List of Shaman King Characters - Supporting Characters - Asakura Family

Asakura Family

Yohmei Asakura (麻倉葉明, Asakura Yōmei?)

• Voiced by: Takeshi Aono

Yohmei is Yoh's maternal grandfather and an onmyōji who specializes in divination and exorcism, and utilizes leaf shikigami. Born on July 2, 1919, he is the current head of the Asakura family. While highly respected as a onmyouji, Yohmei acknowledges that it has been difficult to find work in the modern era as fewer people believe in spirits. His divination techniques, however, are high in demand from the rich and powerful wanting to know their fortunes, so he does not worry about money. Yohmei is also known for using leaf shikigami, creating and controlling any number of these small OverSouls using small leaves as mediums. Yohmei almost constantly uses these, even outside of combat, to do small tasks like fetching items, holding the newspaper, and so forth. Strangely, these spirits can move through telephone lines. His favoured technique, the Asakura Shiki Onmyōjutsu Hyaku Shikigami (Asakura Style Yin and Yang Technique - Hundred Shikigami) creates countless Shikigami so he can surround an opponent and attack them from all directions at once.

Before Yoh was born, Yohmei foresaw that Hao Asakura would be reincarnated in one of his daughter Keiko's unborn twin children and reluctantly decided that he would kill both children upon birth rather than risk allowing Hao to be reborn. However, Yohmei hesitated for a moment as he was hit with remorse for killing his own grandchildren, which was sufficient enough for Hao to summon the Spirit of Fire and escape. Though the Asakuras were disappointed with allowing Hao to escape, they embraced the fact that Yoh, Hao's twin brother, had survived and they believed that Yoh was the family's best chance of finally defeating Hao for good. Since Yoh's childhood, Yohmei has trained him to become Shaman King, though Yoh's lazy and stubborn nature made the task difficult.

When Yoh fails to defeat Faust VIII in the qualifying round of the Shaman Fight, he returns in Izumo with Anna and Amidamaru to consult Yohmei on how to improve his furyoku levels; Yohmei suggests a dangerous method - travelling through the Yomi Cave (Tunnel of Tartarus). Before Yoh leaves for the Shaman Fight, he also sends a package containing the Futsunomitama sword to Yoh and later entrusts Anna to deliver the Ultra Senji Ryakketsu to Yoh along with the Asakura family's true relationship to Hao upon realizing that Yoh cannot hope to defeat Hao as he is now. He and Kino later go to the Patch Village during the Shaman Fight when it becomes apparent that Hao is unstoppable; in the manga, they are joined by Keiko, Mikihisa, and the spirit of Yohken Asakura, as they collaborate with the Tao family on how to deal with Hao.

Kino Asakura (麻倉 木乃, Asakura Kino?)

• Voiced by: Hisako Kyouda (Japanese), Erica Schroeder (English)

A master itako who trains young girls in the art at Osorezan, born on March 24, 1924, Kino is Yoh's grandmother and the wife of Yohmei. In her youth, Matamune mentions that she had been very beautiful, though she had already lost her sight during World War II. With very few options left, she chose to become itako and became accomplished enough to marry Yohmei. Her temperament is similar enough to Anna's that Yohmei fears getting hit by his wife and getting on her bad side, though she expresses her kindhearted nature to Yoh and Anna, whom she found and raised as her apprentice.

Instead of living at the Asakura family home in Izumo, she chooses to live in Shimokita, in the Aomori prefecture, near Osorezan. She runs what is ostensibly a traditional Japanese inn, the "Yasui Ryokan (安井旅館?)". In reality however, she uses the inn to house her apprentices. When Anna was abandoned as a child, Kino sensed the amount of spiritual power Anna possessed and took her in; because Anna sensed that Kino had no ulterior motives for saving her, Kino became the first and only person Anna trusted until she met Yoh. Impressed though concerned with the level of Anna's spiritual power, Kino suggested that Anna should marry Yoh and eventually trained Anna to be an itako. She regards Anna as her favourite over all her students, boasting to her husband that Anna is her pride.

Keiko Asakura (麻倉 茎子, Asakura Keiko?)

• Voiced by: Mika Doi (Japanese), Erica Schroeder (English)

Mikihisa's wife and Yoh's mother. She normally works as an Office Lady, but also works as a miko (translated by some as a cleric) at a local shrine. It is unknown as to the extent of her spiritual powers, but she is capable seeing ghosts and hearing the voices of kami spirits and capable of divining the future. She is the daughter of Yohmei and Kino; Mikihisa was adopted into the Asakura family when he married Keiko. As a young woman, she lived in Tokyo alone at the inn Yohmei rented for her, which would eventually be the inn where Yoh and Anna would reside.

In the manga, she plays minor, though active role, in aiding her family against Hao Asakura. A woman possessing a strong character, she agrees to sacrifice both her children upon birth when her family decides it is the only way to stop Hao from being reborn. When the effort fails, she is relieved and grateful when Yoh is spared and hopeful that her son will be able to stop Hao at last. After foreseeing that Hao cannot be stopped from becoming Shaman King, she personally acts as a messenger for the Asakura and arrives on the Tao's estate in China shortly after Ren's departure to deliver the message. After the secret of Yoh's relationship to Hao is revealed, Keiko directly approaches the Tao family with the offer of having Mikihisa teach members of Ren's team techniques from the Ultra Senji Ryakketsu. She also appears in subsequent meetings the Asakura hold with the Tao family.

Yohken Asakura (麻倉 葉賢, Asakura Yōken?)

An ancestor of Yoh Asakura who lived around 500 years ago, an powerful ascetic priest. Following his duty as a member of the Asakura family, Yohken entered the Shaman Fight of 500 years ago to defeat the second incarnation of Hao Asakura, which he did with the help of Matamune, Hao's former companion. One of his techniques is OverSoul "Onigoroshi" (Demon Killer) - Yohken used this with Matamune, using his Shakujou as his medium. In the manga, it was the same OverSoul that Yoh used when he saved Anna from the Oni, although Yohken uses his Shakujou (ring-topped Buddhist priests' staff) as the medium.

Yohken is implied to have died shortly after defeating Hao. However, his soul wound up in Hell, trapped by the guilt he felt at having killed another. The memory of killing Hao stayed fresh in Yohken's mind, to the extent that he lost any conception of the passing of time, and didn't realize that 500 years had passed. Yohken came to believe that he needed to defeat a strong opponent to escape and became blinded by his guilt and pride that he managed to defeat the greatest enemy to the Asakura family.

In the manga, when Yoh went to hell to train, Yohken was his first opponent; Matamune notes that it is critical for Yoh to defeat Yohken, whose strength will reflect how powerful Hao was 500 years earlier, much like how the Ultra Senji Ryakketsu reflected Hao's strength 1000 years ago. Yohken regains his senses after Yoh defeats him, and relates the history of the Asakura family to Yoh. After Yoh leaves Hell, Yohken's soul returns with him to the deserted island of Tokyo and Yohken attends the last meeting between the Asakura and Tao families regarding their plan to defeat Hao. He makes one last appearance among the souls who escort Asanoha Douji to meet Hao.