimsy or foolishness, he is often depicted as wise and perceptive. While a popular character with Dragon Ball fans, his lecherous antics have been met with significant criticism and controversy.

Voice actors Master Roshi's design was inspired by the character of Kami-sama from Toriyama's previous manga Dr. Slump[vol. 2:afterword] and accordingly was originally voiced by Kōhei Miyauchi, who also voiced Kami-sama in the original Dr. Slump anime. For unknown reasons, Miyauchi was unavailable for the recording of Dragon Ball Episode #137; the role was played by series narrator Jōji Yanami. Miyauchi's final acting session before he died was for episode 260 of Dragon Ball Z, which he recorded only 3 months before his death. Kame-Sennin is voiced by Hiroshi Masuoka from episode 288 of Dragon Ball Z onward, in Dragon Ball GT and the 2008 Jump Super Anime Tour film. He is voiced by Kinya Aikawa in the 10th anniversary movie, by Takko Ishimori in gameplay of Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure, by Masaharu Satō in the thirteenth Dragon Ball Z movie and all media following Dragon Ball Kai., and by Nobuaki Kanemitsu in Dragon Ball Daima. In the Ocean dub, he is voiced by Michael Donovan, Ian James Corlett, Peter Kelamis, Don Brown, and Terry Klassen at various points. Dean Galloway voices him in the Blue Water dub, while Mike McFarland voices him in the Funimation dub. Other English dub voice actors include Ed Marcus, Nesty Ramirez, Dave Bridges, and Kirk Thornton.

Appearances

Dragon Ball

Master Roshi's first appearance is in chapter #3 of the Dragon Ball manga. Roshi lives with his longtime companion, an anthropomorphic turtle referred to as Umigame (ウミガメ, "Sea Turtle"), on an island with a house built on it known as "Kame House". Kame House eventually serves as a gathering place for Goku and his associates throughout the series, as well as a home for certain recurring characters like Oolong or Krillin and his young family. Graduates of Roshi's training (i.e. Goku, Krillin, Yamcha) often wear the kanji for "Turtle" ("Kame") 亀 on their dogi. When wishing to fight anonymously at the World Martial Arts Tournament, Roshi assumes a disguise and calls himself "Jackie Chun". Master Roshi is consistently depicted as a pervert who frequently flirts with or harasses physically attractive female characters. In Chapter 5 of the Dragon Ball manga series, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump on January 15, 1985, Roshi makes sexual advances on "Bulma" who is wearing a suggestive bunny costume; it is in fact an impersonation by a shapeshifting Oolong, who seduces Roshi by inviting him to place his face between his "breasts" and calls the act "Puff Puff". The term is derived from the Japanese onomatopoeia for a woman rubbing her breasts in another person's face, though it can also be used to refer to a woman juggling her own breasts. When tasked with putting out a fire on Mount Frypan, Master Roshi demonstrated an ability to increase his energy greatly. In this state, his appearance changes dramatically, with an enormous increase in muscle mass and height, which is nearly equal to Piccolo's. Due to his natural precision in battle, this bulky state does not appear to affect his speed and agility. In this state, he can perform many ki attacks at their maximum potential, most noticeably an enhanced version of his Kamehameha attack, which was so powerful that it was able to destroy the moon. At the beginning of the Dragon Ball series, he is considered to be the strongest mortal fighter in the Dragon Ball universe; however, his power level began to pale in comparison to Goku and his allies later in the series. While his legacy is demonstrated in the prolific use of the Kamehameha technique by numerous characters in the series, his prominence has diminished significantly by the time Goku reaches adulthood. He would only make occasional appearances as a supporting character and no longer operate as an active fighter.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Logo of Master Roshi's Turtle school

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Master Roshi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Master Roshi claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Master Roshi before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Master Roshi ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Master Roshi

In research: Master Roshi appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Master Roshi in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Master Roshi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Animation controversies in television, Anime and manga characters introduced in 1984, Anime and manga controversies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Master Roshi outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Master Roshi in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Master Roshi means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Master Roshi out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Master Roshi in simple terms?

Why does Master Roshi matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Master Roshi?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Master Roshi.