The Kenno Clan (久瀬拳王会, Kuze Kennō-kai) is a subsidiary of the Dojima Family and third-tier Tojo Clan yakuza group that featured in Yakuza 0.
Overview[]
Background[]
The Kenno Clan is a Dojima Family subsidiary operated by Lieutenant Daisaku Kuze. According to his fellow lieutenant, Hiroki Awano, during the 1980's the Kenno Clan were the primary muscle of the Dojima Family; handling the most violent work for Patriarch Sohei Dojima.
In particular, the Kenno Clan operated several loansharking businesses: They lent money to desperate people at exorbitant interest rates and, if the debtors defaulted on their payments, publicly beat them up or destroyed their property to intimidate them into paying on time from then on, as well as to make a public example of them.
Yakuza 0[]
In 1988, while Family Captain Shintaro Kazama was in prison awaiting trial for racketeering charges, the Kenno Clan became the dominant faction within the Dojima Family, due to their frequent usage of brute strength. In order to strengthen his position within the family, Lieutenant Kuze framed Kazama's foster son, Kazuma Kiryu, for the murder of one of the Kenno Clan's debtors, whom Kiryu had beaten on a job for one of Kuze's loansharks. Kuze hoped that Kiryu being arrested for murder would lead to Captain Kazama's expulsion, as he'd been the one to bring Kiryu into the family, and thus would have to take responsibility for his crime against a civilian.
Unfortunately for Kuze, Kiryu eventually discovered Kuze was behind his framing and sought to be expelled from the Family by Patriarch Dojima so that his foster father would not be punished. When Kuze and several of his goons attempted to stop him, Kiryu defeated them all in combat, humiliating Kuze before Patriarch Dojima and forcing him to cut off one of his pinkies in atonement.
Kuze would make it his sole objective to kill Kiryu in retaliation for this humiliation, even if it meant working as grunts for Kuze's fellow lieutenants, Awano and Keiji Shibusawa after their factions gained power within the family. While working for Awano, Kuze would make two further attempts on Kiryu's life: First, while Kiryu was traveling through the sewers to flee Kamurocho, Kuze tried to run him down with this motorcycle and then beat him to death with a steel pipe; and second, when Kiryu was caught hiding at Serena by Awano's goons, Kuze and several of his men attacked him on the street outside while he tried to flee.
Later on, when the Shibusawa Family captured Tetsu Tachibana, they handed him over to the Kenno Clan so that they could torture him into revealing the location of Makoto Makimura, the owner of the Empty Lot. Though Kuze tried to be meticulous in his torture to hurt him as much as possible without killing him, his subordinate Yoneda, became careless and gave Tachibana a fatal blow to the head with a sledgehammer; prompting Kuze to beat Yoneda to death. Kuze and what remained of his goons were immediately afterwards attacked and defeated by Kiryu and his sworn brother, Akira Nishikiyama, who'd arrived to rescue Tachibana, only to find him already dying.
After Shibusawa was made into the new captain of the Family, he mobilized to consolidate his position by eliminating his rivals, the Kazama Family and the Nikkyo Consortium. The Kenno Clan were tasked with raiding the Kazama Family office and killing all of their men. While Kuze's men fought with Nishiki and Osamu Kashiwagi, Kuze faced Kiryu alone for a final confrontation, where he was once again defeated. After his fifth loss to Kiryu, Kuze finally admitted defeat and warned Kiryu about Shibusawa's plans to destroy the Nikkyo as well.
After Kuze is arrested and the Dojima Family loses control of the land for the Kamurocho revitalization project, the Kenno Clan is disbanded and their members are absorbed into the Kazama Family and the main Dojima Family.
Notable Members[]
- Daisaku Kuze - Patriarch
Trivia[]
- The Kenno's name (拳王) roughly translates to "King of Fists", which is likely in reference to its patriarch Kuze's past as a professional boxer and the clan's role as the Dojima Family's muscle.