Daisaku Kuze

Daisaku Kuze (, Kuze Daisaku) is a secondary antagonist in Yakuza 0. He is one of the three lieutenants of the Tojo Clan's Dojima Family, and the patriarch of the Kenno Clan, a Dojima Family subsidiary. He is also featured as an antagonist in Ryuji Goda's story from Ryu Ga Gotoku Online. 
== Profile ==
=== Appearance ===
Kuze's face is modeled after his voice actor, . He is an old man who stands at above-average height, with black hair, that he wears in a pompadour. He has a lean build, despite his age, possessing extremely good musculature.
After performing and cutting off his left pinky finger, following his first defeat at the hands of Kiryu, his left hand and pinky are completely bandaged. When he ambushes Kiryu in the sewers under Kamurocho, his midsection is wrapped in bandages.
==== Tattoo ====
Kuze's tattoo depicts , the judge and ruler of Hell on his back, while the guardians of Hell, Gozu (Ox-Head) and Mezu (Horse-Face) adorn his left and right upper arms respectively. This may reference how Kuze keeps fighting and judging Kiryu, and also how Kuze is the only obstacle in Kiryu's path that keeps him in the hell of the yakuza. Enma's left little finger is partially covered, foreshadowing Kuze's yubitsume after his first fight with Kiryu. On the bottom left, there is a signature 彫巴 (Horitomo). 
==== Attire ====
Kuze's standard attire consists of a light grey suit, an unbuttoned white patterned dress shirt, matching white snakeskin belt and loafers and gold rimmed sunglasses. After his release from prison, he wears a plain white dress shirt with a black suit and black aviator sunglasses. It is possible that it was made to resemble Kiryu's outfit, as Kiryu also eventually wears a light gray suit and snakeskin loafers.
=== Personality ===
Kuze is a blunt and thuggish man who is not afraid of openly criticizing other people's shortcomings to their faces, be it his equals (like his oath brothers, Awano and Shibusawa), his subordinates (like Yoneda and Kiryu) or even his superiors (like Kazama and even Patriarch Dojima). Despite his ruthlessness and violence, Kuze does possess a martial code of honor: befitting of a former boxer, Kuze sees life as perpetual combat and believes that a person's purpose in life is to constantly struggle to make themselves stronger. Kuze exemplifies this when he tells Yoneda that the reason he joined the yakuza was "to beat on guys stronger than me". Accordingly, he respects anybody, even his enemies, if they do not buckle under life's hardship and fights back against opposition. It is this idealism and belief in the way of the 'old-school' yakuza that he sees in Kiryu, and, realizing that the young man resembles him when he was that age, eventually begins to respect Kiryu.
In accordance with that philosophy, Kuze is also shown to be an incredibly resilient and determined person who does not give up easily. After Kiryu beats him in battle, Kuze refuses to accept defeat and continues trying to take him down over and over, even when his role within the Dojima Family is reduced to being muscle for his oath brothers, confident that he will find a way to re-establish his power.
Despite his apparent brutishness, Kuze can also be strategic, as shown by how he tried to manipulate Kiryu into being his informant within the Kazama Family in exchange for his protection from the police or how he insisted that Tachibana needed to be allowed to rest from torture, since continuing without interruption would kill him before he could reveal what the Dojima Family needed from him.
== Background ==
In his youth, Kuze was a promising professional boxer whose career ended for unspecified reasons. Having lost his way in life, Kuze eventually fell into a life of crime and joined the yakuza, becoming a member of the Dojima Family. 
At some point during the 1980's, Kuze rose to the rank of Lieutenant and was allowed to start his own subsidiary yakuza group, the Kenno Clan. The Kenno became specialized in handling the Dojima Family's most violent work, serving as the organization's muscle. By December of 1988, the Kenno are the most powerful sub-faction within the Family and Kuze is the most feared of the Dojima lieutenants, harboring barely-disguised intentions of supplanting the Family Captain, Shintaro Kazama, in his position. When Kazama is arrested and sentenced to two years in prison for running an illegal gambling hall, rumors start to circulate within the Family that it was Kuze who tipped off the police about the gambling hall to remove Kazama as an obstacle in his pursuit of the Captain's seat.
