Korin: The Hermit Cat of Korin Tower

His eyes are almost always closed and he leans on his staff, yet he's the one who made Goku stronger, twice. Korin watches over the tower that bears his name. Here's the story of this hermit cat, from the Sacred Water to the Senzu Beans.

Korin, the hermit cat of Korin Tower

In the manga (chapter 88), Goku asks Korin how old he is: he replies that he's eight hundred years old. When Goku, having reached the top, asks where the hermit is, the old cat with the staff replies that it's him, though he's more of a “hermit cat.”

Korin lives at the top of a very tall tower that bears his name; just above it sits Kami's Lookout, and he guards the way up to it. According to the Daizenshuu 7 guidebook (1996), he comes from Other World and was sent to Earth to assist Kami, the god of Earth.

His Japanese name, Karin, reportedly comes from karin, Japanese for the Chinese quince, and his tower's name, Karin-tō, is said to be a pun on karintō, a small fried-dough snack. The character is based on Koge, Akira Toriyama's cat: the illustration that opens chapter 150 says he was inspired by that cat's sleeping face, hence his almost always closed eyes.

His color varies from one medium to another: his fur is blue in the manga's color illustrations, white in the anime and in the fully colorized edition of the manga, and brown on the cover of Daizenshuu 7.

Korin almost never parts with his staff, even when he sleeps; he mostly uses it as a cane. As early as the title illustration of chapter 88, he's holding it with the pot of Sacred Water hanging from the end. He can also read minds: without letting Goku speak, he guesses that the boy is gathering the Dragon Balls to bring Upa's father back to life, and judges his intentions to be pure.

💧 Korin keeps the Sacred Water in a jar that he hangs from the end of his staff; to take your own water everywhere, choose from our Dragon Ball water bottles.

The Sacred Water: three days to grab the jar

At the foot of the tower, in the Land of Korin, Bora explains to Goku that at the top, a master gives anyone who reaches him magic water that increases strength (chapter 85). Left for dead by Mercenary Tao, who killed Bora, Goku decides to climb the tower to become strong enough to beat the assassin when he comes back (chapter 87); he reaches the top the next day.

Korin lets him drink the Sacred Water, the Chōseisui (literally “super holy water”), which sits in a jar in the middle of the room, but only if he can take it from him: he hangs the jar from the end of his staff, and Goku chases him until he's exhausted. Since Goku is hungry, Korin tosses him a bean: it's a Senzu Bean, and a single one is worth ten days of food. This is the Senzu Beans' first appearance in the manga (chapter 88).

Goku asks him whether anyone has ever made it up to him. Korin replies that three hundred years ago, Master Roshi managed to take the water from him, and that it took him three years. Korin counters Goku's Afterimage Technique (Zanzōken) and explains why he runs out of breath so fast: at the top, the air is thinner.

Korin then tosses Goku's pouch, which holds his Dragon Ball, over the edge. Goku climbs back down to get it and comes back up: the first climb had taken him a day, but the round trip now takes him only three hours (chapter 89). When night falls, he creeps up to the water while Korin seems to be asleep, then decides not to steal it: Korin concludes that he's honest, unlike Master Roshi.

The next day, Goku tickles Korin in mid-leap: the cat drops his staff and the jar over the railing, and Goku dives to catch it, hanging on to the railing by his tail. He drinks the water and feels nothing: Korin reveals that the Sacred Water is just ordinary water, and that Goku got stronger by climbing the tower and chasing him. Master Roshi had needed three years to take the water; Goku pulls it off in three days, climb included, and Korin, watching him leave, thinks the boy has now surpassed Master Roshi.

In the anime, Korin appears in episode 61 of Dragon Ball, “Korin Tower,” which aired in Japan on May 6, 1987; in it, Goku finds barrels inside the tower in which he sees the past, the present and the future, whereas the manga gives him no vision at all. The anime also adds Mercenary Tao's climb (episodes 63 and 64): Korin hands him water into which he has put a booger and spat, then lends him a dark cloud to get back down, so that he won't gain any strength on foot, and takes it away halfway down.

