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"Never reveal your Trump card first, or if you must, make sure you have a second one up your sleeve."
— Both Kurama and Yomi


Yomi (黄泉 Yomi?) is one of The Three Kings of the Demon World. He is the father of Shura through cloning.

Appearance[]

When he worked with Yoko Kurama, Yomi had only two ears, but after he lost his sight, he gained four more as his body was forced to adapt to a sightless existence. He has long, black hair and two prominent horns that jut down from his forehead but appear to frame his head. Additionally, he has four horns on his head, two on each side, and one jutting from the back of his head, giving him a total of seven horns. He also wears a light garment underneath red robes and has a defined musculature. Kurama caused Yomi to become blind by planning an attack from a rogue demon on him.

Personality[]

Despite never begging for mercy in battle, after losing his sight, Yomi is a calm person, who thinks before he acts even in battle, which is arguably what contributed most to his growing strength. In the English dub, he tells Kurama that he did his best to model himself after him; this is true enough as Yomi takes the time and patience to gather intel to devise backup plans. Even Kurama notes that Yomi took a great deal of preparation to blackmail him into an alliance.

He was also influenced by the words of the demon who blinded him. The demon said, as he withdrew after taking a non-fatal wound, "Life's more important than the reward." This had an effect on the young Yomi, who had up to then acted recklessly in the pursuit of riches and power. He came to value survival above all else, to the point where he maintained a centuries-long standoff with Raizen and Mukuro rather than attack one of them and risk being attacked by the other while still weakened from the battle.

He also genuinely loves his son, Shura, who he fought in the Demon World Tournament. Rather than fight at full strength, like Shura wanted, Yomi was actually helping his son become a better fighter. He also gets along well with his subordinates, but can also be quite the manipulator, Yomi being the first person to outwit Kurama and get away with it. Yomi seems rather cold-hearted but while it seems like he would kill his son, he is just establishing a will to fight in his son. Yomi also seems determined to ensure Shura does not grow up as he did, bloodthirsty and impulsive.

While Yomi does not display any particular hatred for the human species, he does seem to believe demons may consume as many of them as they please, claiming humans are plentiful in number and "reproduce as if they are fighting extinction as it is", possibly foreseeing a time when humanity shall doom itself and its own domain with the threat of overpopulation if demonic predators were to simply let them be, but he later changed his mind about it.

His encounters with Yusuke Urameshi has Yomi uncovering parts of his personality that he had never discovered before; namely, that of his primal demon self and the allure of a decent battle in the hopes of winning it all. Yomi refers to this itch for battle as his warrior spirit, something he believed was sacrificed for his level-headedness, as Yomi notes "I find myself throwing out my rule book when facing you".

It is notable that despite being on relatively good terms with his enemies now (i.e. Yusuke), he has not given up on the goals of unification he possesses in the Demon World, and will more then likely continue his plans if he ever wins the tournament.

According to Raizen, Yomi is by far the demon who is the greatest threat to both the Human World and Spirit World. This is due to Yomi being a visionary (ironic, given his blindness) who seeks power beyond ruling only the Demon World. Raizen warns Yusuke that Yomi's goal of unification is merely a front for increasing the size of - and moving his army. Should Yomi succeed in uniting Demon World, he would have an army great enough to challenge, and potentially conquer, all three worlds. His ambitions were only thwarted after the Demon World Tournament forced him to give up his leadership position. Despite having taken his defeat in the tournament in stride, he has not given up his ambitions.

Synopsis[]

Young Yomi YYH

One thousand years ago before the series' events, Yomi was once a close if tentative ally and the second hand man of Yoko Kurama and their group of fellow bandits in the Demon World. While their exploits allowed them riches plundered from many demon lords throughout the realm and made them a name feared and respected throughout the realm in attempts to carve out territory and a nation of their own, unlike the cool, collected, and calculated Yoko Kurama, Yomi was hotheaded, brash, and reckless. Often hoping to outdo Yoko Kurama in their gang, Yomi's exploits were always dangerous, costly, and demanded Yoko Kurama to bail him out constantly, which grew into a heated ire in time.