== Involvement ==
=== Yakuza 0: 1988 ===
Kuze and his fellow lieutenants Hiroki Awano and Keiji Shibusawa are working towards locating the owner of a small, empty plot of land preventing their patriarch Sohei Dojima from proceeding with the Kamurocho Revitalization Project, as whomever is able to secure the land would be promoted to Dojima Family Captain. Their operations halt when Kazuma Kiryu seemingly kills a man in the Empty Lot over a debt colleciton, turning it into a crime scene. The three summon him to a meeting, and Kuze suspects Kazama being involved, but Kiryu denies it, insisting he was set up. Kuze sees the confusion on Kiryu's face, but still insists he must perform yubitsume and then turn himself over to the police to atone and end the police investigation quickly.
As Kiryu's arrest would also mean Kazama's expulsion from the Family for bringing in somebody who killed a civilian, Kiryu would be spurred to take action, and Kuze moves just behind him. He reaches the office of his affiliate, the loanshark who hired Kiryu, where the young yakuza is also present. There, he offers to clear Kiryu's name if he agrees to serve as his informant within the Kazama Family. However, Kiryu refuses to betray his foster father, so an angry Kuze punches him and tells him he has one day to reconsider.
At Dojima Family headquarters, Kuze is told Kiryu wants to be expelled to spare Kazama from punishment. Kuze, after making his offer once again, expels Kiryu in Dojima's place. No longer bound by oath, Kiryu now fights back, and Kuze orders his men to kill Kiryu before leaving. In an upper level, he sees Kiryu arrive, having beaten his men. Kuze and Kiryu have a one-on-one fight which ends in the former's defeat, after which Dojima and the other lieutenants arrive. Kuze is mocked, and ordered by Dojima to perform yubitsume to atone for his loss and his expulsion of Kiryu without the patriarch's permission. After cutting off his finger, Kuze leaves, presumably to rest.
Afterwards, Kuze is demoted to working under Awano, who has taken the lead in securing the Empty Lot. Kuze and co. are ordered to go on a manhunt for Kiryu, who had been interfering with their operations after having joined Tachibana Real Estate. Kuze, determined to exact revenge on Kiryu for the humiliation he suffered, sets up an ambush to fight Kiryu one-on-one again. He pays a sex worker to wait in Pink Street and offer to help Kiryu when she sees him, under the pretext that she feels sorry for him. The sex worker is then to take Kiryu to a secret passage in a strip club which leads into the city sewers, where Kuze will be waiting to attack Kiryu. 
After Kiryu falls for the trap, Kuze tries to run him down while riding a motorcycle, but ends up crashing. Undeterred, a pipe-wielding Kuze gets up and monologues to Kiryu, telling him that as long as he lives, he will continue to stand back up every time he is knocked down, and will keep coming after Kiryu to get revenge. Kuze attacks Kiryu with the pipe, but the former yakuza fights back and manages to defeat his former superior for a second time. Afterwards, Kuze is further enraged by Kiryu's refusal to kill him, since it proves his belief that Kiryu is a "half-ass", unwilling to live like a real yakuza, and being beaten by someone like him is the ultimate humiliation. 
That night, Kuze waits in ambush outside Serena, where Kiryu has taken refuge. Once Kiryu is lured out, Awano orders the gathered men to beat Kiryu so he can be taken in to be tortured for information on Tetsu Tachibana. At that point, a brass-knuckled Kuze leads a group of men into a fight with Kiryu, only to get bested a third time, despite the advantage in numbers. An opportunity arises when Kiryu is left vulnerable after being hit in the back with a bat. Kuze takes the bat and prepares to bludgeon Kiryu with it, only to be interrupted by sports car running through the mob - and over Kuze. Kiryu escapes in the car, driven by Tachibana.
