Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1: Who Is the Dragon of Dojima (& What Does That Mean)?

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1.

The Dragon of Dojima is a legendary figure in Like a Dragon: Yakuza‘s first season – but also one shrouded in mystery. So, who is the Dragon of Dojima in Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1, and what does holding that title even mean?

Who is the Dragon of Dojima in Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1?

Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1 technically features not one but two bearers of the Dragon of Dojima mantle. That said, only one of these characters “officially” holds the post: retired yakuza Shintaro Kazama. We don’t learn this up front, though. All we know for most of Like a Dragon: Yakuza‘s initial six-episode run is that a formidable fighter from protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s youth went by the name – and sported the matching back tattoo – of the “Dragon of Dojima.”

But the truth that this was the young Kazama finally comes out during Season 1’s final scene. Here, Kiryu glimpses Kazama’s distinctive dorsal inks through a tear in his shirt. This puts both men in an awkward spot, to say the least. While Kazama is Kiryu’s adopted father, the Dragon of Dojima is the person who murdered his birth parents! Presumably, Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 2 will cover the fallout from this revelation (assuming it gets the green light).

Related: Why Did Kazuma Kiryu Go to Prison in Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1?

What about the second, “unofficial” dragon mentioned earlier? That’d be Kiryu himself, who lobbied the Dojima Family’s patriarch, Sohei Dojima, for the position in the mid-90s. He made a pretty good fist of it too (pun fully intended), racking up an impressive run of bare-knuckle boxing wins on Sohei’s behalf. Each of these victories brought him closer to Dragon status, earning him additional details for his back tattoo.

Yet Season 1 also confirms that Kiryu never completed his tattoo – the dragon’s eyes are missing – and therefore never actually held the Dragon of Dojima title. But then, that’ll happen when you take the blame for the patriarch’s murder and get exiled from Dojima Family!

What Does Being the Dragon of Dojima Mean?

In Like a Dragon: Yakuza continuity, “Dragon of Dojima” is the name for a Dojima Family fighting champion who doubles as an enforcer capable of single-handled enforcing the patriarch’s will. “Long ago, a faction launched a coup,” an Ohmi Alliance boss (or oyabun) explains at one point. “The Dragon wiped them out on his own.” It seems that Kazama was the first Dragon, with Kiryu (then unaware of how his parents died) eager to keep his legacy alive.

Related: Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1: What Does Gokudo Mean?

None of the above applies to the original Yakuza video games’ canon, though. In the games, “Dragon of Dojima” is simply a nickname for Kiryu that references his martial arts prowess and tattoo. It never applies to Kazama, either. He’s still one-time underworld killer, but nobody ever called him the Dragon of Dojima, nor does he boast a tattoo like Kiryu’s on his back!

All six episodes of Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1 are currently streaming on Prime Video.