How tall is Gohan?

Gohan's official height: 176 cm as an adult

Son Gohan, Goku's elder son and one of the most powerful fighters in Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball, is listed at 176 cm (5′9″) as an adult. The figure comes from Dragon Ball: Super Exciting Guide, the two official databooks Shueisha published in 2009, as cited by the Dragon Ball Wiki. The guide labels it an "adult" height, which is an important qualifier: Gohan spends much of his time on the page as a small child.

The same guide gives adult Gohan a weight of 61 kg (about 134 lb). At 176 cm and 61 kg, his body mass index is about 19.7, the leanest of the main Saiyan fighters. That matches the wiki's description of the young adult Gohan of the Buu arc: noticeably skinnier and leaner than in his Cell Games prime, because he had slacked off on training to focus on his studies.

Gohan and Goku: almost exactly the same height

Gohan's adult height puts him just 1 cm above his father. Goku is listed at 175 cm in the same guide, and the Dragon Ball Wiki describes the young adult Gohan as similar in height to his father. In any realistic side-by-side, nobody would be able to tell the two apart by height alone.

That near-perfect match suits the story. According to Wikipedia's account of the series, Toriyama intended Gohan to replace Goku as the protagonist after the Cell arc. Physically, Gohan was ready to step into his father's role, matching him in height and build. Toriyama later decided Gohan was not suited to be the lead, and Goku returned to the front of the story, but the visual groundwork for a succession was there.

Gohan's growth across the series

Gohan is one of the few major characters whom readers watch grow from a toddler into a father. The guide gives only one height, the adult figure, but the manga shows him at every stage.

Without official numbers for his childhood, any figure you see for kid Gohan is an estimate. What the manga does show is that as a child he was tiny next to the adults around him, and especially next to his mentor. By the Buu arc, he has reached his father's height, and in Dragon Ball Super he appears as an adult scholar and father.

The wiki notes several changes to his look along the way. During the Androids saga his hair grew very long, reaching his thighs. After the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, it was short and spiky. As a high school student, he wears an Orange Star High School uniform and moonlights as the costumed Great Saiyaman. As an adult, he wears glasses and smart casual clothes. Wikipedia notes that Toriyama's early concepts for Gohan even included glasses or a jacket, ideas that resurfaced in his adult design.

Gohan and Piccolo: a 50 cm partnership

Gohan's closest bond, besides his father, is with Piccolo, who trains him as a child and later fights beside him. Piccolo is listed at 226 cm (7′5″), which makes him 50 cm taller than the adult Gohan.

As a small child being trained in the wilderness, Gohan would have been well under half of Piccolo's height. Even as an adult, Gohan's head barely reaches Piccolo's shoulders. Wikipedia notes that Toriyama built the 2022 film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero around the dynamic between Gohan and Piccolo, saying their close relationship motivates Gohan even more than his father does. The size difference makes their partnership instantly readable on screen: the giant green mentor and the slight, bespectacled scholar.

Gohan's family by height

Gohan sits at the top of his own household and near the middle of his extended family.

His parents. Goku is 1 cm shorter. His mother, Chi-Chi, was 156 cm as a child and is 163 cm as an adult, 13 cm below her son. Chi-Chi pushes Gohan toward his studies throughout the series, and the adult Gohan of Super, a researcher in glasses, is in many ways the son she hoped for.

His wife and in-laws. Videl, the daughter of the world champion Mr. Satan, is listed at 157 cm, 19 cm shorter than Gohan. Her father is listed at 188 cm, which makes Gohan's father-in-law 12 cm taller than him. Mr. Satan's size is part of his act as a showman champion, and his son-in-law is far stronger despite being much shorter.

His brother. Goten, Gohan's younger brother, is listed only as a child, at 123 cm. His daughter with Videl, Pan, has no height in the sources used here.

Gohan's place among the Saiyans and half-Saiyans

Gohan is the tallest Saiyan or half-Saiyan in the main cast with a published height, apart from Broly.

He is 12 cm taller than Vegeta, the self-proclaimed prince of the Saiyans, and 6 cm taller than Future Trunks, the other half-Saiyan who reaches adulthood on the page. Gohan's human mother, Chi-Chi, is listed at 163 cm, and Future Trunks's human mother, Bulma, at 165 cm, so neither half-Saiyan's height can be put down to an unusually tall parent. Gohan's height tracks his father's almost exactly.

The point matters for anyone ranking the cast. In the Cell Games, Gohan was the strongest fighter on the planet while still a child, shorter than every adult around him. By the time he reaches his full height, he has been overtaken in power by his father and Vegeta. Height and strength move in completely different directions in his story.

How Gohan's design reflects his character

Gohan's name comes from the Japanese word for cooked rice or a meal, continuing Toriyama's habit of naming Saiyans and their families after foods. It also honors Grandpa Gohan, the old martial artist who raised Goku. His design throughout the series emphasizes that he is a reluctant fighter: a gentle, studious child who fights out of necessity, unlocking enormous hidden power when enraged.

A 176 cm, 61 kg frame fits that personality. He is not drawn as a hulking warrior; he is lean, tall for a Japanese man and almost identical to his father in size. The Dragon Ball Wiki notes that, like his father, he is considered attractive by several characters, and that unlike Goku he is shy and polite around girls his age, thanks to his mother's influence.

In Super Hero, Toriyama gave Gohan a new form and a central role again. Wikipedia notes that the film shifted focus from overpowered characters like Goku and Vegeta to Gohan and Piccolo, exploring Gohan as both a warrior and a scholar. The adult proportions from the 2009 guide still apply: the man in glasses at his desk and the fighter facing the Gamma androids are the same 176 cm.

Reading Gohan's numbers carefully

A few points help keep comparisons with Gohan accurate:

• 176 cm is an adult height. Comparing kid Gohan from the Saiyan or Cell arcs with adult characters at 176 cm would be a serious error. The guide gives no childhood figure.
• The weight reflects a less-trained period. The 61 kg figure fits the wiki's description of a leaner young adult who had eased off training.
• Transformations do not change the official figure. Super Saiyan 2, Ultimate Gohan and his Super Hero form change his hair and power, not his listed height.
• One centimeter is not a visible difference. Gohan and Goku should look essentially identical in height in any fair comparison.

What 176 cm means in real-world terms

Converted, 176 cm is 69.3 inches, or just over 5′9″. The 176 cm page shows the full conversion and real people at that mark.

The NCD Risk Factor Collaboration estimates adult Japanese men born in 1996 at an average of 170.8 cm, so Gohan is about 5 cm above the average Japanese man. Against the US male average of 177.1 cm, he would be about 1 cm below the typical American. The average height in Japan page shows how Japanese heights have changed over a century.

Comparing Gohan yourself

Use the height comparison tool to put Gohan next to Goku, Piccolo, Videl or anyone else in the catalog. Comparisons worth trying:

• Gohan vs Goku: a 1 cm difference between father and son.
• Gohan vs Piccolo: 50 cm between student and mentor.
• Gohan vs Videl: 19 cm between husband and wife.
• Gohan vs Mr. Satan: a father-in-law 12 cm taller and far weaker.