Blind Yomi yyh

When rumors of a great treasure within an impenetrable fortress made news to the gang, Yoko Kurama ordered Yomi to scout out the area of their next theft. At the ruins of a great castle, Yomi grew skeptical, and his doubts would come true as a powerful assailant attacked. As the rest of his gang fell to the assailant, Yomi did battle with his attacker, and demanded an explanation for the assault. As Yomi was left open trying to defend himself, his assailant then made a deft cut to his eyes, permanently blinding Yomi, and leaving him with the parting words "Life's more important than the reward." Unable to see, a bewildered Yomi then fell down a cliff. When Yoko Kurama never came, leaving him to learn a hard lesson and left to fend himself in the dangerous wilderness of the Demon World, Yomi since that day cursed both his recklessness and his assailant for "stealing his light."

Not willing to die, Yomi picked himself back up and eventually learned to made do without his sight. Training to use his sense of hearing to sense the world around him, Yomi then rose to power by taking cues and examples of conduct from his old ally. In due time, Yomi soon became a powerful fighter, and eventually wrested control of the Kingdom of Gandara about five hundred years later. Hoping to find and enact revenge on the assailant who "stole his light" from him, and curious of Yoko Kurama's intentions since that fateful day, Yomi soon tracked him down, and imprisoned him since, hoping to torture and squeeze the information from his assailant to know who really hired him to attack him.

As king of one of the three kingdoms of Demon World, Yomi became sternly opposed to Raizen's and Mukuro's stances on the matter of humans as food. Seeing mankind breeding and growing in numbers as if they were fighting extinction, Yomi openly allowed and encouraged demonkind under his kingdom to feast on humans as much as they wished. As the three maintained an uneasy if stable political deadlock, Yomi bides his time awaiting Raizen to perish from his self imposed rite of starvation.

Three Kings Saga[]

After Yusuke is granted admittance into Makai to see his dying ancestor, Raizen, Kurama is given a "spirit of words" (video message) from Yomi. Kurama decides to join Yomi, despite the fact that Hiei is working for Mukuro and Yusuke for Raizen. On Kurama's first day, Yomi brings him to the demon that took his sight and notices Kurama's change in heartbeat. He explains their past as partners, and tells Kurama that he (Yomi) was a child, and Kurama was right for sending the demon after him.

Yusuke then orchestrates the Demon World Tournament, and asks Yomi to join. Reluctant at first, Yomi agrees after seven of his top subordinates (Kurama, Jin, Chu, Touya, Rinku, Shishiwakamaru, and Suzuki) betray him and side with Yusuke as well as realizing Mukuro had complied. When he felt the power of Raizen's old friends, Yomi truly dissolved his country and decided to enter the tournament to test himself. Before the tournament started, he informed Yusuke about his change, but didn't care if Yusuke believed him or not. During the preliminaries, Yomi was matched against his son, Shura. Despite the younger demon throwing every attack he had, Yomi proved that he was easily more powerful, eventually convincing his son to concede. He fights Yusuke in the second round. At first, his impenetrable shield is more than a match for Yusuke's Demon Gun, that is, until Yusuke mixes his spirit and demon energies into his attack. In the end, both are injured, and only the cry of Shura convinces Yomi to stay on his feet as both begin to fall. However, drained of energy, he loses the next match to Kokou, one of Raizen's old friends. Later, when he planned to leave on a journey with Shura, he reconciled with Kurama and told him to tell Yusuke that he would like to fight him again, although he wasn't sure of another victory. As he left, he told Kurama that he was glad he accepted his invitation.

