Genma Saotome

is a fictional character in Rumiko Takahashi's anime and manga series Ranma ½. He is the father of the title character, Ranma Saotome. Genma can translate into "dark or mysterious horse". Saotome means "rice-planting girl", which applies more to Ranma's cursed condition. Genma Saotome is Ranma Saotome's father and the sensei of the Saotome Dojo of Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū karate ("School of Indiscriminate Grappling", more commonly known in the West as "Anything Goes Martial Arts"). During the time when Genma took Ranma on a decade-long training voyage to improve their martial arts skills, he insisted on going to Jusenkyo in China - a place which he believed to be a training ground. However, because of Genma's ignorance of the Chinese language, he did not realize that the ground was unfrequented because it was cursed. Genma realized all too late the mistake he made, after his son knocked him into a cursed spring during this fateful training session. Genma was knocked into... full article at wikipedia