Later, Tachibana is captured and delivered to the Kenno Clan to be tortured into revealing where the Empty Lot's owner, Makoto Makimura, is being hidden. Kuze personally oversees the interrogation, which is conducted in an abandoned building by his right-hand man Yoneda. Tachibana's resolve angers Yoneda into beating him more. At this point, Kuze stops Yoneda before he kills Tachibana, and aims to find a different way to extract intel from him, as torture is failing. This makes Yoneda question Kuze's leadership, which Kuze reprimands him for. As Kuze unties Tachibana to take him somewhere else, Tachibana gives Yoneda a taunting look, causing a furious Yoneda to attack him again and fatally injure him. Kuze responds by slamming Yoneda's skull against the floor, killing him.
Immediately afterwards, Kiryu and Akira Nishikiyama burst in, having figured out where Tachibana had been taken for torture. Kuze remarks on how lucky his arrival is, since now they have somebody else to torture for information, but is attacked by an enraged Kiryu, who defeats him for the fourth time with Nishikiyama's help. After Tachibana dies in Kiryu's arms, Kuze insists that he "only did what he had to do", because the Empty Lot affair has turned into a threat towards the entire Tojo Clan: According to him, a traitor within the Clan is trying to acquire the Lot to sell it to the Omi Alliance, which would be devastating to the Tojo. He is met with the response that Kiryu does not care, and a declaration that he will crush the Tojo Clan if they harm Makoto. With those words, Kiryu departs carrying Tachibana's body and an awe-struck Kuze remarks to himself that Kiryu has "finally turned into a real yakuza".
The next night, Kuze witnesses Shibusawa's promotion to Captain after he delivers Makoto to Dojima's penthouse and the subsequent attempted murder of Makoto when she refuses to sell the Empty Lot unless Dojima executes his three lieutenants. Later, Shibusawa orders Kuze and Awano to muster their forces to wipe out the Kazama Family, as Shibusawa wishes to consolidate his position by eliminating all of former Captain Kazama's loyalists. Kuze in particular is given the task of destroying the Kazama Family office and killing everybody he finds there. Outside said office, knowing Kiryu would come, a lone Kuze awaits a fight in order to regain his pride. Their fifth bout ends with Kuze defeated again.
A shaken Kuze chuckles to himself and calls Kiryu a "damn monster" who "just keeps getting tougher", meditating that Kazama likely knew of Kiryu's potential and tried to hold it back so he would not continue on the life of a yakuza. Kuze laments that he and the rest of the Dojima Family unleashed Kiryu's might on themselves by threatening him and his friends. Finally accepting defeat, Kuze reveals Shibusawa's plans to Kiryu, including that Shibusawa is on his way to eliminate the Nikkyo Consortium. Kuze warns Kiryu that Shibusawa will throw everything he has at the Nikkyo, so when he goes to their base to help them, he has to be prepared to wade into "the deepest, darkest pit of the yakuza world". Kiryu affirms his resolve, then politely bows and addresses Kuze as "sir" before departing. By January 1989, Kuze is arrested for his part in the chaos surrounding the Empty Lot.
==Other Media==
=== Ryu Ga Gotoku Online: 1999 ===
After spending 10 years in prison, Kuze is released and is offered a chance to return to the Tojo Clan by Third Chairman Masaru Sera and his predecessor, Takashi Nihara, if he completes a special mission for them. Tojo headquarters had learned that the Jingweon Mafia were currently trying to recruit Ryuji Goda for a partnership, which could lead to the Jingweon and the Omi Alliance joining forces against the Tojo. Kuze's mission would be to assassinate Ryuji and the Jingweon agent trying to recruit him, Joon-gi Han.
