, often shortened to Nishiki, is a fictional character from Sega's action-adventure game series Like a Dragon, previously titled Yakuza outside of Japan. He is the sworn brother and childhood best friend of series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, who insists on taking the blame for Nishikiyama after he murdered their boss, which resulted in Kiryu's expulsion from the Tojo Clan, the dominant yakuza organization in Tokyo, and his imprisonment for ten years. Nishikiyama establishes the Nishikiyama Family as a "subsidiary" of the Tojo Clan, and later triggers an internal power struggle for the clan's leadership shortly after Kiryu's release, leading to the two men becoming mortal enemies.
Nishikiyama also appears as a main character in the prequel installment, Yakuza 0, which follows Kiryu's early years as a low-ranking member of the Tojo Clan. For Yakuza Kiwami, the remake of the original Yakuza, Nishikiyama's role in the narrative is expanded, with his motivations being more clearly explained.
He is voiced in Japanese by Kazuhiro Nakaya, and in English by Michael Rosenbaum in the first game and Kaiji Tang in the Director's Cut version of Yakuza 0. The character of Nishikiyama is positively received, particularly for his expanded story arc in Kiwami and when it is contrasted with his depiction as a benevolent character in 0.
Creation and development Nishikiyama has a tattoo on his back of a koi, a type of Asian carp which symbolizes strength and bravery and alludes to his namesake. The carp is closely connected to the dragon, based on the Chinese mythological tale of carps leaping over the Dragon Gate. According to the legend, carp that swim up the Yellow River in China and leap over a legendary waterfall known as the "Dragon's Gate" are transformed into dragons. This piece is done in the nukibori style, which means it does not have a background like Kiryu's dragon tattoo. The design shows an ascending koi, which thematically underscores the character and his relationship to Kiryu in the Yakuza storyline. Red and black are considered two of Japanese tattooing's traditional colors, which is intended to make Nishikiyama's tattoo especially striking. In the past prior to the widespread use of safer synthetic inks, the color red was considered to be especially macho in Japanese tattooing because of the harmful pigments it may have contained.
Nishikiyama's English voice actor, Michael Rosenbaum, was offered the role by a producer who had worked with Rosenbaum for the video game Gladius, and he was shown a completed version of the game for his consideration prior to joining the project. During an interview, he described Yakuza as "a little movie" and the kind of game that appeals to him, which motivates him to put in the effort for a good performance. He noted that recording sessions would last up to four or five hours long with a lot of dialogue to go through, hence it is not possible to do them together with other cast members in the studio due to the length of time required.
For the remake of the first Yakuza game, Yakuza Kiwami, a major theme presented by the developers of the Yakuza franchise was whether Nishikiyama was fated to betray Kiryu or whether he is simply a victim of circumstance. Sega aimed to show the reasonings behind Nishikiyama's corruption due to how he changes from Kiryu's sworn brother to a calculating and cruel mafioso. The character's Japanese voice actor, Kazuhiro Nakaya, noted that after reading the script for Kiwami, it was so rough on him that he felt like not reading any scripts for a while.
Appearances Video games
Yakuza Nishikiyama grew up with Kiryu and Yumi Sawamura in Shintaro Kazama's Sunflower Orphanage, before joining Kazama's yakuza family in his teenage years. In 1995, Nishikiyama fatally shoots his boss, Sohei Dojima, to protect Yumi after she is kidnapped and sexually assaulted by Dojima. Kiryu tells him to flee the scene with Yumi so that Nishikiyama does not inadvertently abandon his responsibility to the family, and Nishikiyama reluctantly allows Kiryu to take the fall for his crime so he could tend to his terminally ill sister. When Kiryu returns to Kamurocho, he finds that Nishikiyama, the man he willingly gave up a decade of his freedom for, has betrayed Kazama to form his own family, and has changed into a cold, heartless man completely unlike his former self. Nishikiyama makes it clear he intends to seize control of the Tojo Clan of Tokyo, and makes a number of attempts on Kiryu's life.
It is later revealed that Reina, a bar owner and informant for Kiryu, was a mole for Nishikiyama all along. Because she was in love with him, she betrayed Kiryu, but then tried to kill him herself out of regret before being murdered by one of Nishikiyama's hitmen. Nishikiyama reveals in the final chapter of the story that he is aware of Jingu's scheme to manipulate the Tojo Clan, but doesn't care. After Kiryu went to prison and his sister died from complications of her heart condition, he chose to stop trusting anyone but himself. He reveals his romantic feelings towards Yumi, and that he that was jealous of Kiryu because she loves him, and because Kiryu was always stronger and more popular than him. Wanting to surpass Kiryu, he made sacrifices and numerous betrayals in order to claim the ten billion yen so that he may become the Tojo Clan's fourth chairman. With that realized, he would claim Yumi for himself. Yumi asks Nishikiyama if he is truly happy with the things he's done because of his obsession, and that he has failed to confront his inner problems. Nishikiyama scolds Yumi for not falling in love with the person he is, which makes her cry. Kiryu then tells Nishikiyama how he and Yumi are both irreplaceable to him. He couldn't change the hurt and pain from the past, even if he wanted to. Vowing to settle their feud once and for all, Nishikiyama accepts this final showdown with his former blood brother Kiryu, both removing their shirts to display their yakuza tattoos on their backs - the dragon and the koi. They fight to the bitter end, but Kiryu eventually wins. After Jingu fatally shoots Yumi while trying to kill Kiryu, Nishikiyama redeems himself by stabbing Jingu with a knife, giving up on the money he coveted and detonating a bomb and then sacrifices himself to kill Jingu.
