Jeep

Jeep (ジープ), known as Hakuryuu (はくりゅう) in the anime (though he has been called Hakuryuu in the manga), is Hakkai's pet dragon. Jeep has the ability to transform into a Jeep that the Sanzo Party travel in. Jeep is the fifth member of the Sanzo Ikkou, the one who carries the four noisy men on his back. Though usually the size of a house cat, Jeep's transformation renders him much larger than his usual form. Jeep has also shown the ability to breathe fire.

Appearance
In Dragon Form- Hakuryuu is about the size of the average house cat. He has a similar physical structure to a bird, with two legs, and two wings. The wings are more mammalian, so more like a bat than any bird's. His neck is long, and apparently serpentine, with a mane of hair running down it. His scales and hair are white, with his eyes being red.

In Jeep Form- Jeep is a dark green, and large enough to hold four people. The spare tire has a cover on it with a large yin-yang symbol over the center. There is also another yin-yang symbol seen on Jeep's side, occasionally. The driver's side is on the right, a standard in Europe. Jeep appears to be a stick shift. He also seems to have a spare tire, water container, and collapsible shovel that can detach from him. We never see these effects be removed from Jeep, so it is unsure if they even can be removed, or what would happen were Jeep to transform while they weren't attached. In Saiyuki Reload, his yin-yang symbol disappeared.

Background
While still living with Gojyo, Hakkai found the weakened Hakuryuu in the forest and brought him home. Ever since, Hakuryuu has been something of a pet to Hakkai. He didn’t get along very well with his housemate Gojyo, but the two compromised as they are both “taboo existences”. He is a creature created in an experimental “combination of science and youkai magic”, and so has crimson eyes like the flying dragons of Houtou Castle. The parent figure to name him was Hakkai, but as you can see, in the anime and such he is mainly called “Hakuryuu” [lit. ‘white dragon’], as he was unthinkingly named after a product with a registered trademark.

In his past life, he was actually the god Goujun, the Dragon King of the Western Sea, a commanding officer of Heaven's army, and General Kenren and Field Marshall Tenpou's immediate superior.

Relationships
Cho Hakkai - He is Hakuryuu's owner to whom he is extremely loyal. Hakkai found him in the woods and has since kept him as a companion.

Son Goku - Goku seems the second closest to Hakuryuu out of the party, Goku is very fond of the little dragon and enjoys playing with him; Hakuryuu can also be seen hanging on Goku when he's not on Hakkai. Hakuryuu has shown to worry about Goku's safety and go look for him if lost, as shown when Goku fell off a cliff when he was being chased by one of Chin Yisou's shikigamis.

Sha Gojyo - For whatever reason, Hakuryuu didn't like Gojyo at first, but gradually warmed up to him. Gojyo likes Hakuryuu, despite Hakuryuu's initial dislike of him. It's possible that the reason Hakuryuu didn't like Gojyo at first is because in their past lives, as Goujun and Kenren, the two didn't get along.

Genjo Sanzo - Sanzo seems the least connected towards Hakuryuu, but Sanzo does hold respect for the dragon, as he is appreciative (in his own, special way) of the dragon transporting them most of the time. As a result, he doesn't complain when Hakuryuu needs rest or can't go through certain areas.

Trivia

 * Jeep was voiced by Kaoru Morota in Saiyuki,and Tae Okajima in Saiyuki Reload. In the English Dub of the original series his voice effects are done by Kelli Cousins.


 * Hakuryuu will eat anything, but prefers meat. The food he eats in dragon form gets turned into fuel. He hates all types of onions.


 * Hakuryuu's dream is to become a camper. You know, like an RV.
 * Jeep has had three names throughout the series; in the manga, he is called "Jeep" since he can turn into a jeep and that is his original canonical name, however, the anime couldn't call him "Jeep" because of the copyright of the word. So instead, in the anime he was called "Hakuryuu" which is derived from the Japanese words "haku" meaning "white" and "ryuu" meaning "dragon", literally meaning "white dragon". He was called "Hakuryuu" in the Japanese version of the anime and the English dub of Reload and Gunlock. This name is also eventually adapted into the manga itself, rendering/retconning his original name, Jeep, as more of a nickname. However, in the English dub of Gensomaden Saiyuki, there was a translation error for his name and instead of being called "Hakuryuu" he was called "Hakuru".
 * The only time Jeep was called "Jeep" in any version of the anime was during the introductory OVA, which aired a year before Gensomaden Saiyuki and he was never referred to as "Jeep" in the anime since.
 * In 2009, the fan speculation ended when Kazuya Minekura tells the editors in Pafu, that Hakuryuu is indeed the reincarnation of Goujun.