Best Selling Manga list from 2007
“The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shonen Jump: A Look at the Circulation of Weekly Jump.” Comipress. May 6, 2007. https://www.comipress.com/article/2007/05/06/1923

Shonen Jump sales dip in 1995
“週刊少年ジャンプの発行部数（最高653万部）.” Exlight.net. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://exlight.net/doc/business/jump/index.html

Hunter X Hunter outselling Bleach in 2007
Loo, Egan. “Japanese Comic Ranking: Top 10 Manga of 2007.” Anime News Network. Dec 31, 2007. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-31/japanese-comic-ranking-top-10-manga-of-2007

Hunter X Hunter outselling One Piece in 2010
Loo, Egan. “Japanese Comic Ranking, December 28-January 10.” Anime News Network. Jan 13, 2010. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-01-13/japanese-comic-ranking-december-28-january-10

Hunter X Hunter outselling Bleach in 2011
Loo, Egan. “Japanese Comic Ranking, August 8-14.” Anime News Network. Aug 17, 2011. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-08-17/japanese-comic-ranking-august-8-14

Hunter X Hunter outselling every other manga in 2012
Hodgkins, Crystalyn. “Japanese Comic Ranking, December 3-9.” Anime News Network. Dec 13, 2012. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-12-13/japanese-comic-ranking-december-3-9

TotallyNotMark video about the Big 3
Totally Not Mark. “The Big 3: Anime’s Biggest Lie.” YouTube. Aug 24, 2024. https://youtu.be/CWERaofVmjQ

Shonen Jump tweeting about the Big 3 of MHA
@jumpch_youtube. “『#ヒロアカ』に登場する “ビッグ3” 彼らに焦点を当てたPVがプレミア公開！” Twitter. Jun 3, 2023. https://x.com/jumpch_youtube/status/1664950053650178051

Shonen Jump tweeting about the Three Great Families of JJK
@jump_henshubu. “#ジャンプGIGA2022AUTUMN の記事をチラ見せ❗️” Twitter. Oct 21, 2022. https://x.com/jump_henshubu/status/1583391865549729792

The Big 3 of MHA
Horikoshi, Kōhei. “My Hero Academia.” Shueisha (Vol 14). Jan 16, 2017. c122, p17.

Gosanke wiki
“御三家.” Wikipedia. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BE%A1%E4%B8%89%E5%AE%B6

Fan wiki referencing Gosanke and Pokemon
“御三家.” 萌娘百科. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://zh.moegirl.org.cn/zh-hans/%E5%BE%A1%E4%B8%89%E5%AE%B6

Interview with WSJ editor-in-chief, calling the Big 3 the Three Pillars
黒木 貴啓，ねとらぼ. “『ジャンプ』編集長ら語る「ジャンプの未来」は　「カギは少年誰もが知るキャラクター」「横断的漫画アプリは予定なし」.” Net Lab. May 11, 2018. https://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1805/11/news064_2.html

4chan archive search showing people talking about the Big 3 as far back as 2008
“Searching for posts that contain ‘“big 3”’ and posts before 2009-01-01.” Desu Archive. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://desuarchive.org/a/search/text/%22big%203%22/end/2009-01-01

Forum referencing Big Three in 2010
Shadowseraph. “Bleach is one of Jump’s big three, its classic shonen.” The Fanfiction Forum. Aug 18, 2010. https://thefanfictionforum.net/xenforo/index.php?threads/images.4479/page-90

Article referencing the Big Three in 2011
Lawson, Corrina. “Comics Spotlight on Bleach.” Wired. Jun 1, 2011. https://www.wired.com/2011/06/comics-spotlight-on-bleach-2/

Horikoshi on his Three Pillars of Jump
“Tite Kubo x Kohei Horikoshi Special Talk.” Edomonogatari. Oct 4, 2019. https://edomonogatari.wordpress.com/2019/10/05/kubo-horikoshi/

