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- For the main character of the series, please see Kino
The original Kino was a young man who traveled by the same three-day rule that the main character Kino does. His arrival to the Land of Adults sparks the beginning of the story, and is her inspiration to travel after she attempts to discover his past. She often makes statements similar to the original Kino's and even quotes him on occasion.
Appearance and Personality
The novel depicts the original Kino as a tall and very thin man when he arrived at the Land of Adults. She notes that he arrived on foot, and while ridiculed by the guards, he appeared to display immerse dignity.
His first appearance shows him disheveled, wearing a black jacket with a long, dusty brown coat, with a tattered backpack. He also wore boots that the young Kino had never seen before. She notes that his cheeks were sunken, and that due to the guards' ridicule, white insect powder clung to his hair. She also states that she is unable to understand the language that he sings in, and that he does so quite poorly.
Kino lived with his mother in a country by a large forest. Growing up, he told his mother that he would like to travel. He believed that the traveling related to not only his own growth, but also to the growth of his country. As the years passed, he traveled from his home more and more frequently until he dies protecting young Kino from the customs of her country.
Kino is shown to know how to repair machinery - he salvages and repairs ("cures") a motorcycle which eventually is named Hermes, after an old motorcycle he had used to travel with before.
During his stay, Kino learns about his successor's country and culture, commenting on how it was a "brutal system".When asked by his successor about what he is, due to her lack of understanding, he states that he is "A man named Kino. That's all. And I travel."
He is blamed for the younger Kino's refusal for her grown-up operation, and attempts to leave the country before the situation escalated and he was killed. However, he dies protecting the girl when her father attempts to kill her for disobeying her parents and the country's culture.
Notes
- The male Kino is the only person to tell his successor that her name is pretty, and calls her "little flower" before his death.
- In the novels, Kino explains that he makes a living selling medicinal herbs and unusual items he finds while traveling.
- The Epilogue of Volume 7 states that his resident number is 48402-15855. This number is used by his successor to find his residence.