| Yasunori Katō | |
|---|---|
Katō performing kuji-in as portrayed by Kyūsaku Shimada in the film Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis |
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| First appearance | Teito Monogatari vol. 1 (1985) (Kadokawa Shoten) |
| Last appearance | The Great Yokai War (2005) (Kadokawa Shoten) |
| Created by | Hiroshi Aramata |
| Portrayed by | Kyūsaku Shimada (Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis, Tokyo: The Last War, Doomed Megalopolis) Kazuhiko Nishimura (Teito Monogatari Gaiden) Etsushi Toyokawa (The Great Yokai War) Jeff Winkless (Doomed Megalopolis) |
Yasunori Katō (加藤 保憲 Katō Yasunori) is a fictional character, the protagonist of the Japanese historical fantasy series Teito Monogatari, created by Hiroshi Aramata.
Since his first cinematic appearance in 1988, Yasunori Kato has gone on to become a well known and well respected archetype in Japanese popular culture having inspired a number of clones and homages in various video games, anime, and film released in Japan. The most renowned fictional character inspired by Yasunori Kato is the villain M. Bison from the internationally acclaimed Street Fighter video game series. Despite success in the East, the character is virtually unknown in Western popular culture.
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Katō is a former First Lieutenant of the Imperial Japanese Army and a powerful onmyoji. Throughout the series, he is also constantly referred to as an oni. In the first novel, his origin was never directly clarified all at once, but hints about his background were slowly revealed throughout the course of the series.
Near the beginning of the original novel, Kato's birthplace is determined to be Ryujin Village, which is also the mythological birthplace of Abe no Seimei. Although his time of birth is never specified, Kato keeps himself young through a selective diet of human organs (similar to the diet of an oni), implying that he has lived a much longer life than that of a normal human (perhaps thousands of years). It is also revealed that Kato is the descendant of indigenous tribes who did not worship the Japanese Imperial Court during ancient times. While growing up, he was trained in the esoteric magical arts of these heretical mystics and gained their resentment against the Japanese Empire.[1] Having trained under the tutelage of mystics separated from the Japanese government, Kato understands all the secrets of the onmyoji as well as many other forms of black magic.[2]
Kato also claims descent from Abe no Seimei, who is the most skilled and proficient Onmyoji in Japanese legend.[3] Kato's first name, Yasunori is derived from the name of Seimei's teacher, Kamo no Yasunori.
In the 19th century, Kato infiltrated the Imperial Japanese Army. After rising to the rank of First Lieutenant, Kato was reportedly killed in the First Sino-Japanese War during a military skirmish in Dalian, China. Kato reappears miraculously alive and unhurt in 1908, which is where the story of Teito Monogatari begins.
In Teito Monogatari, Kato reveals his true intentions to destroy Tokyo through any means possible in order to avenge the grudges of Japan's ancestors. Initially, he attempts to awaken the sleeping spirit of Taira no Masakado to destroy the city, a process which takes the course of ten years. When that plan fails, Kato turns to feng shui to stimulate the spiritual energy veins beneath Tokyo to cause earthquakes powerful enough to bring down the city. His efforts result in the Great Kanto Earthquake of the 1923, which does not have the desired effect. Eventually, in 1927, Kato is stopped by the efforts of the shrine maiden Keiko Tatsumiya.
After being defeated, Kato retreats into the protection of the Chinese secret society to plan anew. In 1960, he returns to Japan amidst the chaos of student protests against the signing of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan. There he befriends the eager young writer Yukio Mishima and subtly manipulates him to promote liberal agendas in the capital which will weaken Japan's political power. Eventually Mishima fights back, and on November 25, 1970; commits seppuku, thereby defeating Kato's influence. Kato retreats into hiding.
In 1998, Kato returns to stir up another earthquake under Tokyo by arousing the water dragon, Ryūjin. It is revealed here that Kato is actually another incarnation of the raging spirit of Taira no Masakado himself who (in the story) had cursed the city of Edo just before his death. Just as Masakado sought to overthrow the current Japanese government, so does Kato seek to overthrow the Imperial authority by eliminating the capital Tokyo.
This time, Kato is confronted by many spiritual guardians devoted to defending Tokyo, including the ghost of Taira no Masakado himself. Kato engages in a direct battle with Masakado and his forces, but loses to the spirit of the warlord. Though defeated, Kato's body is not discovered among the wreckage and he appears to have retreated again. Thus ends the story of Teito Monogatari.