Gege Akutami on the Three Pillars of Jump
@JujutsuKaisen, @Douceanco. “With the Fanbook out and tons of new information available, we wanted to add to that by bringing back this Interview Gege Akutami did with Ki-oon in 2019.” Twitter. Mar 3, 2021. https://x.com/JujutsuKaisen/status/1367211303283130371

WSJ editor-in-chief, in the same Jump no Mirai 2018 event as his other interview, using Three Pillars as a term
“『ジャンプ』編集長、子ども層の開拓に苦戦も「世界中の人が知るキャラ作りが大事」” Oricon News. May 9 2018. https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2111092/full/

Japanese wiki about Friendship, Effort, Victory
“友情・努力・勝利” Wikipedia. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%8B%E6%83%85%E3%83%BB%E5%8A%AA%E5%8A%9B%E3%83%BB%E5%8B%9D%E5%88%A9

Interview with former Jump editor-in-chief, talking about the origin of Friendship, Effort, Victory
nmt事務局. “「友情」「努力」「勝利」。 ボクらは『少年ジャンプ』から学んだ。” The News Masters Tokyo. Jul 3, 2018. https://www.joqr.co.jp/nmt/special/2018/07/post-99.php

Article about Jump staff’s thoughts on Friendship, Effort, Victory
“『ジャンプ』編集長、子ども層の開拓に苦戦も「世界中の人が知るキャラ作りが大事」” Oricon News. May 9 2018. https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2111092/full/

Akira Toriyama calling Friendship, Effort, Victory lame transcript
富岳良. “元祖サイコパス主人公!?『ドラゴンボール』孫悟空の「卑劣な行い」トップ10.” My Jitsu. Mar 14, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210314191351/https://myjitsu.jp/enta/archives/87757

Akira Toriyama calling Friendship, Effort, Victory lame original video subtitled and translated
Ac6ut. “Akira Toriyama Full Interview + Drawing (English Sub) Jump Ryu.” YouTube. Jan 29, 2022. https://youtu.be/Y42oRITnDMg

Shonen Jump editors talking about various things as the Three Pillars
山田薫. “伝説のジャンプ編集者が見誤った傑作 漫画サバイバル.” Nikkei. Feb 11, 2019. https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO40658940Q9A130C1CR8000/

Manga sales by volume in 2006 showing Hunter X Hunter and Death Note above 1 million
“The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shonen Jump: A Look at the Circulation of Weekly Jump.” Comipress. May 6, 2007. https://www.comipress.com/article/2007/05/06/1923

Manga sales by volume in 2011 showing Hunter X Hunter above 1 million, and Bleach below
Loo, Egan. “Top-Selling Manga in Japan by Volume: 2011.” Anime News Network. Nov 30, 2011. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-11-30/top-selling-manga-in-japan-by-volume/2011

Manga sales by volume in 2012 showing Hunter X Hunter above 1 million, and Bleach below
Loo, Egan. “50 Top-Selling Manga in Japan by Volume: 2012.” Anime News Network. Dec 2, 2012. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-12-02/50-top-selling-manga-in-japan-by-volume/2012

Big 3s origins in basketball
Attenweiler, Robert. “Us And Them: A History Of The Term “The Big Three”.” Uproxx. Sep 30, 2014. https://uproxx.com/dimemag/us-and-them-history-term-big-three/

Big 3 Allied Forces of WW2
“The Big Three.” The National WWII Museum. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/big-three

Big 3 insurance companies headline
Brooks, Sydney. ““The Big Three,” 1905-1912.” The North American Review (Vol 196, No 683). Oct 1912. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25119855?seq=1

Big Three insurance companies referenced in 1907
Hendrick, Burton J. “The Story of Life Insurance.” New York, McClure, Phillips & Co. 1907. p194. https://archive.org/details/storylifeinsura03hendgoog/page/n224/mode/2up

List of various uses of Gosanke
“御三家.” Wikipedia. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BE%A1%E4%B8%89%E5%AE%B6

