Yahata

Yahata (八幡) is a supporting character featured in Yakuza 5. He is the captain of the Yamagasa Family and the patriarch of the Yahata Family.

Profile[]

Appearance[]

Yahata is a slightly chunky man of above-average height. His head is bald and he has a massive burn mark on the left side on his face.

Attire[]

Yahata wears a red tracksuit with white stripes running down the shoulders and sleeves, as well as a black shirt and brown sandals.

Personality[]

Yahata is a brash and impulsive man, overly quick to jump to conclusions. He has the utmost respect for his patriarch, Tadashi Madarame, to the point that he was dead set on getting revenge against the Tojo Clan for the attempt on his boss's life, in spite of the latter's orders to disband the Yamagasa.

Background[]

Yahata is the captain of the Yamagasa Family, the dominant yakuza family in Fukuoka, as well as the patriarch of its subsidiary, the Yahata Family. He has a notable predilection for wearing red tracksuits, to the point that all members of the Yamagasa that are loyal to him wear similar outfits as a sign of respect for him.

Involvement[]

Yakuza 5: 2012[]

Yahata waits alongside the rest of Yamagasa Family for his patriarch, Tadashi Madarame, to finish discussing with Daigo Dojima in a taxi. As they arrive back in Nagasugai and Daigo exits the car, Yahata orders his men away before bowing to Dojima and Aoyama and walking away.

Later on, at the Yamagasa Family HQ, Yahata and his men barge into Madarame's room after hearing gunfire, finding that their patriarch had been stabbed, with the Tojo Chief of HQ, Minoru Aoyama, lying on the ground near him. Aoyama (who had just had Madarame stabbed, unbeknownst to the Yamagasa captain) accuses Kazuma Kiryu, Yu Morinaga and Masato Aizawa of being the ones who assaulted them. Taking him at face value, Yahata orders his men to call an ambulance for their boss, before a fight breaks out between him and Kiryu, which he loses. When Aoyama detonates the bomb planted in the building, Yahata is injured by the explosion, but survives.

The next day, Yahata and his men are holed up at the Yamagasa's hideout when Kiryu raids the building looking for him. Kiryu gives him a letter from Madarame, declaring the disbandment of the family, to which the captain responds that they would continue to go after the Tojo Clan and avenge their patriarch regardless. To his surprise, Kiryu tears the letter into pieces, insisting that the Yamagasa need to stay in order to protect Fukuoka and keep other yakuza groups. Angry that he is being ordered around by a taxi driver, Yahata instigates a second fight. Due to his injuries, however, Kiryu manages to dodge all of his punches before knocking him down with one blow. He reassures the captain that he would not let the Yamagasa fall apart, and that he would crush the entire Tojo Clan in Fukuoka. After learning that he was actually the Dragon of Dojima, Yahata goes along with his plan and phones Aoyama, challenging the Tojo to a battle at Hakata Pier the following night. After the call ends, Kiryu explains that he needs to set things straight with his colleagues at Nagasu Taxi beforehand.

On the night of the brawl, Yahata rallies the entire Yamagasa Family to Warehouse 27 at Hakata Pier, where Aoyama meets them in kind with an army of his own. Shortly afterward, Kiryu arrives and, to the utter shock of both of them, proposes to take on the Tojo Clan by himself, in order to avoid an all-out war and preserve the Yamagasa. Despite the acting chairman's jeers, his sworn brother and Omi Alliance captain, Masaru Watase, accepts the fourth chairman's terms. Kiryu manages to beat his way through all of Aoyama's men, leaving Yahata and his own men stunned.

Much later, Yahata and the rest of his family, once again led by Madarame, help to fend off the Kuroha Family's invasion of Tokyo, in a joint effort between them, the Kitakata Family and the Watase Family. He appears assisting his patriarch at Theatre Square as Watase publicly shames Kamon Kanai, and bows in respect to Shun Akiyama with all the other yakuza. Afterward, Yahata stands amongst the crowd next to his boss to watch Haruka Sawamura's live speech on a large screen there.

Fighting Style[]

Yahata's fighting style revolves around sluggish but heavy-hitting boxing combos. He takes a more defensive approach in battle — he guards regularly, weaves around attacks, and exploits openings in Kiryu's defenses. He also has super armor, making it impossible to knock him down with normal attacks. His moveset includes:

a Rush Combo consisting of an overhand right, a left hook, and a low spinning right heel kick;
an overhand right-left uppercut combo,
a right haymaker,
a charged right cross,
a crouching right cross, followed by a rapid left jab-right cross that can stun Kiryu;
quickstep combos, including:
- a low right shovel hook after sidestepping right, followed by a rapid right cross-left jab;
- a low left shovel hook after sidestepping left, followed by a rapid left jab-right cross; and
- a rapid right cross-left jab-right cross after backstepping, followed by a right haymaker; and
a right-foot stomp for his downed attack.

His attack trails are scarlet red.

Yahata's moveset is reused by Okabe, Kanehara, and the Gambling King in Yakuza 0, as well as Kyohei Hamura in Judgment, Kanji Aotsuki in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, and several miniboss enemies in the Dragon Engine titles.