Katsura Kogoro

Katsura Kogoro (, Katsura Kogorō), also known as Niibori Matsusuke (), and later Kido Takayoshi (), is a supporting character featured in Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!/Like a Dragon: Ishin!. He is the leader of the Choshu Loyalist Party and a prominent member of the Ishin Shishi movement. He shares his in-game appearance with Shun Akiyama.
== Profile ==
=== Appearance ===
Katsura's appearance is based on Shun Akiyama in Yakuza 5. He has a near permanent five o'clock shadow and middle-length black hair which he keeps untied. After the Meiji Restoration, he still keeps his hair long, but now he combs it and he has styled his facial hair into a thin mustache.
=== Attire ===
In the 1860's, Katsura wears a purple kimono with black hakama and is frequently seen smoking a long, silver-colored pipe. After the Meiji Restoration, Katsura wears a black suit with a red vest and bowtie.
=== Personality ===
Despite his lifestyle as an anti-Bakufu insurrectionist and the dangers which it entails, Katsura is a remarkably calm man who maintains his composure even in the middle of sword battles. Given the political repression and uncertainty of the time in which he lived in, Katsura is cautious and is not quick to trust anyone, and is reluctant to give out his real name to people unless he's met them several times and ascertained their reliability.
Ideologically, Katsura hates the hierarchical class system and feudalism in general. He believes that Japan will not prosper in the modern age if it doesn't give common people participation in government, which is why he's in favor of the abolishing of all nobility titles and the establishment of a Western-style parliamentary democracy. 
== Background ==
Katsura was born into a low-rank samurai family in Choshu Province. After the Tokugawa Bakufu was forced to accept unequal trade agreements by the American military in 1853, Choshu's ruling Mori Clan and their samurai were amongst the first of Japan's nobles to openly start calling for the abolishing of the Bakufu. Katsura quickly became one of the most outspoken and respected agitators against the Bakufu, leading to the founding of the Choshu Loyalist Party. By the late-1860's, Katsura and several members of the Choshu Loyalists had re-located to Kyoto and had begun conspiring against the Bakufu, attacking their officials and plotting how to liberate the Emperor from the Bakufu forces holding him in the Imperial Palace. Within a couple years, Katsura had recruited many more masterless samurai from other provinces into the ranks of his group and he'd formed alliances with Loyalist parties from other regions (most prominently with the Tosa Loyalist Party and its leader, Takechi Hanpeita). Amongst Kyoto's anti-Bakufu rebels, Katsura developed a reputation for his impressive ability to avoid capture, earning him the nickname "Slippery Kogoro" (, Nige no Kogoro).
== Involvement ==
=== Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!/Like a Dragon: Ishin!: 1867-1870 ===
Katsura meets Sakamoto Ryoma while he's trying to find Tennen Rishin style swordsmen in a dojo in Rakugai. Katsura sees Sakamoto get into a fight with the dojo's members and is impressed by his skill, so he decides to help him in his search, hoping that Sakamoto will owe him a favor he could use later. Introducing himself with the alias of "Niibori Matsusuke", Katsura tells Sakamoto to seek out the The Bathkeeper of Sai, an information broker who will probably have the intel Sakamoto needs.
Some time later, Yoshida Toshimaro, a high-ranking member of the the Choshu Loyalist Party, hatches a scheme to rescue the Emperor from his Bakufu captors. The plan involves using a stash of gunpowder to blow up a section of the Imperial Palace wall to cause a distraction and then sneak in around an under-guarded gate to get to the Emperor. Though Katsura himself is unsure of the plan because of its potential for collateral damage, Toshimaro convinces the rest of the leadership and Katsura agrees to participate out of duty to the organization and to minimize casualties. Unfortunately for the Loyalists, the Shinsengumi discover their plot and plan a raid on the Choshu meeting at Ikedaya, where the rebel leaders intend to finish sketching out the details of the conspiracy. Unbeknownst to the Shinsengumi, the Choshu leaders are tipped off about the planned raid by Matsubara Chuji, their infiltrator in the group, so they mass even more men at the Ikedaya to turn the Shinsengumi's ambush against them.
On the night of the raid, the Shinsengumi are taken by surprise by the number of Choshu samurai at Ikedaya, but against the odds they manage to successfully either kill or capture most of them. However, Katsura manages to escape thanks to help from Sakamoto, who had since joined the Shinsengumi as part of his investigation into Tennen Rishin users, and repaid Katsura's favor by letting him escape during the raid. Despite Katsura getting away, the events of the raid convince Shinsengumi Deputy Chief Hijikata Toshizo of Matsubara's betrayal and the Choshu infiltrator is executed.
Weeks later, Takechi of the Tosa Loyalists is seemingly captured and executed on orders of the Bakufu, prompting Sakamoto (who was Takechi's foster brother and best friend) to spiral into a deep depression. Since Takechi's death has deprived him of a valuable ally and Matsubara's execution robbed him of his spy within the Shinsengumi, Katsura decides to convince Sakamoto to become his new infiltrator. When Sakamoto is out drinking to drown his sorrows, Katsura sends his lover and spy, Ikumatsu, to discreetly contact him and bring him to her home for a meeting. Once Sakamoto is there, Katsura offers him an alliance, but Sakamoto turns him down and leaves.