Tokugawa Gosanke
“徳川御三家.” Wikipedia. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BE%B3%E5%B7%9D%E5%BE%A1%E4%B8%89%E5%AE%B6

Kyogen and its connection to Tokugawa
“狂言（読み）キョウゲン デジタル大辞泉 「狂言」の意味・読み・例文・類語.” Kotobank. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%8B%82%E8%A8%80-52582

Three Pillars Kyogen
“三本柱（さんぼんのはしら）” Kyogen Kyodosha. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://kyogen.co.jp/outline/post_42/

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
“Romance of the Three Kingdoms.” Wikipedia. Jan 10, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms

Trinity
“Trinity.” Wikipedia. Jan 10, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity

Triple Goddess
“Triple Goddess (Neopaganism).” Wikipedia. Jan 10, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Goddess_(Neopaganism)

Tridevi
“Tridevi.” Wikipedia. Jan 10, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tridevi

Three Ages of Buddhism
“Three Ages of Buddhism.” Wikipedia. Jan 10, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Ages_of_Buddhism

Percy Jackson Big Three
“Big Three.” Riordan Wiki. Jan 10, 2025. https://riordan.fandom.com/wiki/Big_Three

Gilgamesh described as “two-thirds divine, one-third human”
Foster, Benjamin R. “The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation, Analogues, Criticism.” Norton. 2001. p5. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780393975161/page/4/mode/2up?view=theater

Classicist Natalie Haynes on trios in Greek Mythology
@hayfestival. “Classicist @Natalie Haynes on the mysterious significance of numbers in myths.” Tik Tok. Nov 24, 2024. https://www.tiktok.com/@hayfestival/video/7440858846077209889

The Big 4 and France
Volle, Adam. “Allied powers.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Dec 7, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Allied-powers-World-War-II

History of Jump, broken down into decades
“ジャンプ三本柱.” Pixiv Encyclopedia. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%97%E4%B8%89%E6%9C%AC%E6%9F%B1

Fan wiki about migrant worker comics
“民工漫.” 萌娘百科. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://zh.moegirl.org.cn/%E6%B0%91%E5%B7%A5%E6%BC%AB

Fan wiki talking about migrant worker comics
“民工漫.” Baidu Baike. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B0%91%E5%B7%A5%E6%BC%AB/228673

Shonen Jump sales graph in the 90s
“The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shonen Jump: A Look at the Circulation of Weekly Jump.” Comipress. May 6, 2007. https://www.comipress.com/article/2007/05/06/1923

The story of The Big 3 being published, the real three pillars of Jump, and One Piece’s serialization
山田薫. “伝説のジャンプ編集者が見誤った傑作 漫画サバイバル.” Nikkei. Feb 11, 2019. https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO40658940Q9A130C1CR8000/

One Piece sales graph
OHandS. “One Piece Manga Sales Analysis 2022 - The best sales year in 5 years? A decade?” Reddit. Dec 23, 2022. https://old.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/ztbdvx/one_piece_manga_sales_analysis_2022_the_best/

Ranking of Shonen Jump manga over the years by their position in the magazine
“Weekly Shonen Jump Popular Mangas in History.” Jajanken. Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://www.jajanken.net/en/history#notes

A history of the covers of Shonen Jump and the Big 3
スパスパ . “ジャンプの表紙から見る歴代3看板の歴史（2000年代〜2020年代中盤）” Note. Oct 1, 2024. https://note.com/spuspurs/n/n28f72bed928d

Big Three of rap
https://youtu.be/N9bKBAA22Go&t=157

All four of the three grand soups
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_grand_soups

NYT article about how significant three is
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/fashion/sundaystyles/12three.html

Article from VIZ about Jump surveys and table of contents
https://www.viz.com/blog/posts/nihongo-lesson-07-28-17

Shonen Jump cover database
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/weekly-shonen-jump/4050-43519/

A History of Shonen Jump, talking about signboard and Pillar manga
https://manga-no-blog.com/signboard-jump/