I thought the Chinese phoenix was the Fenghuang (spelling?) or something and the Japanese basically had made their own legend based off that.You also can't say that Rayquaza is all that Chinese either. If I recall, the Japanese version of the traditional Oriental Dragons had three toes while the Chinese had four (or is it the other way around?
A lot of Japanese legend is just a variation of legends from China.
So basically, I agree with post #7 and #5.
Also, Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee are only named after Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee as an american pop culture reference and are named based off of other famous martial artists in the original
The Golem Trio, along with the Golem Master (Regigigas) is based on Hebrew golems.
Rayquaza is nothing like the Ziz, which is supposedly a mythological bird whose wingspan is large enough to block out the sun. Its just a bunch of fans trying to put pieces that don't fit. If anything, Lugia is a Ziz, in Ecruteak city, an old man claims to have seen a silvery bird whose wings blocked out the sun heading to the Whirl Islands.
Seriously, I see this kind of randomness everywhere. Apparantly because Arceus is the "Creation" Pokemon, he is based off of the Christian God. The legendary pixies are also embodiments of the three powers that that God is said to hold omnipotence (Azelf), Omnipresense (Mesprit) and Omnimiscence (Uxie). Basically, fitting things that are not there. Other than Uxie, who is mentioned to be all knowing, none of the pixies are even mentioned to have such powers.
Oh, yeah and the whole Golduck = Kappa thing
If anyone is wondering where I got that from, its one of the many Bulbapedia pages created about legendary trios. Seriously, how much do we need? It just seems like a random insert by a fan who couldn't find the actual page for it.
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