Heihachi Mishima
Heihachi Mishima (
Japanese: 三島 平八
Mishima Heihachi) is a fictional
Japanese character, and the main
villain in the
Tekken fighting game series.
He is also one of the bonus characters available to play as or against in
Anna Kournikova's Smash Court Tennis, for the
PlayStation, alongside fellow
Namco characters including Richard Miller (from
Time Crisis),
Pac-Man,
Reiko Nagase and fellow
Tekkenites
Eddy Gordo, and
Yoshimitsu in his
Tekken 3 incarnation. He is also a playable character in the
PS2 version of
Soul Calibur II.Heihachi is the son of
Jinpachi Mishima, the father of
Kazuya Mishima, adopted father of
Lee Chaolan, and the grandfather of
Jin Kazama. He fights with the power of
Mishima Style Karate (his style in particular has more
Goju-Ryu influences). He is the founder and the "Commander" of the
Tekken Force Unit. He has hosted all but the second and fifth King of Iron Fist tournaments (those were hosted by Kazuya and Jinpachi, respectively).
Before the Iron Fist Tournament
Heihachi was born as the heir to the rich, powerful, and well-respected
Jinpachi Mishima, the owner of the powerful
Mishima Zaibatsu and a world-famous
martial arts master. During this time, Heihachi married and eventually had a son of his own--
Kazuya. Heihachi's wife, Kazume Mishima, is believed to have died either in childbirth or not long afterwards. Heihachi raised Kazuya harshly; in his mind, he was forging a strong heir to eventually pass the Mishima Zaibatsu to. Much to his chagrin, Kazuya grew up kind and frail, perhaps due to the more loving treatment he received from his grandfather, Jinpachi. (See Kazuya's Tekken 5 ending.) At some point, Heihachi betrayed Jinpachi and stole the Zaibatsu from his father. His motives for this act are as-of-yet unknown, but it can be speculated that he disagreed of Jinpachi's lack of ruthless aggression and his "soft" treatment of Kazuya. After assuming control, Heihachi began to steer the Zaibatsu into the military industry while his father vanished. After some time, Jinpachi attempted to launch a coup to retake the Zaibatsu from his son, but failed and was ultimately imprisoned underneath Hon Maru, where he would remain for either close to, if not exactly, 50 years.
The First and Second Tournaments
Finally fed up with Kazuya's "weakness", Heihachi tossed his son down a deep ravine, claiming that if he were truly his son, he'd be able to survive the fall and climb back up. (This is possibly similar to male lions throwing their sons into ravines). Kazuya actually managed to do so, but only because he'd made a deal with the Devil in order to survive. (See
Devil Gene.) To further motivate Kazuya, Heihachi adopted a Chinese orphan named
Lee Chaolan and raised him as a rival to his true son. It's assumed that Heihachi never really cared about Lee at all, and only used him to irritate Kazuya. Over the years, Kazuya traveled abroad and competed in martial arts championships, becoming an undefeated champion (The only blemish on his record being a draw to
Paul Phoenix). Eventually, Heihachi decided it was time to test his son's strength and announced the
King of Iron Fist Tournament.
Much to Heihachi's surprise, he is beaten by his son, Kazuya. Kazuya tosses him off a cliff just as had been done to him when he was younger by Heihachi. However, being no ordinary man, Heihachi survived and returned two years later as a competitor in Kazuya's second KOIF Tournament. After winning the contest, he has a showdown with Kazuya, and defeats him. Afterwards, he tosses Kazuya, who had proven to be much too dangerous, into a volcano and kills him.
Tekken 3
Sometime later, he created the
Tekken Force (Tekkenshu in the Japanese version), and used them as a quick-response group to appease the nations of the world. One day, 15 years after the end of the second KOIF tournament, the Tekken Force found ruins in Central Mexico and discovered Ogre--who destroyed them all. Later, Heihachi was approached by a young man claiming to be his grandson,
Jin Kazama. Heihachi took in Jin and taught him the Mishima style karate for his own selfish purpose of using him as bait for Ogre. At the conclusion of the tournament, Jin succeeded and defeated True Ogre, but Heihachi betrayed him and shot him in the forehead. Surprisingly, Jin survived, transformed into
Devil Jin and struck Heihachi down before escaping.
