Many depictions portray him as having been orphaned and raised by a band of monkeys,[3] therefore giving rise to the monkey-like abilities.
It is said he fell in battle against the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Siege of Osaka in the summer of 1615;[7] but there is no historical record of this.
The character was immortalized in contemporary Japanese culture by the popular Tachikawa Bunko (Pocket Books) children's literature between 1911 and 1925,[10][11] as well as in Sarutobi Sasuke, one of the more famous gag manga by Shigeru Sugiura from the 1950s (followed by Shōnen Jiraiya).
[4][5][6] By 1914, his abilities included superhuman strength, chanting incantations, appearing and disappearing, jumping to the top of the highest trees, riding on clouds, conjuring the elements (water, fire and wind), and transforming into other people or animals.
This film was also the first time when both Sasuke and anime were introduced to the western audience (in 1961 as Magic Boy), although all the references to him being a ninja were removed in the English-language version.
An adult Sarutobi Sasuke is a character in the anime and manga series Samurai Deeper Kyo, in which he serves Sanada Yukimura as the leader of the Ten Braves – the same role he has in the manga and anime Brave 10[15] and in the film Kamen Rider Den-O: I'm Born!.
In the film Shogun Assassins (Sanada Yukimura no Bouryaku), Sasuke is even shown to be literally an anthropomorphized ninja monkey.