Powers and Abilities[]

Since he lost his sight, Yomi grew four extra ears to compensate for his lack of vision. Yomi's sense of hearing is so great that he claims to be able to hear every word being spoken in his kingdom of Gandara. He is also able to accurately pick up on changes in an organism's heart rate, allowing him to guess facial expressions and current emotional composition, despite his lack of sight. Having modeled himself after Kurama, Yomi is a calm, calculating fighter, being able to measure the exact speeds of the opponent's attacks with his hearing, and activating his barrier at the moment of impact so as to not waste energy. In the manga, Yusuke says that someone told him that Yomi's ability to fight purely by sensing ki and relying on hearing takes a massive amount of concentration and stamina, which is one of the main reasons that his fight with Yusuke went on for so long despite his power advantage over Yusuke.

  • Flight: a special ability where the user manipulates their Energy so that they can levitate or fly.
  • Superhuman Stamina: A notable example of this is his fight against Yusuke, which lasted for around sixty hours — this is mentioned by Yusuke in the 170th chapter of the manga.
  • Super Speed: Yomi is one of the fastest characters known in Demon World and while this has caused some to mistakenly believe he can teleport due to his fast movement, he can also do Teleportation himself. This incredible speed gives him an edge in battle against slower or close-range fighters.
  • Teleportation: Yomi has shown on numerous occasions the ability to teleport.

Known Techniques/Moves[]

Ma Koi Ryū・Renpa Han Shō Heki,

Yomi's Demon Energy Absorption Wall.

  • Demon Absorption Wall (魔古忌流・煉破反衝壁, Ma Koi Ryū・Renpa Han Shō Heki, literally translated as Ancient Envious Demon Style・Distilling Destruction Opposing Force Wall): is a green spherical barrier that protects Yomi from demon energy-based attacks. Only by using a combination of Demon Energy and Spirit Energy was Yusuke able to pierce it. Spirit energy completely bypasses the technique. However, the barrier acts as a filter to absorb demon energy.
  • Superior S Class Energy: Yomi is an experienced Upper S class demon. It's been shown that he can completely outclass other extremely powerful Upper S class demons like Yusuke due to him being a very powerful, calculating fighter, and being very experienced at combat because of his age.
Energy blast YYH

Yomi's energy blast

  • Energy Blasts: Yomi gathers green demon energy in his hands and sends it towards his opponent. He demonstrates the ability to manipulate the size of these energy blasts during his fight with Yusuke.
Energy Blast Barrage yyh

Yusuke assailed by Yomi's barrage

  • Energy Blast Barrage: Instead of firing a single blast, Yomi fires multiple blasts from a single orb of energy at his opponent. This attack is similar to Yusuke's Shotgun. This technique is named Demon Energy Barrage Force Blast (妖気連衝弾) in the game Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle.
Tornado energy blast yyh

Yomi releases his Tornado Blast

  • Tornado Energy Blast: Yomi gathers an energy orb in his fists and releases the energy as a dark-green tornado slamming into his opponent. This technique is named Windstorm of Annihilation (討滅の暴風) in the game Yu Yu Hakusho: 100% Maji Battle.

Relationships[]