In 2005, as chronicled by the novel The Great Yokai War, Kato returns to Japan with an army of monstrous Yokai (who have been transformed to serve him) in another attempt to destroy Tokyo. This time he is stopped by the efforts of a band of native yokai and a young boy wielding the power of the Kirin Rider. Despite being defeated, Kato survives the encounter and it is implied that at the end, he is still ready to execute another plan.
More about Kato's past is revealed in the spin-off novel Teito Monogatari Iroku. In this novel, it is revealed that Kato is the last descendant in a long line of mystics. Yasunori Kato's predecessor was Jubei Kato, an occultist who was featured in Teito Gendan and Shin Teito Monogatari. In Teito Monogatari Iroku, Jubei passes the curse of the grudge against the Japanese Empire down to Yasunori.
Kato appears as a tall man with an unnaturally long face and sunken cheeks. His classic outfit is composed of the traditional uniform of a Japanese Imperial officer, complete with a service dress, cap, gloves, sword and a cape. On the backs of his white gloves are red inscriptions of the Doman Seiman, the magic symbol of Abe no Seimei.
This dark sorcerer is possessed of enormous versitude in the art of Onmyōdō and other magic, using his incredible powers to confound and almost destroy the entire Tsuchimikado Clan (considered the official descendents of Abe no Seimei) in a single night. He extensively employs black shikigami against his opponents. He can also summon oni to do his bidding.
In the original novels, Katō is portrayed differently than in the films or the anime. Being a trained imperial officer, he is skilled in the use of a katana. Katō is also incredibly proficient in the art of using kodoku (worm toxins) to control and manipulate his victims. Using a certain magical act, he can rejuvenate himself into a new body when necessary. For example, he assumes the form of a Self Defense officer to recruit and manipulate the young Yukio Mishima to perform his bidding. Kato is also completely fluent in Mandarin and Korean, another quality of the character that is only hinted at in the cinematic adaptations.
Katō also possesses super-human physiology and bears no distinguishable mortal weaknesses. In the cinematic adaptations, he has survived being dismembered, run through with a sword, having a hole blown through his body by powerful magic, scorched by lightning, being impaled in head, shot with a revolver several times in succession, and even having his entire face blown apart. In all these cases, he is relatively unfazed by the experience and recovers extremely quickly.
For most of the film adaptations of Teito Monogatari that have come to the screen, Katō has been portrayed by the Japanese stage actor Kyūsaku Shimada. Both the anime Doomed Megalopolis and the live-action movie Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis share the same story following Katō's creation and his initial attempts to destroy Tokyo by awakening the spirit of Taira no Masakado and disturbing the Underground Dragon. The film Teito Taisen, a live action adaptation of the ending sections of Teito Monogatari, displays Katō's resurrection in 1945 and his subsequent demise at the hands of a young, psychic apprentice of the Onmyoji.
In the third live action movie, Teito Monogatari Gaiden his disembodied spirit attempts to possess the body of a mental hospital nurse in 1995. This movie however is a side story and was not distributed by Toho. Therefore it shouldn't be considered as part of the same continuity as the previous films.
Katō also makes an appearance as the main villain of the movie The Great Yokai War (2005). Hiroshi Aramata was one of the screenplay writers as well as the author of the novelization of the film.[4]
Hiroshi Aramata, the author of the original novel, has claimed that Yasunori Kato is the protagonist of Teito Monogatari and has described him as closely resembling the English occultist Aleister Crowley.[5] In other interviews, Aramata has stated that he wanted the character to symbolize both the heretical and official sects of onmyoji.[6]
The character of Katō has also been compared to Count Dracula, with the plot of Teito Monogatari being considered a Japanese retelling of the famous horror story.[7]
There are obvious aesthetic similarities between the two characters as well as identical abilities bestowed unto them (teleportation, bodily possession, flight, telekinesis, telepathy, etc.) and Bison's character portrait from Street Fighter II is very similar to Yasunori Katō's (as portrayed Kyūsaku Shimada) portrait from Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis.[9] Anthony Romero, a writer at Toho Kingdom claimed in his review for Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis that Katō's design in that film "would undoubtedly become the inspiration behind the later M. Bison (or Vega in Japan) in Capcom's Street Fighter series...".[10]