Yakuza 0 A 20 year old Nishikiyama appears in Yakuza 0, which is set seventeen years before the original Yakuza, where he is the first major character Kiryu interacts with. During the opening sequence of the game, Kiryu and Nishikiyama casually saunter through the streets of Kamurocho; players can hold a button to automatically walk beside Nishikiyama as he and Kiryu explore Kamurocho together. Nishikiyama is willing to support Kiryu when he finds himself kicked out of the Dojima Clan after he is accused of killing a man he had beaten up for a debt collection task during the opening sequence of the game. While Nishikiyama turns on his sworn brother a couple times over the course of the game, he always changes his mind and sides with Kiryu, even confessing at one point his inferiority complex towards Kiryu and that he is nothing without him, culminating in the duo teaming up together to unravel a conspiracy that threatens the balance of power within the Tojo Clan. In contrast to his original characterization, he is depicted as a warm and loving, if impulsive and emotional loudmouth who is image conscious and inclined to fun-loving pursuits. At certain points in the game's narrative, the player-controlled Kiryu can partake in multiple side activities together with Nishikiyama, such as going to karaoke establishments, batting cages together, and shopping for new suits. There are also instances where they fight alongside each other and can engage in unique team up moves against enemies.
Yakuza Kiwami Yakuza Kiwami expands on the original game's story to follow Nishikiyama's rise to power during the ten years Kiryu was away, through a series of flashback cutscenes punctuating each chapter of the game which run parallel to Kiryu's story. Nishikiyama is shown being thrust into a leadership role that was meant for Kiryu, and the combination of stress from having to cope with his sister succumbing to a terminal illness and his guilt over letting Kiryu be punished for his crime prevents him from acting decisively as boss, allowing his subordinates to treat him with disrespect and steal from other yakuza families, while letting Nishikiyama take the blame for their actions. Nishikiyama finally snaps and decides to kill himself, but even then one of his tormentors interrupts him, triggering an epiphany for Nishikiyama in which he realizes that he must surpass Kiryu in every way in order to finally be content. Stabbing his tormentor to death, he transforms himself into a cold, calculating yakuza boss. This single-minded pursuit changes Nishikiyama so much that he spends the duration of the game trying to prove himself by killing Kiryu, having decided that he will never be complete until he has destroyed the legend of the "Dragon of Dojima".
Further appearances Nishikiyama is occasionally referenced in sequel installments to the original Yakuza. In Yakuza 2 and its remake Yakuza Kiwami 2, Kiryu pays his respects to Nishikiyama at his grave, which is situated alongside the graves of Shintaro Kazama and Yumi Sawamura. The player will then have the option to play a recap of major events in the previous game, which are by narrated by Kiryu in flashback sequences. Nishikiyama's avatar is used in Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! for the samurai assassin Okada Izō. The character appears as the final boss of the promotional freeware game Streets of Kamurocho, developed and released as part of Sega's 60th anniversary celebrations in October 2020. Nishikiyama is mentioned in the sequel game Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, which is set after Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and before, during, and after the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
In other media For the live action film adaptations of Yakuza Akira Nishikiyama is portrayed by Mikio Ohosawa in Like a Dragon: Prologue, and by Claude Maki in Like a Dragon. Gaku Sano played Nishikiyama for the stage play adaptation. Directed by Takahiro Tamura, the stage play ran with eight performances from April 24 to April 29, 2015, at the Akasaka ACT Theater in Akasaka, Minato Ward in Tokyo, Japan. Kento Kaku plays Nishikiyama in the 2024 TV series Like a Dragon: Yakuza, with Johnny Yong Bosch voicing the character in the show's English dub. Kazuhiro Nakaya reprises his role as Nishikiyama in a separate live-action series, Ryu ga Gotoku Powered By Nihon Touitsu, a collaboration between the Like a Dragon franchise and the drama series Nihon Touitsu.
Analysis Sam Greszes from Polygon opined that the conflict between positive and toxic masculinity is at the core of the Yakuza franchise, and it is exemplified in the deterioration of Kiryu's relationship with Nishikiyama; he believes that Nishikiyama's circumstances are a clear representation of the horrific manner in which toxic masculinity can warp an individual's personality. Greszes was of the view that Nishikiyama's inferiority complex, borne from being unfavorably compared with Kiryu by his adopted father and other members of the Tojo Clan, combined with a series of personal tragedies culminating in his sister's tragic death, led him to become cold and unfeeling instead of grappling with his own intense pain and sadness. Greszes suggested that this causes men such as Nishikiyama - consumed by ambition, abuse, or deep emotional repression - to violently and randomly lash out at other men, to emotionally and physically abuse women, and to betray trusted friends.