In honour of the passing of the inimitable Toriyama Akira, here's a fun Dragonball fact. Son Gokū's name is simply the Japanese rendering of 孫悟空 (Sūn Wùkōng) , the main character of the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West about the monkey king Sun Wukong.

This is also why Goku in the original Dragonball series had a magical pole and flew on cloud/nimbus, just like his medieval literary equivalent.

It's hard to overstate what a force of culture especially Dragonball Z was in my youth. Toriyama will be missed.

For those who grew up with both, the clear reference is hard to miss. Goku's berserk form is even that of a giant monkey king