Katsura follows Sakamoto and both men run into Saigo Kichinosuke of the Satsuma Domain Army in the street. After Saigo beats up some punks for attacking a stray dog, the Satsuma General spots Katsura and, since Satsuma and Choshu have been rivals for centuries, both men get into a fight, only for Sakamoto to angrily break it up. Sakamoto berates them for feuding even though their political goals are the same, since both Satsuma and Choshu want to depose the Bakufu. Frustrated by their petty rivalry, Sakamoto gets into a fistfight with both and defeats them. Afterwards, the three men go out drinking and, as Sakamoto had indicated, Saigo and Katsura find they share very similar political beliefs. As a result of this chance meeting, a now friendly Saigo and Katsura get together with their respective lords and negotiate a pact between their domains to go to war against the Bakufu. This coalition between Satsuma and Choshu would come to be known as the "Satcho Alliance".
As war between the Satcho Alliance and the Bakufu nears, Sakamoto discovers that Takechi had faked his death and, along with Lord Yamauchi Yodo of Tosa, has been manipulating the Bakufu, Satsuma and Choshu forces to push them towards war so they'll wipe each other out, leaving Tosa as the strongest domain in Japan. Hoping to lure Takechi into a trap to put a stop to his machinations, Sakamoto gets Katsura and Saigo to arrange a meeting with Takechi at the Omiya, where the Shinsengumi can take him out. When the Shinsengumi raid takes place, Katsura and Saigo watch from outside the inn as Takechi eludes his assassins and escapes.
Eventually, the Satcho Alliance does to go war and succeeds in deposing the Bakufu. In the aftermath, Katsura (now going by the name "Kido Takayoshi") becomes one of the central figures in the series of reforms that led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Japan, known as the Meiji Restoration. Two years after the rebel victory, Katsura visits "Yamauchi Yodo", the first lord who pledged fealty to the new government and encouraged other lords to do so as well, to thank him for his contributions to the new government. Of course, as Katsura already knew, this "Yamauchi Yodo" was actually Takechi, who'd been persuaded by Sakamoto to abandon his mission for Tosa's supremacy, and took on Yamauchi's identity after Sakamoto assassinated the true Lord of Tosa in order to help the new government.
== Fighting Style ==
=== Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! ===
Katsura has two boss fights in Ishin!. He wields a katana in the first one, and fights unarmed alongside Saigo Kichinosuke in the second. He is a very fast opponent, who relies on agility and quick attacks — often kicks — in battle. He emits a navy blue aura with a white hue in Heat Mode.
==== Katana ====
Katsura is a disciple of Shintō Munen-ryū. He wields his sword one-handed, holding at waist-height and pointed forward, and his attacks often involve jumping and twirling. He also incorporates some kicks into his attack strings. His moveset includes the following:
* a Rush Combo consisting of a rightward horizontal slash, and an upward diagonal left slash, followed by:
** a spinning right heel kick and a jumping 360° downward diagonal right slash, or
** a low right spinning heel kick and a downward diagonal right slash;
* a downward diagonal right slash, followed by a right leg sweep into a downward diagonal left slash; and
* quickstep attacks, including:
** a leaping downward diagonal right slash,
** an upward slash and side roll while diving left/right, and
** a diagonal downward right slash after backstepping.
Katsura's sword moveset is reused by some katana-wielding minibosses in the Dragon Engine titles.
==== Unarmed ====
When fighting unarmed alongside Saigo, he uses Akiyama's moveset, completely unaltered.
=== Like a Dragon: Ishin! ===
Katsura's katana moveset remains mostly unaltered in from the original Ishin!, with the exception a low downward diagonal left slash as an additional attack. He also retains Akiyama's moveset for his second fight.
He emits a white aura in Heat Mode.
== Gallery ==
=== Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! ===
RGGI! - Character Render - Katsura Kogoro.png|Full-body Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! render of Katsura
RGGI! - Character Render - Katsura Kogoro (Kido Takayoshi).png|Full-body Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! render of Katsura as "Kido Takayoshi"
Katsura Kogoro in shadow.png
Katsura Kogoro 01.png
Katsura Kogoro 02.png
Choshu domain.png|Chōshū Domain crest
=== Like a Dragon: Ishin! ===
LADI! - Character Render - Katsura Kogoro.png|Full-body Like a Dragon: Ishin! render of Katsura
=== Ryu Ga Gotoku Online ===
RGGO - Card - SSR Niibori Matsusuke.png|SSR Niibori Matsusuke
RGGO - Card - SSR Katsura Kogoro (Decisive Battle).png|SSR Katsura Kogoro (Decisive Battle)
RGGO - Card - KSR Niibori Matsusuke (Ishin Kiwami).png|KSR Niibori Matsusuke (Ishin Kiwami)
Category:Historical Figures
Category:Choshu Domain Army
Category:Satcho Alliance
Category:Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! Characters
Category:Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! AI Partners
Category:Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! Supporting Characters
Category:Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! Bosses
Category:Like a Dragon: Ishin! Characters
Category:Like a Dragon: Ishin! Supporting Characters
Category:Like a Dragon: Ishin! AI Partners
Category:Like a Dragon: Ishin! Bosses
Category:Ryu Ga Gotoku Online Characters
Category:Ishin Shishi
Category:Choshu Loyalist Party