Daisaku Kuze

Biographical Age: 68 Date of Birth: April 22, 1947 Nationality: Japanese

Physical Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Brown Blood Type: O

Associations Relationships: Sohei Dojima (patriarch: currently dead) Keiji Shibusawa (oath brother: Currently in prison) Hiroki Awano (oath brother: Currently dead) Kazuma Kiryu (former subordinate, former enemy, former rival) Ryuji Goda (enemy: currently dead, unfortunately) Joon-gi Han (enemy: status alive)

Occupation: Lieutenant of the Dojima Family (formerly) Patriarch of the Kenno Clan (formerly) Boxer (formerly)

Affiliation: Tojo Clan (formerly), Dojima Family (formerly), Kenno Clan (formerly)

In his youth, Kuze was a promising professional boxer whose career ended for unspecified reasons. Having lost his way in life, Kuze eventually fell into a life of crime and joined the yakuza, becoming a member of the Dojima Family.

At some point during the 1980's, Kuze rose to the rank of Lieutenant and was allowed to start his own subsidiary yakuza group, the Kenno Clan. The Kenno became specialized in handling the Dojima Family's most violent work, serving as the organization's muscle. By December of 1988, the Kenno are the most powerful sub-faction within the Family and Kuze is the most feared of the Dojima lieutenants, harboring barely-disguised intentions of supplanting the Family Captain, Shintaro Kazama, in his position. When Kazama is arrested and sentenced to two years in prison for running an illegal gambling hall, rumors start to circulate within the Family that it was Kuze who tipped off the police about the gambling hall to remove Kazama as an obstacle in his pursuit of the Captain's seat.

His combos are four in number, which are listed below:

-a Rush Combo composed of a left shovel hook-overhand right into a weave and a right shovel hook-overhand left into a weave, followed by: a right punt kick finisher, or -a left shovel hook-overhand right into a weave and a left punt kick finisher; a second combo made up of a headbutt and a rapid overhand right-left uppercut-overhand right-left uppercut, -a third combo made up of a ducking right cross, a left haymaker and a right punt kick; and -a fourth combo consisting of a ducking right hook, a rapid left hook-right hook-left hook-right uppercut, and an overhand left.

The rest of his moveset includes the following:

-a pendulum stepping left jab, -a left foot stomp-right reverse elbow strike-left elbow strike, a left elbow strike-spinning right elbow thrust, -A guard reversal where he steps back and throws a lunging right straight punch -a back roll before throwing a running right haymaker as a knockdown reversal, quickstep attacks, including: -a ducking right hook after frontstepping, -a right body hook-left hook-right uppercut after sidestepping right, and -a left body hook-left hook-right hook after sidestepping left; -a right foot sweep kick command grab that trips his foe up, followed by a right foot stomp on it's face; -a hopping right punt kick as a downed attack, and -a taunt where he leans over and slaps his left cheek twice.

Kuze is a blunt and thuggish man who is not afraid of openly criticizing other people's shortcomings to their faces, be it his equals (like his oath brothers, Awano and Shibusawa), his subordinates (like Yoneda and Kiryu) or even his superiors (like Kazama and even Patriarch Dojima). Despite his ruthlessness and violence, Kuze does possess a martial code of honor: befitting of a former boxer, Kuze sees life as perpetual combat and believes that a person's purpose in life is to constantly struggle to make themselves stronger. Kuze exemplifies this when he tells Yoneda that the reason he joined the yakuza was "to beat on guys stronger than me". Accordingly, he respects anybody, even his enemies, if they do not buckle under life's hardship and fights back against opposition. It is this idealism and belief in the way of the 'old-school' yakuza that he sees in Kiryu, and, realizing that the young man resembles him when he was that age, eventually begins to respect Kiryu.

In accordance with that philosophy, Kuze is also shown to be an incredibly resilient and determined person who does not give up easily. After Kiryu beats him in battle, Kuze refuses to accept defeat and continues trying to take him down over and over, even when his role within the Dojima Family is reduced to being muscle for his oath brothers, confident that he will find a way to re-establish his power.

Despite his apparent brutishness, Kuze can also be strategic, as shown by how he tried to manipulate Kiryu into being his informant within the Kazama Family in exchange for his protection from the police or how he insisted that Tachibana needed to be allowed to rest from torture, since continuing without interruption would kill him before he could reveal what the Dojima Family needed from him.

Kuze's tattoo depicts Enma, the judge and ruler of Hell on his back, while the guardians of Hell, Gozu (Ox-Head) and Mezu (Horse-Face) adorn his left and right upper arms respectively. This may reference how Kuze keeps fighting and judging Kiryu, and also how Kuze is the only obstacle in Kiryu's path that keeps him in the hell of the yakuza. Enma's left little finger is partially covered, foreshadowing Kuze's yubitsume after his first fight with Kiryu. On the bottom left, there is a signature 彫巴 (Horitomo).

Kuze is a former boxer who — although passed his prime — remains a very capable fighter and displays great prowess in combat. Kuze fights hand-to-hand in most of his boss fights, but he wields an iron pipe in his second and wears Steel Knuckles in his third. He is also accompanied by Dojima Family goons in his third and fourth fight, and in his fifth fight, he fights alone on his own and with everything he has. He emits a yellow aura in rage Mode.

Kuze's main fighting style revolves heavily around long punching combos, mainly consisting of fast hooks and uppercuts. It also emphasizes illegal boxing moves, such as kicks, elbow strikes, and punches aimed below the waist. All of his attacks can easily break Kiryu's guard.

*Daisaku Kuze is an old man who stands at above-average height, with black hair, that he has in a slicked back hairstyle, has a clean shaved face. He has a lean build, despite his age, possessing extremely good musculature, he wears a plain white dress shirt with a black suit jacket, black suit pants, black aviator sunglasses, black security shoes and a black leather glove on his left hand that he never takes off to hide that his little finger was chopped off.