Kuze, accompanied by Ichiban Kasuga of the Arakawa Family, eventually track down Ryuji and Han to Nagasugai, Fukuoka and make their move against them. However, their fight is interrupted by Omi forces led by Wataru Takayama, a rival lieutenant of the Go-Ryu Clan who also wanted to kill Ryuji, prompting Han and Ryuji to split up and flee to lose all their attackers. Kuze managed to keep pace with Ryuji and took him on by himself, but was unable to defeat him. Soon after, Ryuji would be cornered in a bridge by Takayama and his men, after which he was seemingly killed and thrown into the Naka river by Kasuga. Unbeknownst to Kuze and Takayama, Kasuga had only wounded Ryuji and tossed him into the river to recover him and take him to a doctor later, since he'd decided to defy the Tojo Clan's orders to kill him.
A few weeks later, Kuze followed Kasuga after a Tojo Clan meeting and tailed him to the underground clinic where Ryuji was recovering. Infuriated that Kasuga disobeyed his orders, Kuze attacked him and Ryuji, but the younger yakuza defeated him. Impressed by their fighting prowess, Kuze decides not to inform the Tojo about Kasuga's betrayal. He also warns Ryuji that while he, Takayama and Han's boss from the Jingweon were searching for Ryuji's body, he'd overheard Takayama conspiring with the Jingweon Officer to kill Ryuji's father, Jin Goda, and stage a coup to install Takayama as the next Omi chairman. Ryuji and Kasuga decide to travel to Osaka to intervene and, once they convince him that Takayama and the Jingweon will team up to go to war with the Tojo Clan after they take over the Omi Alliance, Kuze agrees to go with them.
Kuze, Ryuji and Kasuga travel to Osaka and find that Takayama's initial attempt on Chairman Goda's life was foiled by Han, who betrayed the Jingweon to save the Chairman out of guilt for not preventing Ryuji's apparent death. The coup culminates with a brawl in Sotenbori, where Ryuji, Kuze, Kasuga and Han battle Takayama, his men and the Jingweon forces. Ultimately, Takayama and his conspirators are defeated and driven out of the city.
Since Kuze and Kasuga failed to kill Ryuji and Han, Nihara wants them killed, but Chairman Sera refuses, since despite failing their initial assignment, they thwarted an even bigger threat against the Tojo by stopping the alliance between Takayama and the Jingweon. Ultimately, Kuze does not rejoin the Tojo Clan and presumably continues to live on as a civilian.
== Fighting Style ==
Kuze is fought five times throughout Yakuza 0. He is a former boxer who — although passed his prime — remains a very capable fighter and displays great prowess in combat. Kuze fights hand-to-hand in most of his boss fights, but he wields an iron pipe in his second and wears Steel Knuckles in his third. He is also accompanied by Dojima Family goons in his third and fourth fight. He emits a yellow aura in Heat Mode. 
=== Unarmed ===
Kuze's main fighting style revolves heavily around long punching combos, mainly consisting of fast hooks and uppercuts. It also emphasizes illegal boxing moves, such as kicks, elbow strikes, and punches aimed below the waist. All of his attacks can easily break Kiryu's guard. 
His combos are four in number, which are listed below: 
* a Rush Combo comprised of a left shovel hook-overhand right, and a weaving right shovel hook-overhand left, followed by:
** a weaving right punt kick,
** a weaving left shovel hook-overhand right, and a weaving left punt kick (3rd fight onward), or
** a weaving left shovel hook-overhand right, a weaving right shovel hook-overhand left, and a weaving right punt kick (5th fight only);
* a headbutt followed by an overhand right-left uppercut-overhand right-left uppercut;
* a second combo, made up of a crouching right cross, a left haymaker and a right punt kick; and
* a third combo consisting of a crouching right hook, a rapid left hook-right hook-left hook-right uppercut, and an overhand left (4th fight onward).
