Ishikawa Goemon (石川五右衛門 Ishikawa Goemon) (1558-1594) was a famous Japanese thief, put to death after failing to assassinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Sentenced to death by being boiled alive along with his young son, legends say, he attempted to hold his son above the water as long as he could. A large iron kettle-shaped bathtub is called a Goemon-buro after him.
He is the subject of many Kabuki plays. One places him on the great gate of Nanzenji in Kyoto. As he strikes a pose, he exclaims, "A magnificent view! A magnificent view! For this view of spring, a million dollars would be too low a price, too low a price!" Before his death, he composed a well-known poem: "Ishikawa may perish on the sands along the banks of this river, yet the seeds of thievery from this world shall never pass!"
Ishikawa Goemon recently appeared in the koei title Samurai Warriors. He is also mentioned in Lupin III movies as an ancestor of one of Lupin's partners, Goemon Ishikawa XIII. He is claimed to be the first of a lineage of renegade samurai.
Ishikawa Goemon is also the main character in a video game series known as Ganbare Goemon in Japan and Mystical Ninja in the United States.
