So I was watching TV this morning, and there happened to be a commercial about a PSP game featuring Momotaro (the hero from Japanese folklore), a dog (inu), a monkey (saru), and a pheasant (kiji). When I inquired of my host family what the latter three meant, they replied that the 3 animals were actually from the story. Anyway, a tiny bit of research later, and it appears that the dog, monkey and pheasant were all characters Momotaro befriended on his travels.
It seems abundantly clear that Oda took the three animal names from the legend of Momotaro… but do you suppose this might have any influence on the story proper? :huh: