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- This article is chiefly about the deceased human character and his identity across multiple lifetimes. For an article chiefly about Splinter, who retains Hamato Yoshi's identity and memories since reincarnation, see Splinter (IDW).
In the IDW continuity, centuries ago in feudal Japan, there lived a human Foot Clan ninja named Hamato Yoshi, who was the husband of Tang Shen and the father of his four sons.
Personality[]
Hamato Yoshi was often fueled by anger when he was young, routinely being overly violent toward his fellow students. He was ambitious and sensitive to his Oroku Saki's competitive jabs, leading him to make misjudgments and hasty choices in response. However, he was able to temper the bulk of his fury with Tang Shen's aid.
Yoshi was a kind father, caring for his sons on his own in their exile and learning how to cook for them as he didn't know to beforehand.
History[]
Yoshi befriended his clan brother Saki in early childhood and would often run around the forest playing with bamboo swords with him. However, even then, he had the same propensity to madden and compete as Saki did. Saki and Yoshi likened their joy to playing in the forest together as being in a "dream" and anticipated training with Master Masato when they were of age and possibly becoming masters themselves (Vengeance, part 6).
When he and Saki were preteens in Vengeance, part 6, Yoshi disrupted Saki's beating of a fellow clan member, scolding him for the gratuitous aggression when all Saki's victim did was claim he was the toughest. When Saki tried to anger Yoshi and threatened to assault him, Yoshi remained calm and informed Saki he wasn't intimidated by him.
As young men, Saki and Yoshi sparred on a log that laid above a stream while instructed by Masato in Vengeance, part 6. Yoshi's frustration made balancing on the log difficult and he fell down into the stream right before Saki could strike him. Masato urged both of them to reflect on where their compulsions were derived from and learn how to control them, the compulsion being anger in Yoshi's case.
Yoshi was known to lash out at others even while training and Masato consequently demanded in Splinter he meditate separately overnight to improve his temper, much to Yoshi's annoyance. Although he eventually became focused on his meditation, he was surprised by a stranger named Shen and fell into the river. Shen offered to build a fire to dry Yoshi off with and during their fireside conversation, he found that Shen made him calmer. He became attracted to her and he eventually proposed to her, to which she agreed. They then moved in together into a hillside house as stated in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Sourcebook issue 1. However, this intimate relationship led to friction with Saki who believed that Shen was supplanting the role that the Foot Clan should have in Yoshi's life. During a joint assassination mission with Saki in Splinter, Yoshi was badly wounded by Lord Ochi and barely made it home to Shen, but recovered after Shen revealed that she was pregnant.
In The Secret History of the Foot Clan issue 2, Masato threw a celebration one night to honor the victory against Lord Ochi which Yoshi attended with Shen. He left Shen to converse with Masato, but returned to prevent Saki from slapping Shen's face after she slapped Saki for flirting with her. The fight was stopped by Masato before it could escalate and Yoshi was called to a conference with Oroku Maji and Masato. Masato announced Saki and Yoshi's promotion to Foot chūnin in response to the outcome of the Lord Ochi mission. Outraged that Yoshi was made chūnin like he was, Saki stormed from the meeting followed by Yoshi. Yoshi expressed concern about Saki's wild temper and advised him to meditate to improve it as that was what helped his own. At some point, Yoshi chose to prioritize his role as husband and father over his role as a chūnin. In issue 4, Yoshi attended Maji's funeral, ignorant that Saki had murdered him. After the funeral, Yoshi expressed his grief and Saki quickly decreed himself the Foot's new jōnin, since Maji's intended successor, Masato, was on an indefinite "errand" (in actuality, Masato was also murdered by Saki). Yoshi accepted Saki's promotion after being told all the other Foot chūnin accepted it. Later, Yoshi joined Saki and fellow Foot ninja on a daytime mission to confront Shibata Takamori at his house and Yoshi was confused by Saki's choice to murder Takamori's family.
Yoshi's meditation and praying was derided by Saki in Vengeance, part 6 who asserted that only action would achieve one's goals. Yoshi countered by stating that meditation and prayer were actions in their own right that could contribute to one's plans being accomplished. Yoshi said that Maji and Masato wouldn't have dismissed meditation and prayer as Saki did and that he and Saki should honor their memory by respecting said things. He then criticized Saki's "mindless" violence in the name of the Foot, wanting him to stop. However, Saki believed the violence and chaos was required to establish absolute order.
