Kenuichio Harada

Latest revision as of 07:04, 23 August 2024

The Silver Samurai vs. Logan in Wolverine: Origins v1 #43.

Kenuichio Harada is a male comic character who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Kenuichio Harada (Japanese: 原田剣一郎, Hepburn: Harada Ken'ichirō) was the illegitimate son of Lord Shingen Yashida and half-brother to Mariko Yashida with him being part of Clan Yashida. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #172)

At some point, he was involved with a woman and fathered a child who was named Shingen Harada though he never spent time with his son. Instead, the boy was with his mother who came to suffer from cancer and pass away when her child was young. Afterwards, he was sent to the orphanage where he was bullied much of his life and even then he was never visited by his father Kenuichio. (Wolverine v2 #301)

Years ago, he was affiliated with Hydra when they staged an attack on the Japanese Emperor. In that moment, the Silver Samurai was responsible for killing Captain Kioshi Keishicho who was part of the Imperial Guard detail. (Big Hero 6 v1 #2)

Silver Samurai

As a professional criminal, he came to be hired by Mandrill and the Black Spectre where he clashed against Daredevil. (Daredevil v1 #111)

In the preparation for Mariko's wedding, the Silver Samurai watched from the scene and intended to strike at Wolverine as well as his allies the X-Men who had arrived at the Yashida residence. He was then attacked by Yukio who intended to capture him but she failed in knocking him unconscious. The commotion resulted in Wolverine being drawn into the disturbance where he fought against the Silver Samurai. This allowed for Viper to sneak into the building and kidnap Mariko whereupon Harada used a teleportation device to escape the scene. Mariko was then taken captive with her being held in a remote building in Tokyo where Lord Shingen's rival Nabatone Yokuse was present to arbitrate the matter of leadership of Clan Yashida. However, Mariko had been switched with Yukio who refused Kenuichio's claim leading to a battle with Storm entering into the fray where she came to lose track of her powers thus causing a large explosion at the scene. The Silver Samurai survived and he recovered Viper where he vowed revenge as he intended to forcibly take the position of head of Clan Yashida. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #172)

He came to Madripoor in search for the Black Blade where he found a disguised Wolverine and found the weapon to had taken possession of Jessica Drew. (Wolverine v2 #3)

Big Hero 6

Later on, he came to be recruited by the Japanese government to serve as a superhero operative. This saw him being tasked with bringing together a team of heroes called Big Hero Six. (Sunfire and Big Hero Six v1 #1)

Wolverine in Hell

Kenuichio came one of the targets of the Red Right Hand in their plot at getting revenge against Wolverine. As such, they attacked Clan Yashida Ancestral Compound in Miyago Prefecture in Japan where he fought to prevent the graves of his family from being disturbed. Despite his injuries, he managed to fight on but was fatally wounded as a result leading to him collapsing by the grave of his sister Mariko as he passed away. (Wolverine v4 #1)

House of X

After the establishment of the Mutant nation of Krakoa, the people of this country managed to develop the Resurrection Protocols allowing them to restore fallen members of their kind. Among those brought back by this process was Kenuichio Harada who joined his people on the living island where he became responsible for officiating combat in the arena in the Quarry. (Cable v4 #1) Afterwards, Saturnyne imposed a tournament between swordbearing champions from Krakoa to fight the war-like inhabitants of Arakko with Wolverine being among those chosen for this contest. Kenuichio was said to had been jealous of Logan being chosen as he believed that he himself was a disciple of the sword who was more worthy to fight in the match. Wolverine came to seek him out for information about Muramasa as he required the fabled swordsmith's blades for the match but Harada was not willing to part with this information. As a result, Logan had to battle the Silver Samurai and defeat him with Kenuichio forced to reveal clues on the whereabouts of Muramasa in Japan. (Wolverine v7 #6)

Overview

Personality and attributes

He came to operate under the name of the Silver Samurai. (Daredevil v1 #111)

As a young man, he acknowledged for being greedy, ambitious, selfish and filled with hatred. It was only when he grew older that he became more enlightened and learned to embrace the family that he had never known in order to b a leader. This saw him walking down a more honourable path with him fighting to stand for tradition, loyalty and honour unto death whilst standing for something greater than himself. (Wolverine v4 #1)

He was said to be a warrior and in his own way an honourable man similar to Wolverine. Kenuichio was known to repay debts he owed to others such as helping those that spared his life. (Wolverine v2 #2) He believed in the concept of honor and preferred his foes to fight him head on. (Daredevil v1 #111)

Kenuichio was known to train sometimes without his armour where he practiced his swordmanship without almost any clothing. (Wolverine v2 #3)

It was said that Silver Samurai was perhaps the second most famous citizen in all of Japan. (Sunfire and Big Hero Six v1 #1)

