Saruta [aka Honma, Dr.]

Also known as 猿田彦 (Sarutahiko)

Hello, My Name (in English) is…

Saruta gets his name from Sarutahiko Okami, a deity of the Japanese religion of Shinto who is the leader of the earthly kami.

Distinguishing Features

People sometimes confuse Saruta with Dr. Ochanomizu, but although their noses are roughly the same size, Saruta’s is grotesquely spotted and pocked.

Status: Primary Star (★★★)

Saruta, like a lot of good character actors, has seen it all. No one else in Tezuka’s Star System has quite been through the wringer like Saruta. He’s a specialist at suffering. In almost every role he’s ever taken, he’s given the task of showing both the darker side of human nature, while at the same time demonstrating the human capacity to persevere and ultimately transcend the suffering that shapes our lives. So, although he might have an ancestral or just spiritual connection to another well-known big-nosed Star, where Dr. Ochanomizu generally appears in light and uplifting roles, Saruta is quite the opposite.

Notable Roles

Saruta is really only tied to two of  Tezuka’s series, Phoenix (1967-88) and Black Jack (1973-83) – although he has appeared in a few other places, such as Buddha (1972-83).

Although he made his official debut in Phoenix (“Dawn”) (1967) as “General Sarutahiko”, he is so closely tied to the series – arguably as closely as the Phoenix herself! – that there is a strong argument to make that he actually made his debut much earlier. In fact, there is a character named “Sarutahiko” in the earliest version of the story, Phoenix [Manga Shonen] (1954-55) that, had the series been allowed to continue, may well have evolved into Saruta. However, with the sudden cancellation of Manga Shonen, his development was left unfinished. His next (unnamed) proto-appearance is as Dr. Ochanomizu‘s descendant in the Astro Boy (1952-68) chapter “Test Pilot”.

Regardless, as it stands, Saruta’s real claim to fame was appearing, one way or another, in almost all the Phoenix (1967-88) chapters.

In Black Jack (1973-83), he is featured as Dr. Honma Jotaro, once a skilled and famous surgeon later thrown out of the medical community due to jealousy and doubt about his research. He saved young Black Jack as a child, was his principle father figure during his life, and ultimately inspired him to become a doctor.