While Derek alludes to Laozi’s elixir pills above, I think he might have missed an important element from the novel, one that appears to be the ultimate source for Senzu.

They’re a simplified representation of ancient and supernormal concepts (Padula, 2015). Senzu do not confer instant immortality in Dragon Ball, but they do provide the other benefits. Since Xiyouji is the inspiration for Dragon Ball, it’s no surprise that we find a simplified form of them here that Son Goku eats. Sun Wukong becomes immortal not once, not twice, but thrice, by also practicing Internal Alchemy and transforming his body. For example, the Daoist Patriarch Laozi’s “pills of immortality” and “peaches of immortality” (Chinese: xiāntáo, 仙桃), from Journey to the West that Sun Wukong (the character Son Goku is inspired by) so voraciously devours. Over time, legends formed around such practices and made their way into popular culture. After all, both are heavenly agricultural goods with magico-medical properties. He makes a keen connection between the Senzu and immortal peaches. Their hope is that the pill will increase their life span, eliminate illness and injuries, or confer immortality (Padula, 2015). Each particular ingredient possesses various amounts of yīn and yáng energy, and by mixing the ingredients together in just the right fashion the hermit can concoct a potion or pill that will balance the yīn and yáng in their own bodies. Then they place them into a crucible, stoke the fire, and melt them into a concoction. The sennin collect rare ingredients and prized metals such as gold, mercury, mushrooms, and precious stones such as jade. Video 1 – The villain-turned-hero Vegeta is healed by a Senzu.ĭerek traces the bean to elixirs created by practitioners of Daoist external alchemy. The beans become a rarity once a dimwitted character eats them by the handful (Padula, 2015). Much like the immortal peaches of the Queen Mother of the West, which only mature every few thousand years, the beans only mature in small numbers, possibly taking hundreds of years for their caretaker, the long-lived sage cat Korin, to harvest a few hundred specimens.

Its only limitations are the inability to heal viral sicknesses, missing body parts, and preexisting scars. As explained by Dragon Ball scholar Derek Padula, the Senzu is a green, crunchy bean used to magically and instantly heal life-threatening flesh wounds and broken bones, to rejuvenate warriors who have overexerted themselves during intense, prolonged training or battle (video 1), and to sate hunger for up to ten days. One reoccurring plot device in the world famous Dragon Ball (Jp: Doragon Bōru,ドラゴンボール Ch: Qilongzhu, 七龍珠) franchise (1984-present) is the Lima bean-like Senzu (仙豆 Ch: xian dou lit: “sage or immortal bean”) (fig. 1 – A birdseye view of Senzu beans ( larger version).

Elixir of immortality dragon ball