Yamashita Kazuo

* Anime
* Ashura
* Omega

*"After I lost my dream, I had no choice but to live in reality. And before long, I even forgot about the dream I once had. But 'he' never gave up. That day, I knew that Ohma was 'The me I wanted to be, but never could be.'"*
— Kazuo Yamashita, remembering his dream to be strong

**Yamashita Kazuo** (山 (やま) 下 (した)  一 (かず) 夫 (お) ; *"Kazuo Yamashita"*) is a former employee of the Nogi Publishing Second Sales Department. He ended up becoming the manager of Tokita Ohma for the Kengan matches and was later dragged into becoming a Kengan Association member so that Ohma could gain a spot in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament. He is currently the CEO of Yamashita Trading Co., a liaison company of the Kengan Association.

## Appearance

Kazuo is an average-looking middle-aged man with a small, unassuming frame and a generally underwhelming presence. He has black hair with the sides greyed and light facial hair, framed by his pair of blocky glasses.

## Personality

Kazuo starts as a timid, average person pushed around by the manager in his company and by other people in general. However, due to always being exposed to Ohma's blood lust and other fighters in the Kengan world, he started to lose his fear of ordinary people such as his manager and even to thugs who threaten to kill him.

During the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, Kazuo becomes more overtly brave such as when he threatened Erioh Kure to protect his son, despite himself. He respects Ohma more than anybody, due to fighter's strength and will. Even after being told by Hideki to make Ohma substitute out, Kazuo refused because he respects Ohma's will to fight more than anybody.

## History

When he was younger, Kazuo desired to be 'strong'. At one point, he joined his school's judo club, before getting soundly defeated. It was here that Kazuo's dream to be strong died, and merely went on to live a life of mediocrity.

Kazuo would find employment at Nogi Publishing and would work under them for the next 34 years of his life.

At some point, he married and had two children, Kenzo and Yasuo. However, his wife would leave him ten years before the events of *Ashura*, and would become estranged with his sons.

## Plot

### *Kengan Ashura*

By chance, Kazuo witnesses a fight between Tokita Ohma and Shigeru Komada. After Ohma won, he asked for his name. Ohma introduced himself before asking the same. Ohma then asked if he wanted to fight but, with Kazuo rejecting the challenge, Ohma left. His survival instincts going overdrive, Kazuo would later impregnate a prostitute in response.

The next day, Kazuo suddenly finds himself in the CEO Hideki Nogi, who wanted to speak to him. Informing Kazuo of the underground Kengan matches, Hideki then makes him Ohma Tokita's manager. Later, going to Ohma's residence, he entered the building and later found a blood-covered Ohma, who had just finished hunting an animal.

Kazuo would bear witness to Ohma's matches against Lihito, Koji Kaburagi and Sekibayashi Jun. In his third match, Kazuo would see Ohma reveal the Advance for the first time. Upon Jun's defeat, the chairman of the Kengan Association, Katahara Metsudo, announced the Kengan Annihilation Tournament.

When Hideki refused to let Ohma be his affiliate fighter, he then reveals another way by becoming a Kengan Association member. Though reluctant, Ohma's fierce gaze quickly snuffed out any objections from Kazuo. Though he would later win his membership, Kazuo also learns that he had also found himself in immense debt from the tournament's entrance fee alone.

A day later, Ohma, Kazuo, Akiyama, and a new secretary, Kushida Rin, boarded the S.S. Annihilation. Though his company got through, Kazuo wails in despair from being unable to make a bet that could get him out of debt from the entrance fee.

Sometime after Ohma's encounter with Kure Karura, Kazuo eventually found Ohma at the ship's bow, with Ohma confidently assuring his readiness for the tournament.

Ohma represented Yamashita Trading Co., fighting against Inaba Ryo in the first round. Urita Sukizo visited Kazuo before the match began. Kazuo, in his cluelessness to company jargon, agrees to buy ten percent of Penasonic's stocks. After the fight, though he won, Ohma told him off, claiming that both he and Kazuo didn't care about the bet. Backed to a corner, Kazuo reluctantly agreed, leaving Sukizo in admiration of Kazuo's supposed character.

After Muteba Gizenga killed Meguro Masaki, Kazuo said it was unnecessary to kill him, but Ohma disagreed. With Kazuo confused, Ohma said he wouldn't understand before leaving because he was "tired."

### *Kengan Omega*

Two years later, Kazuo is still the head of Yamashita Trading Co. He meets Narushima Koga, who had learned about his company and sought after him to search for Ohma, who unbenknownst to Kazuo at the time, was hiding out at the Kure Clan's Village. He takes Koga to a match between Johnny Waters and Imai Cosmo. He tells Koga he isn't ready for the Kengan matches, though he recruits him as a fighter's apprentice. He goes to a meeting with Nogi about Purgatory.

## Power & Abilities

While he has no combat capability himself, Yamashita is surprisingly extremely observant in regards to fighting. From a list of more than a hundred fighters, he managed to correctly guess the five fighters that would pass the Kengan Annihilation Tournament preliminaries.

### The Fist Eye

**The Fist Eye** (拳 (けん) 眼 (がん) , *Kengan*) is an ability inherited, albeit imperfectly, from his ancestor Yamashita Ichinoshin. Kazuo's eyes possess a superhuman level of kinetic vision. With them, he was able to instinctively discern the pattern in Metsudo Katahara's lottery machine, giving him the first pick in the tournament position. However, he didn't know of it at the time. Combined with his analytical skills, Kazuo is always the first person to point out the abnormal of the battle between the fighters that nobody noticed before him, mostly due to said eyesight.

## Etymology

* **Yamashita** 山 (やま) 下 (した)  uses the characters for "Mountain" and "Under".
* **Kazuo** 一 (かず) 夫 (お)  uses the characters for "One" and "Man".

## Notes & Trivia

* Kazuo enjoys watching martial arts and living a peaceful life.
* Kazuo's motto is, "Good can come out of misfortune."
* Kazuo and Ohya Ken are good friends and often drink together. However, when they get drunk, they spiral out of control.
* Nogi has said that Yamashita is much like his ancestor.
* Kazuo has many self-proclaimed epithets including: Kazzy the Raging Rook, Kazzy the Fish (in the water), Kazzy the Fisher (with a fishing rod), Kazzy the Cold-Sensitive, Kazzy the Broadaxe Pitcher and Kazzy the Swift.
* A running gag throughout *Ashura* and *Omega* with Kazuo is that his actual prowess is overestimated by other characters due to merely being in the right place at the right time. Examples include dodging Ren Nikaido's poison needle via bowing and looking like the Kengan fighters were kneeling before him.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 1
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Kazuo Yamashita's profile
3. ↑ Chapter 234
4. ↑ Chapter 136
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 3
6. ↑ Chapter 1
7. ↑ Chapter 2
8. ↑ Chapter 27
9. ↑ Chapter 28
10. ↑ Chapter 42
11. ↑ 4-koma: The Other Main Character Who Didn't Show Up In The End
12. ↑ Chapter 219
13. ↑ Chapter 31
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Chapter 118
15. ↑ 4-koma: Winter's Here
16. ↑ 4-koma: Baseball
17. ↑ Chapter 49 (Omega)