Bunza

Bunza
Bunza
Nihongo	ブンザ
English TV	Bunza
Physical information
Species	Lynx yōkai
Gender	Male
Family
Father
Debut
InuYasha Anime	Episode 72
Voice Actors
Japanese Seiyū	Junko Noda
English VA	Cathy Weseluck

Bunza (ブンザ) was a lynx demon who sought out Tōtōsai in hopes of receiving training in order to help save his village from a demon called Nanafushi.

History

Bunza's tribe was attacked by Nanafushi. He took over their territory in the mountains and blocked it off with a barrier. Bunza learned from his father that the swordsmith Tōtōsai was capable of developing a technique for breaking through the barrier. Bunza sought out Tōtōsai to teach him. He stayed in a little shack outside of Tōtōsai's house for ten days and several without eating, because he knew he couldn't return to his village without getting the proper training that he needed.

During the story

Inuyasha visited Tōtōsai and asked to teach him a method for breaking through Naraku's barrier. Bunza suddenly approached Tōtōsai and asked him to teach him. Inuyasha initially mistook Bunza for a kitsune before being told that he was a lynx. He told Inuyasha that Tōtōsai would train him in order to learn the technique needed to break through a barrier. Tōtōsai decided to take advantage of their eagerness to learn from him by having them prepare a bath for him. He instructed Inuyasha and Bunza to fetch water and chop some firewood. The two of them were under the impression that it was part of Tōtōsai's special training. Before Tōtōsai could explain that he wanted them to get his bath ready, Inuyasha and Bunza began arguing. Bunza declared himself to be the senior apprentice since he was the first one to ask Tōtōsai to teach him. He began to treat Inuyasha as his little brother and order him to follow him to fetch the water.

The two of them were collecting water by a river. Bunza was struggling to carry one bucket of water by himself on his back. Inuyasha told Bunza that it was too much for him to carry, but Bunza told him that he would train harder than Inuyasha so Tōtōsai would teach him. Bunza soon tripped and spilled his water. Inuyasha carry the buckets of water back to Tōtōsai house with Bunza still strapped to his. He yelled at Inuyasha to let him go since being carried back wouldn't benefit his training. He released his straps and tried to take back his bucket, but he strained himself. Inuyasha warned Bunza that he was going to hurt himself, but he said that he would do whatever it take to learn the technique.

Inuyasha and Bunza began chopping fire wood back at Tōtōsai's house. Bunza had trouble balancing his large axe and almost hit Inuyasha with it. Inuyasha yelled at him to watch what he was doing. He told Bunza to sit somewhere out of the way. Bunza refused and tried again. His difficult controlling his axe cause him to soar midair before being caught by Inuyasha. Inuyasha suddenly noticed that Bunza had a fever. He took Bunza back to his hut to rest. He found out that Bunza hadn't eaten in days. Inuyasha told him to rest while he would bring him something to eat. Bunza asked why Inuyasha was being nice to him. He responded by saying that one of his friends was the same age as him.

Inuyasha returned with food for Bunza after he had prepared Tōtōsai's bath. He even gave Bunza his portion. Inuyasha asked Bunza was he was so desperate for Tōtōsai to teach him. Bunza was hesitant to answer at first, but soon told him about his tribe and Nanafushi. As he continued eating, her heard a meow outside. He went to check it out and found his friend Torako lying outside due to exhaustion. Bunza gave Torako some food and asked her what she was doing so far from home. Bunza learned from Torako that his father tried to stop Nanafushi himself, but had been severely injured by the yōkai. Bunza rushed home to save his father on his own and took one of Tōtōsai's swords. Inuyasha quickly went after him with Kirara. He caught up to Bunza and offered to assist him, since they were "brothers."

When they arrived at Bunza's tribe, they found his father inside of Nanafushi's barrier in really bad shape. Bunza learned from a lynx that Nanafushi wanted to destroy his father and opened the barrier to allow him inside. Bunza decided to go in and rescue him. Inuyasha offered to help as well. Bunza initially refused since it was his father that was trapped, but Inuyasha would go in as Bunza's junior. Bunza tried to break through the barrier with the sword he took from Tōtōsai, but to no avail. Inuyasha was able to break the barrier with his Tessaiga, however, and he goes on to slay Nanafushi, thus saving Bunza's father and village in the process. Bunza became impressed by the half-demon's skill. They believed that it all the result of the Tōtōsai's training. Inuyasha was prepared to head back with Kirara. Bunza stayed behind with his tribe. The two of them told each other to keep up with their training. As they said goodbye, Bunza told Inuyasha to come and see him again.

Trivia

• In the original Japanese version, Bunza frequently ends his sentences with the word "nya (にゃ)." This is the Japanese word for the sound that cats make "meow."
• Although Bunza refers to himself in the English dub of the anime as a "lynx" demon, in the original Japanese version he refers to himself as a yamaneko (山猫), literally "mountain cat", although it is also a term used to refer generally to wildcats, which are slightly larger relatives of domestic cats, and who may often be found living away from humans in mountainous areas in Japan.
  • Japanese folklore is filled with legends about monstrous cats living in the mountains who attack humans. It is possible legends surrounding yamaneko stem from legends from China surrounding the leopard cat, a species of wildcat, though since the leopard cat is not indigenous to Japan, this folklore was extended to ordinary wildcats by the Japanese who heard the Chinese legends.
  • These legends are considered a subset of the nekomata mythology, despite the fact that they are not described as having two tails, nor do they originate from domestic cats. It is possible that Japanese recording incidents involving yamaneko used the term "nekomata" because the nekomata was already a creature with which they were familiar, though in truth, they have little in common with either nekomata or even the more general bakeneko. Whereas nekomata and bakeneko are described as being tricksters with supernatural powers similar to kitsune or tanuki, the mountain nekomata are simply described as being savage monsters of unusually large size who attack humans.
• While the term yamaneko can, actually, sometimes be used to refer to a lynx, this is not very common, and not only are lynx not indigenous to Japan, but they are both larger and have much shorter tails than the yamaneko shown in Bunza's tribe. It is therefore possible, even likely, that the use of the term "lynx" in the English dub was simply due to a translation error. Similarly, another wildcat group, the Leopard Cat Tribe, was mistranslated in English as "Panther Demon Tribe".
  • If it was not an error, it is possible that the dub translators did not think that an English-speaking audience would understand the more Eastern cultural references of leopard cats and mountain cats, and that "panthers" and "lynx" would be easier to understand, despite being completely inaccurate.
• Given that leopard cats are a subspecies of wildcat, it could be said that Bunza's yamaneko tribe is a relative of the Panther tribe, literally "Leopard Cat Tribe" (豹猫族, Hyōnekozoku) in Japanese. However, leopard cats are indigenous to China not Japan, so it could be that, like the Hyōga clan, the Panther tribe is an immigrant tribe of demons residing in Japan.