What Happened to Kiryu and Nishiki’s Parents in Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1?

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

Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1’s finale drops a major bombshell regarding the deaths of Kazuma Kiryu and Akira Nishikiyama’s folks. So, what happened to Kiryu and Nishiki’s parents in Like a Dragon: Yakuza, and did they suffer a similar fate in the Yakuza video games?

How Did Kiryu and Nishiki’s Parents Die in Like a Dragon: Yakuza?

While Like a Dragon: Yakuza Season 1’s core cast (including Kiryu and Nishiki) are all orphans, the subject of their birth respective birth parents doesn’t really come up until the sixth and final episode, “Fate / Showdown.” Here, the badly wounded Nishiki tells Kiryu that they and their childhood pals wound up at Sunflower Orphanage thanks to the same murderer, who bumped off all their moms and dads. “Our parents… our parents were killed by the Dragon of Dojima,” he gasps. This catches Kiryu off guard, as the Dragon of Dojima – a formidable fighter and yakuza enforcer – was his hero as a boy. Heck, he’s the reason Kiryu became a yakuza member himself, and why he sports a near-identical tattoo on his back!

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

Nishiki’s revelation isn’t the last emotional gut punch Kiryu suffers in Episode 6, either. That comes during the closing scene, when Kiryu and fellow Sunflower orphan Yumi Sawamura reunite with their adoptive father, Shintaro Kazama. As Kazama and Yumi help the injured Kiryu hobble through the streets, the former stumbles – revealing a hitherto unseen dragon tattoo through a tear in his suit jacket. It’s a perfect match for the inks that gave the Dragon of Dojima his name, and outs Kazama as the man who killed Kiryu and Nishiki’s parents! This also means Kazama offed Miho’s folks (since she and Nishiki are siblings) and very likely removed Yumi and her sister Aiko’s mama and papa from the equation, as well.

Did Kazama Kill Kiryu and Nishiki’s Parents in the Yakuza Games?

Yep, Shintaro Kazama murdered the parents of everyone who grew up at Sunflower Orphanage in the Yakuza games, too. This includes Kiryu, Nishiki, Yumi, and Miho (or Yuko, as she’s known in the games). Why all the orphan-making? Because it was Kazama’s job – or a frequent side-effect of it, at least. According to Yakuza canon, Kazama was once one of the Japanese underworld’s top hitmen. Many of his victims left behind children, so he established Sunflower to care for them and assuage his guilt.

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

While Kiryu learns this from Nishiki in the show, in the games, Kazama confesses everything after getting caught in a grenade blast. The Yakuza games’ Kiryu is decidedly less angry than his live-action counterpart, too. Heck, he forgives his adoptive father on the spot! Only time (and Season 2) will tell whether Kiryu and Kazama will reach a similar reconciliation in Like a Dragon: Yakuza.

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