Yamauchi Yodo (山内 容堂, Yamauchi Yōdō) is the overarching antagonist of Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!/Like a Dragon: Ishin!. He is the daimyo of the Tosa Domain and he shares his in-game appearance with Kyohei Jingu. He is loosely based on the historical figure of the same nameWP.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Yamauchi has a distinctive mole on his forehead, and a chonmage haircut. He wears a lavish dark-colored kimono with a red-and-gold haori.
Personality[]
Yodo is a ruthless aristocrat who will do anything in the pursuit of increasing his own personal wealth and power. He is fixated on making his domain, Tosa, the most powerful domain in Japan, to the point that he's willing to help the British Empire turn Japan into a colony if it means he'll be their local figurehead ruler.
Involvement[]
Background[]
Yamauchi is the local lord of the Tosa Domain, a province in the southern Japanese island of Shikoku. Under his rule, Tosa is known for its strict enforcement of the social class system established by the Tokugawa Bakufu, which has led to the formation of the Tosa Loyalist Party, a political party of low-rank samurai and commoners who wish to abolish the class system in their home province.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!/Like a Dragon: Ishin![]
In 1866, Yoshida Toyo, a high-ranking officer in Yamauchi's government and the secret leader of the Tosa Loyalist Party, plotted to organize a protest whereby the Kinno-to's samurai would sneak into Lord Yamauchi's palace at night and take control of the place to demand reforms. However, before the plan could be carried out, Yoshida was assassinated on the orders of his own second-in-command, Takechi Hanpeita, who believed Yoshida's leadership was too moderate and focused on local issues.
One year later, Takechi (now the Kinno-to's leader), made an alliance with Yamauchi to work with him to overthrow the Tokugawa Bakufu and abolish the class system nationwide, in exchange for Yamauchi having a high-position in the government they'll establish afterwards. Takechi would tell Sakamoto Ryoma of this alliance during a secret meeting in Kyoto.
Months later, Yamauchi seemingly betrayed Takechi and had him allegedly commit seppuku on the Bakufu's orders. However, this had all been a ruse to help Takechi fake his death to facilitate his anti-Bakufu activities, now acting under the alias of "Sakamoto Ryoma". Takechi and Yamauchi would spend the ensuing months conspiring to drive the Satsuma and Choshu domains to war with the Bakufu, in the hopes that all three factions would wipe each other out and then Tosa would remain as the most powerful domain in the country.
After the real Sakamoto discovered Takechi's ruse and then tried to assassinate him in Kyoto, Takechi fled back to Tosa to seek protection in Yamauchi's castle. Sakamoto and his Shinsengumi allies, Hijikata Toshizo, Okita Soji and Nagakura Shinpachi, would then sail to Tosa and carry out an assault on the fortress, culminating with Sakamoto defeating Takechi in a duel at the castle's summit. Once beaten, Takechi agrees to give up his pursuit for Tosa's supremacy over the country and instead join Sakamoto in creating a more equal Japan.
However, after the battle is over, Yamauchi makes his presence known and holds both men at gunpoint. Yamauchi belittles Takechi for succumbing to Sakamoto's sentimentality and then tells the pair that he intended to eventually betray his former ally anyway. Yamauchi reveals he has secretly been conspiring with the British Empire to turn Japan into a colony with himself as their new puppet shogun. Before Yamauchi can kill the pair, Hijikata, Okita and Nagakura arrive, having defeated Yamauchi's allies. Surrounded by the five swordsmen, Yamauchi begs for his life, saying that any plans to reform the country will need somebody of his high-standing to push them forward. Regardless, the five samurai ignore his pleas and execute him.
Gallery[]
Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin![]
Like a Dragon: Ishin![]