In the movie Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure (1988), set in a world parallel to the series, Goku, defeated by Tao, lands at Korin's. The cat gives him a Senzu Bean and shows him a Dragon Ball at the bottom of a barrel of water, invisible as long as the water is moving: Goku lost because he was fighting in anger and couldn't see clearly.

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King Piccolo, the Ultra Divine Water and the road to the Lookout

Defeated by King Piccolo, Goku gets Yajirobe to carry him to the top of the tower; Yajirobe agrees in exchange for the promise of Senzu Beans (chapter 148). At the top, Korin is surprised that Yajirobe managed to carry him, and Yajirobe is surprised that Korin is a cat; starving, Yajirobe wolfs down a handful of Senzu Beans and ends up with a hugely bloated belly (chapter 150).

Korin already knows what happened with King Piccolo. When Goku asks him to train him again, he replies that Goku is now stronger than he is (chapter 150). So he offers him the Ultra Divine Water, the Chōshinsui (literally “super divine water”): this brew unlocks hidden power, but it's also a deadly poison that only those with extraordinary stamina and an extraordinary will to live can survive (chapter 151).

Korin admits he couldn't handle this water himself: he spat it out. He adds that fourteen powerful warriors attempted the trial before Goku and none of them survived. Yajirobe takes a sip and immediately spits it out; Goku downs the cup in one go, writhes in pain for six hours, then overcomes the poison at dawn. In the anime (episodes 115 and 116), the Ultra Divine Water is hidden in an ice labyrinth guarded by a monster; in the manga, Korin already has it on hand.

Since Goku's Flying Nimbus was destroyed by Tambourine, Korin summons a giant cloud and invites him to take a piece of it: his first Flying Nimbus came from that big cloud. Yajirobe asks for one too, but Korin doubts he could ride it (chapter 152).

After the victory over King Piccolo, with Shenron dead, Korin advises Goku to ask the creator of the Dragon Balls, Kami, to bring the dragon back to life. He reveals that the Power Pole, Goku's magic staff, once connected his tower to the Lookout, until he lent it to Master Roshi; Goku deduces that the staff then passed to his grandfather, and then to him (chapter 162). Korin gives him a small bell as proof of his worth; at the Lookout, Mr. Popo asks Goku whether he has Korin's approval, and Goku shows him the bell (chapters 162 and 163).

Yajirobe then moves in with Korin, who almost never leaves the top of his tower. Before the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, Yamcha, Krillin, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu come to train there on Master Roshi's advice; Krillin and Yamcha, like Goku, have Senzu Beans (chapter 169).

🔔 Korin gives Goku a small bell to show at Kami's Lookout; to hang a little treasure on your keys, choose from our Dragon Ball keychains.

Senzu Beans, from the Saiyans' arrival to Majin Buu

Senzu Beans, literally “hermit beans,” are grown by Korin at Korin Tower. A Senzu Bean heals injuries, but not illnesses: in the manga (chapter 342), during the fight against Android 19, the Senzu Bean that Krillin tosses to Goku, who has the heart virus, has no effect.

When Goku returns from Other World to face the Saiyans, Korin sees how exhausted he is and tosses him the tower's last two Senzu Beans (chapter 220): Goku eats one right away, and the second will later be split on the battlefield between Gohan and Krillin. After the fight against Vegeta, Korin leaves his tower: he flies to the battlefield by plane with Bulma, Master Roshi and Chi-Chi, who loses her temper with him because he only says Gohan is “probably” alive (chapter 241).

While King Kai tells the story of Namek's past, Korin deduces that Kami must have fled to Earth to escape the disaster that was wiping out the Namekians, and that he lost his memory; according to Korin, he was just a child with a sad past at the time. At the hospital, where Goku expects four months of recovery, Korin reassures him: a new crop of Senzu Beans will be ready in a month (chapter 243).

In the anime only, during the Garlic Jr. Saga, Korin and Yajirobe play host to Maron, Krillin's girlfriend, who makes them cook for her and beats them at poker; she even wins a bell off Korin.