20170530 191906

Yomi and Yoko

  • Yoko: Yomi in the past was a subordinate of Yoko's in his group of thieves, pillaging and plundering villages and domains under his leadership. They were partners in crime, bandits, but not close friends. Yomi was foolhardy, headstrong, and eager to jump in to battle at the nearest opportunity. He acted on a whim, costing Yoko the lives of many cohorts and eventually forcing him to act for the good of his bandit outfit. He betrayed Yomi, ordering his assassination; however the attempt failed but left him blinded, forsaken by the light.
  • Kurama: Yomi undoubtedly senses his old acquaintance Yoko's identity struggle, and initially intends to force Kurama's old self to the surface for his benefit, and to reforge the bond they had in the past. He states that he admires Kurama for all that he's done, and that he learned a lot from him. In some ways, Kurama served as Yomi's idol, and as the Three Kings saga progresses, we see that Kurama's opinion is greatly valued by Yomi. The two form something of a loose alliance, loose because Yomi makes sure he "protects" his investment in Kurama's counsel through blackmail. Kurama even betrays him when Yusuke proposes the Demon World Tournament by going back to being an individual demon and threatening to side with Yusuke (along with six other of Yusuke's friends) if Yomi didn't agree to it. During the Makai Tournament, Yomi seems to accept Kurama's decision to suppress his Yoko identity for his relationship with his human mother, as he has come to experience a similar bond with his son. Yomi offers assistance to Kurama after his battle with Shigure and the two part ways as friends at the end of the tournament, something that shouldn't have been possible given their past history.
  • Shura: Yomi's clone of himself is in every way a son to him. He inherited Yomi's strong will and ambitious tendencies, along with his vices. Yomi takes it upon himself to impress Shura, the importance of "knowing your enemy and yourself", and to not make foolish gambles with his life. He genuinely cares for Shura, whose birth what is undoubtedly the closest bond in Yomi's life. Shura even influenced Yomi's decision to compete in the Makai Tournament as an individual, which required his surrendering all his power.
  • Yusuke Urameshi: Seeing as Yusuke is the descendant of Raizen, Yusuke and Yomi were automatically enemies from the beginning. When Raizen died and Yomi and Mukuro were on the brink of war, Yusuke went to Yomi to introduce himself as the new king of Raizen's country. During the talk, Yusuke proposed the dissolution of the separate countries in favor of the Demon World Tournament to unite the Demon World under one ruler. At first, Yomi hated the idea, but had to go along with it when Kurama and six other subordinates who were all friends of Yusuke sided with Yusuke and Mukuro agreed to his terms. However, after feeling the power of Raizen's friends, Yomi grew excited about the tournament and came to respect Yusuke, seeing him as a friendly rival and not an enemy as Yomi initially saw him. He was happy to fight with Yusuke and felt there was a good chance that Yusuke would surpass him by the time of the next tournament.

Trivia[]

  • Yomi's name literally translates to "Underworld".
  • In Chapter 161 of the manga, Yomi is stated to have a Youki of 1,550,000.
  • Yomi deliberately lowers his energy level in order to enjoy his fight with Yusuke. As a consequence, he takes too much damage, and loses in the very next round to Kokou. This occurs in the third round.
  • Yomi is possibly based on the demon Shula from Dragon Ball, as both have similar appearances. This is further evidenced by the name of his son, Shura. Yomi's six ears is possibly based off the Six-Eared Macaque from the story of Journey To The West whose six ears allowed the Macaque to listen to everything, which made him nigh-omniscient.
    • Another Dragon Ball connection is Yomi sharing his English voice actor, Rick Roberson, with Dabura in the American version of Dragon Ball Z. Dabura was previously the King of the Demon World before the evil wizard Babidi mentally enslaved him via a magic spell, thus being forcibly removed from his rule. When Babidi achieves his goal of reviving Majin Buu and the latter attacks Dabura for insulting him, Dabura rebels against Babidi after failing to convince the wizard that Buu cannot maintain loyalty. He is subsequently turned into a cookie by Buu's magic and eaten alive where, upon his death, he is sent to Heaven as King Yemma believes that he would enjoy Hell too much as it is very similar to Dragon Ball's Demon World. His time in Heaven causes Dabura to fully reform into a loving, if not overbearing, being, but not nearly enough for him to be revived by a wish to the dragon balls that was made to exclude any victims deemed truly heinous. Yomi, by contrast, is still in power by the time of his introduction and shared his reign of Yu Yu Hakusho's Demon World with two other kings, only stepping down voluntarily upon Yusuke proposing the Demon World Tournament and ultimately survives his loss, seemingly developing a (presumably) healthier view on one day obtaining his goals.
  • Ironically, Yomi ended up being right about humanity's population increase in the real world. At the time the manga was released the world population was only 5 billion, but by 2023 it has jumped to 8 billion.

Quotes[]

"Your betrayals have taught me much. And today I feel better —  For all the pain of the past." -Episode 108

"It's amazing isn't it, how people change?" -Episode 108

References[]

Navigation[]

e v Three Kings
Members: Raizen | Mukuro | Yomi
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