Kin Sankaku

Kin Sankaku is one of Tezuka’s more important villains. Although his roles vary slightly, he has carved out a substantial career as the leader of a group of crooks referred to collectively as the “Kin Sankaku Gang”. Despite usually being cast as a no-nonsense crime boss, he is often portrayed as having some endearing qualities

The most likely reason for this is that, visually at least, he is based on an early childhood friend. Much like Acetylene Lamp, Kin Sankaku is modelled after one of Tezuka’s own classmates – in this case Minoru Ishihara, the son of the local watchmaker and the very same person, in fact, who first introduced him to his life-long love of studying insects. Tezuka credits him with being a big influence on his life and setting him down the path of medicine and science-themed manga. The insect book Tezuka borrowed from Ishihara inspired him so much that he changed from “a weak-willed boy who literally couldn’t kill a bug” to one who collected insects (and illustrated them skillfully). Ishihara is also the one who introduced Tezuka to the insect known as osamushi. Tezuka was so thrilled with the similarity to his given name, Osamu (治), that he started signing all of his art with the kanji for insect (虫 mushi) appended. He continued to do so despite his school teacher repeatedly telling him to stop, and used it as his pen name (手塚治虫) throughout his career.

While his debut (and namesake) role in the Astro Boy (1952-68) chapter “Crucifix Island” (1958) is probably his most famous, Kin Sankaku has also been prominently featured in Black Jack (1973-83), The Three-Eyed One (1974-78), and Rainbow Parakeet (1981-82).

In Japanese, Kin Sankaku’s name is made up of the kanji “金” (kin) meaning “gold” and “三角” (sankaku), meaning “triangle”. So his name in English is quite literally “Golden Triangle”. While the exact origins of the name are unclear, given Kin Sankaku’s debut as a gangster it could be intended as a reference to the Triads of Chinese organized crime.
Another possibility, is that it is a reference to the novel “Le triangle d’or” (1917) in the Arsene Lupin series by Maurice Leblanc. Tezuka was a fan of the series, and the famous thief shows up in many of his early works and later inspired him to create the Rainbow Parakeet.

With his dark sunglasses, large round lips and twirly moustache/goatee combo giving him a vaguely (and somewhat stereotypical) Chinese appearance, Kin Sankaku is easy to pick out of a crowd.

(Source: Tezuka In English)