The Go-Ryu Clan (郷龍会, Gōryū-kai) is a yakuza family and subsidiary of the Omi Alliance.
History[]
Based out of Sotenbori, Osaka, the Go-Ryu Clan is one of the most prominent organizations within the Omi Alliance. Its first patriarch, Jin Goda, rose through the Alliance ranks to become its 5th Chairman. At some point prior to 1999, Goda's son, Ryuji Goda, joined the Go-Ryu and became a respected member because of his strength and charismatic, tough guy attitude. Due to his father being the head of the Clan, Ryuji was quickly promoted to Lieutenant, in spite of his frequent insubordination and disrespect of his own father.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Online: 1999[]
By 1999, Ryuji's frequent defiance of his father wore out the First Patriarch's patience, so he not only expelled Ryuji from the Go-Ryu and the Omi Alliance, but also banished him from Osaka itself. This took the rank and file Go-Ryu members by surprise, as they expected Jin would appoint his son as Clan Captain and name him as his successor. Instead, Goda appoints another lieutenant, Wataru Takayama, as the Clan Captain.
Even though Goda insisted that Ryuji's expulsion was permanent, Takayama decided to assassinate him anyway to ensure that the Patriarch's son could never return to threaten his position. Takayama would make two assassination attempts on Ryuji and his new travelling companion Joongi Han, first in Hiroshima and later in Fukuoka. During this second attempt, Ryuji was seemingly killed by a Tojo Clan assassin who'd also been sent after him, Ichiban Kasuga. However, unbeknownst to Takayama, Kasuga had only pretended to kill Ryuji, since he'd decided to defy the Tojo's orders after gaining respect for his former target.
Through Joongi Han, Takayama happens to make the acquaintance of a Jingweon Officer who wished to re-establish his syndicate's operations in Japan and take revenge on the Tojo for their massacre of their members in 1980. Takayama took advantage of his chance encounter and offered to form an alliance with the Jingweon: If they helped him overthrow Goda as Chairman of the Omi Alliance, he would then lead the Omi into war against the Tojo alongside the Jingweon and they could then split control over Tokyo once the Tojo was defeated.
The Jingweon agree to this pact and the plan to overthrow Chairman Goda moves forward. Unfortunately for Takayama, Han defies his orders from the Jingweon and saves Goda out of guilt for having failed to protect his son. Han takes Goda into hiding, but is eventually found by his Jingweon boss and Takayama. Fortunately for them, Ryuji find them as well, accompanied by Kasuga and Daisaku Kuze, who wish to prevent Takayama's coup to protect the Tojo from a unified Omi and Jingweon. Ryuji, Han, Kasuga and Kuze defeat Takayama, his men and their Jingweon back-up and save Chairman Goda.
In the aftermath, Takayama is banished from the Omi Alliance and Ryuji is reinstated and promoted to Clan Captain.
Yakuza/Yakuza Kiwami: 2005[]
In between 1999 and 2005, Jin Goda determined that he was getting too old to run both the Omi and the Go-Ryu, so he resigned as Patriarch of his own organization and allowed Ryuji to succeed him as the Clan's Second Patriarch.
Ryuji would go onto be largely insubordinate to his father, frequently utilizing the might of the Go-Ryu to further his own interests despite his father's orders. In 2005, he formed a pact with the corrupt MIA director, Kyohei Jingu, to destroy the Tojo Clan in order to allow the Omi Alliance to steal Tokyo from them. This plot was ultimately foiled by the intervention of Kazuma Kiryu.
Yakuza 2/Yakuza Kiwami 2: 2006[]
The following year, the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo, Yukio Terada (who was secretly a Jingweon Mafia infiltrator), would fake his assassination and frame Ryuji and the Go-Ryu for it. Terada hoped to drive the Tojo and the Omi into war so that the weakened Tojo would finally be crushed and the Jingweon would have revenge for the massacre of 1980.
In spite of not actually killing Terada, Ryuji takes credit because he too wishes to go to war with the Tojo. When he learns that his father intends to negotiate a new peace with Kazuma Kiryu, Ryuji leads the Go-Ryu Clan in a coup against his own father, hoping to displace him, take control of the Omi and lead the Alliance into war. Ultimately, Ryuji fails in capturing his father and uniting the Omi under his leadership, prompting different factions within the Omi to make their own separate efforts to take Tokyo from the Tojo.
The Go-Ryu Clan make their move against Tokyo on Christmas Eve of 2006, attacking Tojo businesses across the city, particularly in Kamurocho. Despite the Tojo's paltry state, Kiryu, Daigo Dojima, Yayoi Dojima, Osamu Kashiwagi and Goro Majima successfully lead a defense of the city. After the battle is over, Ryuji challenges Kiryu to a one-on-one fight to the death to decide the fate of Tokyo the next night, threatening that if Kiryu doesn't show up, he'll lead the Go-Ryu on another attack of the city, which he suspects the Tojo will not be able to hold back a second time.
Kiryu and Ryuji's showdown the following night ended up turning into a bloodbath since, on top of the fight between the two men, Terada and the Jingweon as well as Ryo Takashima and his family also made attempts to kill Ryuji, Kiryu and Chairman Goda. Ultimately, the night would end with the deaths of Ryuji, Chairman Goda, Terada and Takashima, leaving the Omi Alliance in just as much chaos as the Tojo had been prior to the war.
After the failed war against the Tojo and the deaths of the Godas, the Go-Ryu Clan dissolves.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name: 2019[]
In spite of the Clan's dissolution, several Go-Ryu loyalists remained. These holdouts laid low for over a decade until, in 2019, the self-proclaimed third patriarch of the Go-Ryu Clan gathered them together to make an attempt at reestablishing the Go-Ryu and rejoining the Omi Alliance.
To that aim, the self-styled patriarch sends impostors into Osaka to pretend to be Ryuji, hoping to make it seem like the legendary Second Patriarch was still alive and back in town, with one of them being Lil' Ryuji Goda. Two of these impostors ended up drawing the attention of Kazuma Kiryu: One who mugged people in the same place Ryuji did when he was 12 years-old and went by the alias of the "Bontan Hunter" and another who pulled a honeypot shakedown by having a woman invite men to a hotel room where the fake Ryuji would extort them. Kiryu defeated both of the fake Ryujis and, through the second one, he learned the location of the new Go-Ryu's offices.
Kiryu travels to said office and confronts the self-styled patriarch, who explains his goals and then tries to kill Kiryu for messing with his scheme. Ultimately, Kiryu defeats the self-styled patriarch and Kiryu coerces him and his goons into abandoning their plan and leaving town.
Members[]
- Jin Goda - 1st Patriarch (At least 1988 - Between 1999 and 2005)
- Ryuji Goda - 2nd Patriarch (After 1999 - 2006)
- Self Proclaimed Third Patriarch (After 2006 - 2019)
- Wataru Takayama - Captain (1999)
- Hiroshi Hayashi - Member
- Tetsuo Nikaido - Lieutenant/3rd Patriarch in non-canon Dead Souls continuity