Yomi

## Manga

Yomi is one of the four emperors of the prison Riki-Oh starts the series in and is in charge of the west block. Yomi is generally considered to be the leader out of the four. Narumi is easily defeated, Kitamakura betrays the group and is killed, while Shiragami is his partner who appears to take orders from him and is constantly seen with him at all times. He manages to even intimidate Sugiyama at times for daring to question his logic, who is supposed to have authority over him. His fighting style consists of martial arts that rely on his great agility. With one strike to the correct point, he is able to stop his opponent's heart. He is also a highly evasive opponent, able to disjoint the bones in his body at will to avoid attacks and get out of holds, such as when Shiragami accidentally ensnares him with his strings.

Sometime in the past, Yomi cut out the tongue of Asa so that he could not tell anybody about the location of the illegal poppy fields. Asa greatly looked up to Narumi, and with his death he has nowhere to turn. Yomi, Shiragami, and Sugiyama suggest that he get revenge on Riki-Oh since he killed Narumi, but he refuses. Yomi says that he will cut out more than just Asa's tongue if he continues to rebel, at which point he cuts off the skin on his face clean off, killing him instantly.

Yomi has a fight with Riki-Oh as he burns the poppy fields. He is highly successful in his battle against him, though he receives heavy interference from other characters that prevents him from finishing the battle properly. Shiragami tries to help, but does do some friendly fire on Yomi once, accidentaly. Kitamakura outright betrays the other emperors during the fight, and worst of all Sugiyama forces everybody to flee the area by dumping cement into the remains of the poppy fields. Yomi picks up the heavily injured Shiragami to take him to safety and hides in a manhole until the cement subsides.

Yomi and Shiragami eventually come out of the manhole several days later, and Yomi kills the first thing he sees, a guard dog. Yomi has Shiragami pick up the dog's guts and shove them down Riki-Oh's breathing tube when he's buried underground in an attempt to cut off his air supply, but this actually has the reverse effect, as the dog's meat helps to sustain Riki-Oh underground. Yomi and Shiragami show up when Riki-Oh comes up from the underground and easily defeat him without the excessive interference from Kitamakura and Sugiyama, though the fight is heavily handicapped against Riki-Oh given he is so exhausted.

Yomi and Shiragami are last seen torturing Riki-Oh under the Warden's orders to try to break him and make him tell them his true motive. Shiragami beats Riki-Oh with a wrench which doesn't motivate him to talk, prompting Yomi to try more gruesome methods. Yomi puts razor sharp objects in Riki-Oh's mouth before taping it shut and smacking him across the face, causing the sharp tips to impale Riki-Oh's cheeks and tongue. The Warden eventually comes over and forcefully removes the tape before demanding that Riki-Oh talk, at which point Riki-Oh spits the blades in the Warden's face.

Yomi and Shiragami are not not shown after the torture scene. It is vaguely possible that the Warden could have executed Yomi, blaming him for Riki-Oh spitting the blades at him, as he has killed people for lesser reasons than that. It is also possible that he and Shiragami escaped during all of the chaos caused during the finale of the prison arc, possibly making use of Shiragami's crows. Regardless, there is no indication that Yomi has died in the manga, making him one of the most major surviving villains in the series.

## Riki-Oh: The Wall of Hell

Yomi's role within this ova is somewhat different, as both his partner Shiragami as well as Kitamakura don't exist. It is never directly shown that Yomi is actually a prisoner in this ova, as he is seen talking with the Warden and Sugiyama casually within their office with no introduction before that point. If he is a prisoner, he is also the only prisoner who is not required to wear a uniform in the ova. He has the given title as the "leader of the south wing", but this could just as well mean that he is in charge of guarding that quarter. Being in charge of the south block is also a minor change, given in the manga he is in charge of the west block.

Yomi's actual role, regardless of whether he is a prisoner or a prison official, is fairly similar to his manga counterpart. Regardless of Asa informing Riki-Oh of the poppy field, he does not bother to kill him in this version, and it is not even confirmed if he was the one to cut out his tongue. He fights Riki-Oh due to him burning the poppy field, but in this version he is actually able to defeat him and bring him in to torture him rather than having to resort to Sugiyama's cement. Yomi fights Riki-Oh one final time at the end of the ova and falls down a chasm to his death. Given half of the four emperors don't exist and that the Warden does not fight at all in this ova, Yomi is largely presented as the final obstacle for Riki-Oh to overcome. The only other characters who really fight Riki-Oh at all are Bandou, Sugiyama, and Narumi.

## Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

Yomi is known as Rogan in the live action film, and the four emperors are known as the gang of four. Yomi is played by Yukari Ōshima, though his character is still supposed to be a man. This can be confusing, as the voice-over plays him effeminately, and owing to the limited cast for the dub, (common in Hong Kong films,) it can be unclear what he’s intended to be. His actual role in the story is largely the same up until the ending.

At the end of the film, in the kitchen where the Warden's final fight takes place, he first summons Yomi and Shiragami to fight Riki-Oh one last time. Shiragami is able to assist Yomi, but the fight is primarily done between the other two characters. Upon Yomi's defeat as his leg gets ripped off, Shiragami desperately tries to flee the area but is shot by the Warden with his compressed gas bullets to punish him for his cowardice, causing him to explode in the same way the administrator does.

Yomi kills Asa for failing to obeyYomi kills a dog for absolutely no reasonYomi intimidates the administratorYomi kicks Riki-OhYomi disjoints his bones to escape Shiragami's stringsYomi moves too quickly to seeYomi carries Shiragami into the manholeYomi tortures Riki-OhYomi in front of the burning poppy field"This time I won't just cut off your tongue."Yomi kills Asa