Orochimaru featured in the Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese folktale Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari, is the arch-enemy of the ninja

Ninja

A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...

 Jiraiya

Jiraiya

Jiraiya , the title character of the Japanese folktale Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari , is a ninja who uses shapeshifting magic to morph into a gigantic toad. The heir of a powerful clan in Kyūshū of the same name, Jiraiya fell in love with Tsunade, a beautiful young princess who masters snail magic...

. He was once named Yashagorō (夜叉五郎) and was one of Jiraiya's followers, but he was overtaken by serpent

Serpent (symbolism)

Serpent in Latin means: Rory Collins :&, in turn, from the Biblical Hebrew word of: "saraf" with root letters of: which refers to something burning-as, the pain of poisonous snake's bite was likened to internal burning.This word is commonly used in a specifically mythic or religious context,...

 magic. Having changed his name to "Orochimaru", he gained the ability to turn himself into a giant serpent. He attacked Jiraiya and Tsunade and defeated them with his venom

Venom

Venom is the general term referring to any variety of toxins used by certain types of animals that inject it into their victims by the means of a bite or a sting...

 (only for another follower to save the couple's lives afterwards). The kanji

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

 (大蛇, usually pronounced daija) literally mean "giant snake" or "serpent".

Influences on Fiction

• In the popular manga and anime series Naruto
  Naruto
  is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...
  
  , a character called Orochimaru is one of the main antagonists of the series. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru appear as three legendary ninja known as the Sannin. Naruto's Orochimaru can summon snakes into battle, up to and including Kaiju-sized monsters. This summoning ability is predicated on Orochimaru having established a blood-contract with all snake species. Jiraiya and Tsunade can also summon toads and slugs (respectively), and Orochimaru is also capable of transforming into a snake.