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    Kazuma Kiryu

    Character » appears in 21 games

    The hot-blooded main protagonist of the Yakuza series. Known as the "Dragon of Dojima" due to the large dragon tattoo on his back, as well as his reputation as one of the most formidable figures within the Dojima Family.

    Short summary describing this character.

    Kazuma Kiryu last edited by solidejake on 12/03/23 12:21AM View full history

    Overview

    Kiryu as he appears in Yakuza 5
    Kiryu as he appears in Yakuza 5

    Kazuma Kiryu is the primary playable protagonist of the Yakuza franchise. Born in Yokohama, Japan in 1968, Kiryu was raised in the Sunflower Orphanage following the deaths of both of his parents at a very young age. The orphanage's main benefactor Shintaro Kazama took young Kiryu under his wing, acting as a father figure and later inducting both Kiryu and his friend Akira Nishikiyama into the Kazama yakuza family, a subsidiary of the powerful Dojima Family and its parent Tojo Clan.

    As a yakuza, Kiryu built a reputation for himself as the "Dragon of Dojima" thanks to his unyielding resolve and incredible ferocity as a melee fighter. Stoic and trustworthy almost to a fault, Kiryu constantly strives to uphold his personal code of honor while protecting those he cares about, despite his own inescapable affiliation with Japan's criminal underworld.

    Appearances

    Yakuza 0

    In this series prequel, twenty-year-old Kiryu works for the Dojima Family in 1988 as a debt collector. When a businessman shaken down by Kiryu turns up dead inside a hotly contested piece of undeveloped real estate known as the "Empty Lot," Kiryu must prove his innocence by leaving the Dojima Family in order to investigate the murder on his own.

    Yakuza

    In order to protect his sworn brother Nishikiyama, Kiryu assumes responsibility for the murder of yakuza boss Sohei Dojima in 1995. After serving a ten-year prison sentence, Kiryu is released only to find Kamurocho's entire underworld in chaos due to a conspiracy revolving around the theft of ten billion yen, as well as the murder of the Third Chairman of the Tojo Clan, Masaru Sera.

    During the game's finale, it is revealed that Kiryu's parents were killed by Kazama, who subsequently adopted the orphaned Kiryu in accordance with a longstanding yet rarely observed yakuza tradition of raising the children of one's victims as a form of honorable penance.

    Yakuza 2

    Six months after the events of the first game, the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, Yukio Terada, is assassinated. As he investigates this high-profile murder, Kiryu is plunged into a new conspiracy born from the Tojo Clan's massacre of the Korean Jingweon mafia twenty years prior.

    Yakuza 3

    Kiryu abandons the life of a yakuza to run Sunshine Orphanage in Okinawa, but he is reluctantly pulled back into the shadows of Japan's underworld when an impending real estate deal threatens the orphanage. Kiryu heads back to Kamurocho to address the problem, but soon finds himself in over his head as the specter of yet another clan war looms.

    Yakuza 4

    Kiryu is still running the Sunshine Orphanage, but finds himself drawn into yet another convoluted series of events when convicted murderer and Tojo Clan member Taiga Saejima washes up onto the nearby shoreline. Kiryu returns once again to Kamurocho, meets up with the game's other protagonists, and classic Yakuza action ensues.

    Yakuza 5

    Living under an assumed name, Kiryu tries to make a new life for himself as a taxi driver in Fukuoka. However, when he is approached by Daigo Dojima, the patriarch of the Dojima Family, Kiryu discovers a new conflict brewing between the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance that could bring a bloody end to the cease-fire treaty between them, forcing Kiryu to intervene for the sake of his friends.

    Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

    After the events of the previous game, Kiryu is thrown in prison for three years. He returns to find that Haruka missing from the orphanage, and returns to Kamurocho once again to find her. Not only does he discover Haruka had a son out of wedlock, but his search to find the boy's father leads him to Onomichi in Hiroshima where he once again finds himself embroiled in Yakuza politics, while Chinese and Korean mafia groups take advantage of the chaos in Kamurocho.

    Yakuza: Like A Dragon

    Though not playable, Kiryu again makes an appearance late in the game when Daigo Dojima asks for his protection as he hatches a plot with the patriarch of the Omi Alliance to officially disband both major Yakuza clans in hopes of frustrating the true villain's plans to control the criminal underworld of Japan. Kiryu must be fought by the new game's protagonist as a boss character, but can later be called on by the player to perform a special attack as a summon through Poundmates. True to his personal code, during the boss fight, Kiryu will not attack female party members.

    Yakuza: Dead Souls

    In this zombie-themed (and non-canon) spinoff title, Kiryu must fight for his life within the bowels of a Kamurocho overrun by the undead. His special weapon is an anti-materiel rifle.

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