Years later, Yoshi had made himself a parent of four, his youngest child being shy of walking age. In Enemies Old, Enemies New: Prologue, after publicly condemning Saki's leadership, Yoshi and his family were charged with treason and marked for death. After he found Shen dying from a strike by Foot assassins in their house, Yoshi fled with his sons to the mountains and raised them as a single father for three years, teaching them ninjutsu. He would take covert trips to trade outposts or villages to procure fresh fruit and baked goods for his sons, but in one instance, a Foot ninja caught sight of Yoshi and reported to Saki (TMNT Sourcebook issue 1). Yoshi returned home with his food haul, but the meal was interrupted by the Foot. He was then executed after his sons. An extended scene of Saki sentencing Yoshi's sons to execution was shown in Vengeance, part 6.
Yoshi and his sons were reincarnated in the modern era as laboratory specimens of StockGen, the New York City-based biotech laboratory of Baxter Stockman. From the moment a rat named Splinter was injected with an experimental psychotropic compound to enhance his cognitive abilities, he could once again fully remember his past life as Yoshi. Once Splinter and four laboratory turtles (his four reincarnated sons) were mutated into a more human-like forms, Splinter embraced his new name and rodent identity, but would also continue to identify as Yoshi in full continuity with his past human life.
Yoshi was aided by four creatures in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time issue 2 he perceived to be demons in battle after he was attacked by Foot ninja accusing of him disrespecting Foot jōnin Saki. To show his gratitude, he allowed the Turtles to come to his and Shen's home to share dinner with them. The next morning, Yoshi was summoned by Saki, who had battled against Leonardo earlier that day unbeknownst to Yoshi. After consulting with Kitsune about how the "demons" who attacked him knew of the Foot's secret ninjutsu techniques, Kitsune concluded it signified a potential traitor of the Foot. Saki then swore to execute the perpetrator of the next perceived treachery.
A memory of Yoshi during the time of his and his sons' exile from the Foot appeared briefly to Donatello in First, Last, Always, Part 4 as he witnessed just how far Armaggon was time traveling into the past. Donatello concluded that Armaggon was seeking to obliterate the feudal Hamato family.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Tang Shen: Shen was Yoshi's wife. He met her while meditating at a river and she consistently soothed his quick-tempered attitude by teaching him to slow down. He was quite dedicated to Shen, believing she "made [him] better in all ways" and refusing to die before seeing her again in Splinter. He considers Shen to be loving, selfless, and courageous (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue 89).
- Sons: Yoshi loved his four sons and felt that each subsequent one made him kinder. He provided them discipline and even stepped away from being chūnin to focus on caring for them. However, following Shen's execution, he was prone to snap at them when Shen was mentioned as shown in Splinter, but felt remorseful for said outbursts and was honest as to why they were occurring. He rigorously trained his sons in ninjutsu throughout the years in hiding and longed to nurture his sons in the same matter Shen did instead of only in his own way.
Friends and allies[]
- Masato: Masato was Yoshi's teacher. Yoshi learned ninjutsu well from him, but sometimes would be frustrated with Masato's lessons such as when Masato ordered him to meditate alone separate from the other students in Splinter. However, it was Masato's insight that would help him in moments of anger.
Enemies[]
- Lord Ochi: Yoshi was tasked to assassinate Lord Ochi by Masato once the Foot was hired to avenge merchant Kaneko's son in Splinter. However, Yoshi's lack of a plan caused him to being overwhelmed by Lord Ochi and his two men and he was sliced in the back by his blade. He was nearly killed by Lord Ochi, but managed to defeat him.
- The Foot Clan: Yoshi used to be a member of the Foot until he chose to leave due to his disagreement with how Saki was brutally operating the clan as jōnin.
- Oroku Saki: Saki was Yoshi's clan brother in the Foot. He was easily negatively influenced by Saki, often giving into his goading and unlike Saki, he wasn't able to channel his anger into something productive like advancing in his combat training. Yoshi disliked Saki's approach as jōnin, considering it disgraceful, and it eventually led to him leaving the Foot altogether. Once Saki ordered Shen's execution, Yoshi developed an undying hatred for him and sought vengeance. His loathing only worsened after Saki executed his sons, promising to murder him in return in his future lifetime.
Trivia[]
- Yoshi and his family practiced Buddhism as he prayed to the Buddha before his execution in Enemies Old, Enemies New: Prologue.