Sounds like the Japanese version of Robin Hood, or more likely a ripoff of Robin Hood because they wanted their own folk hero.
Michael
http://asrokhel.mybrute.com/
I get the feeling this guy was every bit as real as Robin Hood.
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Shadows fell on their futile ways, and then there was nothing more...
so you're basing this off of a wikipedia entry?
No, the movie has more to do with the retelling of events after Nobunaga's death - the grab of power dealing with Hideyoshi,Akechi Mitsuhide, and Ieyasu. Goemon was weaved into this historical fiction and even has their own version of the Goemon story in his wiki entry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oda_Nobunaga#Incident_at_Honn.C5.8D-ji
I haven't even seen the Wikipedia entry, this was my own opinion that it is just a rehashing of Robin Hood.
Michael
http://asrokhel.mybrute.com/
The idea of a hero who fights against the rich for the benefit of the poor is not exclusive to any culture. The West has Robin Hood, other cultures have their own versions of the idea. It's pretty arrogant to just assume, because you've seen a Japanese movie with a character that resembles Robin Hood, that they must have ripped it off of the Robin Hood tale. Anywhere where the rich, the owners and the rulers have exploited and brutalized the poor (in other words, just about everywhere in the world), folk tales like this can probably be found.
"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor."
- Voltaire