As Shingen's only son, he believed that he was promised leadership over Clan Yashida. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #172)

As the illegitimate child of Shingen Yashida, Kenuichio was the half-brother to his fathers daughter Mariko Yashida. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #172)

He was involved with a woman who came to bear him a son who was named Shingen 'Shin' Harada though he never spent time with his child who ended up growing up in an orphanage after the boy's mother passed away. (Wolverine v2 #301) When he was dying, Kenuichio had said that he missed his son and had a desire to see him again. (Wolverine v4 #1)

Powers and abilities

He was skilled enough to block gunshots with his sword. (Wolverine v2 #2)

With it, he was able to slice through a stone wall with his sword. (Daredevil v1 #111) As the power came from him, he could use any sword for his purposes such as katana's sold through mail order. (Wolverine v2 #3)

His armour was shown to be able to protect him from blows that could knock a person out in a sneak attack from behind. Despite the seemingly bulky armour, he was known to retain his speed and was quite fast in a fight. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #172)

At one point, he came to wield the fabled Black Blade of Muramasa which typically possessed its user unless they were deemed worthy. (Wolverine v2 #3)

Notes

• The Silver Samurai was created by Steve Gerber and Bob Brown where he made his first appearance in Daredevil v1 #111 (July, 1974).

Alternate Versions

In other media

Television

• In X-Men, the Kenuicho Harada Silver Samurai appeared in the 1990s animated television series where he was voiced by actor Denis Akiyama. Silver Samurai was a mutant and gang leader in Japan. Silver Samurai and his gang picked on a village and their temple. At one point, they came and found Wolverine and Jubilee were with them. The two X-Men helped the villagers fight back against the gang while Wolverine fought Silver Samurai. The X-Man anticipated his attack and disabled his teleporting ability. He then walked away humiliated.
• In Wolverine and the X-Men, the Kenuichio Silver Samurai appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Keone Young. Long ago, Logan had fallen in love with a woman named Mariko Yashida, however her father wanted her to marry Harada instead. This tension compelled them to duel for her, and although Logan won, Mariko had already been married to Harada which caused her to demand Logan to leave and never return. Years later, Logan finds that all of the X-Men except for Rogue have been kidnapped by Harada in an attempt to force Logan to fight him. Logan goes to Mariko for information which is followed by Harada nearly hitting her before deciding to stage an ambush in the location Mariko had gave him. After Wolverine and Rogue fight off Silver Samurai's men, Samurai sedates and attempts to murder Wolverine but is stopped by the Yakuza leader due to it being dishonorable to kill an opponent that is incapable of fighting back. After Wolverine relearns how to use a katana, he faces off against Samurai in a duel where no powers were allowed to be used and defeats Samurai fairly. Samurai, unwilling to accept defeat, breaks the "no powers" rule and uses them to attempt to kill Wolverine before being stopped by the Yakuza leader for acting dishonorably and breaking the rule of the duel. He is seen walking away in shame as the Yakuza have lost all respect for him.
• In Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, the Silver Samurai appeared in the anime series where he was voiced by actor Takanori Nishikawa.

Films

• In The Wolverine, Kenuichio Harada appeared in the setting of the 2013 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Will Yun Lee. This version was a member of the Black Clan and an associate of Master Yashida. It was known that he had once been the fiance of Mariko Yashida until her marriage was set up with a rich businessman. Harada was seen on the roof-top of a building during the funeral of Yashida. As Mariko was getting kidnapped, Harada assisted Yukio and Wolverine in attempt to prevent the kidnapping. He was later seen negotiating with Viper to kidnap Mariko in order to capture Wolverine for her associate, The Silver Samurai. Before Mariko is about to be executed by her father Shingen, Harada and the Black Clan came to her rescue and took her to a research base located in Master Yashida's birth place. With his personal squad of ninjas called the Black Clan, he prevented Logan from reaching the abandoned research facility to rescue Mariko using bow and arrows to penetrate Logan with the poison provided by Viper leaving Logan captured. As Logan was captured, Harada was with Mariko before being impaled so she could then rescue Logan. When the Silver Samurai emerged, Harada joined forces with Yukio and Logan after realizing that he was being used, which lead him to his death.

Video games

• In X-Men: Children of the Atom, the Kenuichio Harada Silver Samurai appeared as a playable character in the Capcom fighting video game where he was voiced by sound designer Yasushi "Ike-Bomb" Ikeda.
• In X-Men: The Official Game, the Kenuichio Harada Silver Samurai appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Keone Young.

Appearances

• Daredevil v1: (1974)
• Wolverine v2:
• Sunfire and Big Hero Six v1:
• New Avengers v1:
• Wolverine v4:
• Cable v4: (2020)
• Wolverine v7: (2020)

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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