The rest of his moveset includes the following:
* a lunging left jab,
* a left-foot stomp followed by a right-left elbow strike,
* a left elbow strike-spinning right elbow thrust,
* Daigo Dojima's guard reversal (Heat Mode only),
* catching himself and throwing a running right haymaker as a knockdown reversal,
* quickstep attacks, including:
** a crouching right hook after forward-stepping (unused),
** a right body hook-left hook-right uppercut after sidestepping right, and
** a left body hook-left hook-right hook after sidestepping left;
* a right foot sweep kick command grab that trips Kiryu up, followed by a right-foot stomp on his face if the attack connects;
* a hopping right punt kick as a downed attack, and
* a taunt where he leans down and slaps his left cheek twice.
Kuze wears a pair of Steel Knuckles during his third boss fight, although this does not affect his moveset in any way. He will automatically enter Heat Mode in the beginning of his final fight, remaining in it for the full duration of the battle. 
A basic version of Kuze's boxing moveset is reused by various Dragon Engine bosses and minibosses, notably Yasuo Sodachi in Yakuza 6 and Like a Dragon Gaiden, Koji in Yakuza Kiwami 2, and both Kenta Kasai and Ass Catchem in Judgment. 
=== Pipe ===
Kuze wields an iron pipe during his second boss fight. He holds the pipe at his side, attacking with fast, one-handed swings that can break Kiryu's guard easily. His moveset is listed below: 
* a Rush Combo, consisting of a downward diagonal left swing, a spinning downward diagonal left swing, and a spinning upward vertical swing;
* a second combo, made up of an upward vertical swing, a downward diagonal right swing, and a horizontal leftward swing;
* an upward vertical swing,
* a downward diagonal left swing,
* an upward right diagonal swing that trips Kiryu up, followed by him pinning his right hand with the pipe, taunting him, and stomping on his face;
* a downward diagonal right swing followed two downward vertical swings for his downed attack (Heat Mode only), and
* a taunt where he kneels down on his left leg and leans on his pipe.
Kuze's pipe moveset is reused by Mashiko from Judgment, Kubota and Susumu Gondowara in Gaiden, and various pipe-wielding minibosses in the Dragon Engine games. 
== Trivia ==
* There are two theme songs in Yakuza 0 associated with Kuze's Enma tattoo: "Pledge of Demon" and "Oath of Enma."
== Gallery ==
=== Yakuza 0 ===
Daisaku Kuze (Render).png|Body render
Kuze Tattoo.png
Red king with a scroll.jpg|Daisaku Kuze's tattoo
Y0 - Title Card - Daisaku Kuze.png|Introductory Title Card
2017-06-07 (43).png|"Kiryu!"
2017-06-07 (48).png|Kuze takes off his glasses
Kiryu grab Kuze's fist tight.png
=== Ryu Ga Gotoku Online ===
RGGO - Card - SSR Daisaku Kuze.png|SSR Daisaku Kuze
RGGO - Card - SSR Daisaku Kuze ('99).png|SSR Daisaku Kuze ('99)
RGGO - Card - SSR Daisaku Kuze (Decisive Battle).png|SSR Daisaku Kuze (Decisive Battle)
RGGO - Card - KSR Daisaku Kuze ('99 Fighting Spirit).png|KSR Daisaku Kuze ('99 Fighting Spirit)
RGGO - Card - KSR Daisaku Kuze ('88 Kiwami).png|KSR Daisaku Kuze ('88 Kiwami)
RGGO - Card - KSR Daisaku Kuze ('88 Assault).png|KSR Daisaku Kuze ('88 Assault)
==Notes==
Category:Kenno Clan
Category:Dojima Family
Category:Tojo Clan
Category:Yakuza 0 Characters
Category:Yakuza 0 Antagonists
Category:Yakuza 0 Bosses
Category:Ryu Ga Gotoku Online Characters
Category:Ryu Ga Gotoku Online Antagonists
Category:Ryu Ga Gotoku Online Bosses