Nan-chan Dōshi

Nan-chan Dōshi is an original character that appears in the Super Mario Land manga adaptation in the Super Mario series from KC Deluxe. He is a (a Taoist priest) who lives in the Chai Kingdom temple with his pupil Nankin-kun and his daughter Minmei. He walks around with a staff that has a hand on it; the hand is open in the story, but makes a peace gesture in the character list.

After his student saves Mario and Mekakuribō from a pack of Pionpi, he leads them to the temple, where the Dōshi explains how Tatanga cursed the Kingdom, turning the citizens into Pionpi, while the rest were bitten by the infected and turned into Pionpi. They were spared due to a magic seal they used as a door latch, preventing the Pionpi to enter. The Dōshi also suggests that, in order to reach Tatanga's base on top of the mountain, Mario would need to use the Sky Pop, which the Dōshi used to fly in his youth and would never let anyone use unless they were able to put their thumb and index finger to good use, so he tests Mario.

Later, a Goombo manages to enter the temple and destroy the seal, letting the Pionpi inside. The Dōshi hears the commotion and sees his student and daughter being bitten. He then orders Mario to run to the airport with a new seal made by Mekakuribō, before his infected student and daughter barge in and bite him down.

While fighting Tatanga, Mario recalls the Dōshi's words about the fingers and uses his teaching to effectively shoot down the Pagosu by repeatedly pressing at the plane's console, winning the battle, defeating Tatanga, and removing the Pionpi curse on everyone.

In the next volume, the Dōshi makes a brief cameo on the sign of the shop from which Peach buys the mirror in the second part.