Before the Cell Games, Goku and Gohan stop by Korin Tower. Goku unleashes his power, about half of it by his own account, and nearly blows Korin and Yajirobe away: Korin yells at him to stop before he destroys the tower. Asked to compare Goku with Cell, Korin finds the gap hard to gauge but reckons Cell is a little stronger, then is amazed that Goku stays so calm (chapter 391).

At the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, after Spopovich savagely beats Videl, Goku teleports to Korin's, and Korin gives him a bag of Senzu Beans and tells him he has a bad feeling (chapter 442). In the Buu Saga, Korin dies at the latest when Kid Buu blows up the Earth, then comes back to life along with the whole planet thanks to Porunga. Only the anime (episode 285 of Dragon Ball Z) shows Korin giving his energy to the final Spirit Bomb.

In the movie Cooler's Revenge, Gohan comes to get Senzu Beans for the injured Goku, but Korin refuses; in the original Japanese version, the reason given is that Gohan only climbed halfway up the tower. The boy still leaves with the bag and one extra Senzu Bean, mostly thanks to Yajirobe, who steps in and then gets into a fierce argument with Korin.

From GT to Daima, and Korin's voices

In Dragon Ball GT, Korin makes a cameo during the Baby Saga: Kibito Kai takes him to safety along with Yajirobe when the Earth is destroyed (episode 40, which aired in Japan on March 5, 1997). In episode 48 of the Dragon Ball Super anime (aired June 19, 2016), Goku comes to get Senzu Beans for Future Trunks and finds Korin and Yajirobe playing limbo; in the manga (chapter 15), they're playing Twister.

In the movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, released in Japan on June 11, 2022, Korin gives Piccolo the only two Senzu Beans he has; the scene is carried over into the Dragon Ball Super manga (chapter 92). In episode 2 of Dragon Ball Daima (aired in Japan on October 18, 2024), Goku, shrunk back down to a kid, comes to ask Korin where his Power Pole went; Korin thinks Master Roshi has it, and Goku finds it at Kame House, where it's being used as a clothesline.

In Japanese, where he's called Karin, he is voiced by Ichirō Nagai, then by Ken Uo from Dragon Ball Super onward, Super Hero and Daima included; Naoki Tatsuta briefly stood in for Ichirō Nagai late in Dragon Ball Z. The Ocean and Funimation English dubs call him Korin.

In English, Christopher Sabat voices Korin in Funimation's dub of Dragon Ball, which premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on August 20, 2001, and in its dub of Dragon Ball Z; he is also the English voice of Vegeta, Piccolo and Yamcha. In the Dragon Ball Z dubs recorded by Ocean in Vancouver, Paul Dobson voiced Korin in 1996–1997, and Ted Cole voiced him in the later alternate dub produced by Westwood Media.

Korin at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Korin?
  He's the hermit cat, at least eight hundred years old, who lives at the top of Korin Tower, below Kami's Lookout. He trains Goku and grows the Senzu Beans.
• What's the difference between the Sacred Water and the Ultra Divine Water?
  The Sacred Water is just ordinary water: it's the effort of taking it that makes Goku stronger. The Ultra Divine Water is a real poison that unlocks the hidden power of anyone who survives it.
• How long does it take Goku to get the Sacred Water?
  Three days, climb included. Before him, Master Roshi had needed three years.
• Who grows the Senzu Beans?
  Korin, at Korin Tower. A Senzu Bean feeds you for ten days and heals injuries, but not illnesses.
• Why are Korin's eyes almost always closed?
  Akira Toriyama drew him based on the sleeping face of his own cat, Koge.
• Who voices Korin?
  In Japanese, Ichirō Nagai, then Ken Uo from Dragon Ball Super onward. In English, Christopher Sabat in Funimation's dubs of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.

👛 Korin tosses Goku's pouch, which holds his Dragon Ball, over the edge; to keep your money safe, choose from our Dragon Ball wallets and coin purses.