Tekken 4
Afterwards, Heihachi intended to combine his own DNA with that of Ogre, but he discovered that he would need the
Devil Gene that Kazuya and Jin possess in order to combine the DNA. Heihachi searched desperately for Jin over the next two years, but could not locate him anywhere. Fortunately for Heihachi, Jin was not the only one with a compatible Devil Gene. Heihachi discovered evidence that his son Kazuya's body was taken by G-Corporation (a rival company) and used for research. Heihachi's Tekken Forces raided the G Corporation's facilities to discover that Kazuya had been
resurrected by the corporation. Heihachi decided to hold the fourth KOIF Tournament (with his very company's ownership as the grand prize) in an attempt to lure Kazuya so that he may extract the Devil Gene. At the same time, he expected Jin Kazama to become involved, so he set a trap. His plan was to send the Tekken Force to capture Jin, make the two Devil hosts fight one another, and then defeat the winner while he was hopelessly weakened. With Jin captured by the
Tekken Force, Heihachi faced Kazuya in the finals of tournament and defeated him. He then led Kazuya to his
Hon Maru compound where Jin was being held captive. Everything went as planned, except that Jin was able to defeat both his father and Heihachi. Luckily, Heihachi was spared Jin's wrath when a vision of Jin's mother stopped him in his tracks.
Tekken 5
Right after Jin's departure, an army of Jack-4 units sent by the G Corporation invaded Hon-Maru. Heihachi and Kazuya fought together, managing to destroy several Jacks, but Kazuya threw Heihachi to the Jacks and used the opportunity to escape. One of the Jacks activated a self-destruct sequence, detonating and completely destroying Hon-Maru, leading everyone to believe Heihachi was dead. In reality, Heihachi was thrown miles from the site, landing in a graveyard and remaining unconscious for weeks. But Heihachi, no ordinary man, survived the near-impossible odds to take part in the 5th tournament.
Tekken 2 (Canon) :Heihachi defeats Kazuya, and throws him into the lava of a volcano. He then flies away in a helicopter, smiling as the volcano erupts.
Tekken 3 (Non-Canon):Heihachi defeats
True Ogre who then dissolves into nothing. He finds Jin's unconscious body and brings it aboard his helicopter with him. While in the air Heihachi discovers Devil markings appearing on Jin's face. Rather than confront a Devil-possessed Jin, Heihachi throws Jin's body out of the helicopter.
Tekken Tag Tournament (Non-Canon):A smiling Heihachi reminisces about brutalizing Jin and Kazuya.
Tekken 4 (Partially-Canon):Heihachi and Kazuya arrive in Hon-Maru to find that Jin has been chained up. Heihachi then turns on Kazuya, chaining him up as well. Heihachi is going to extract the Devil gene from both of them which he will use to complete his world domination plan.
The first half of this ending is canon, Heihachi did defeat Kazuya and brought him to Hon-Maru, but when they arrive it becomes partly Kazuya's ending where he becomes Devil for a second to fight Jin. He will lose this fight as well. From there, it becomes Jin's last part of his ending, when Heihachi steps in, fights Jin and loses.
Tekken 5 (Non-Canon):Heihachi has Jinpachi, Kazuya, and Jin chained to the top of a rocketship which he watches as it blasts off into the sky, laughing maniacally.
Soul Calibur II (Non-Canon):Heihachi, after defeating many combatants, shatters Soul Edge with a single punch and returns to his time.
Heihachi is considered by most fans to be somewhat of an "
anti-hero"; not as evil as Kazuya, and not as noble as Jin. At times, his actions are cold-hearted (he used his own grandson as bait for a murderous monster) and sometimes, they are inspirational (he has survived every attempt on his life thus far from pure willpower). But, in general, Heihachi is not above betrayal, deceit, or committing small crimes in pursuit of what he perceives as a "greater good". Blood relation means nothing to him--once Heihachi discovers anything he perceives as a threat, it will be eliminated without hesitation.
Heihachi is basically the epitome of a self-made man. Heihachi believes in complete self-reliance and in being the best in every endeavor. The only charity he will give or alliance he will accept is in a case where it can be beneficial to himself; he is therefore a somewhat
Machiavellian character. Thus, Heihachi treated his own son cruelly in an attempt to instill him with the same toughness. When Kazuya proved too stubborn, he resorted to drastic measures; an action that has come back to bite him on several instances. Occasionally, Heihachi will reward people that he deems as extraordinary. For example, he adopted Lee Chaolan after witnessing the orphan fighting, he took in Jin Kazama (and many believe he actually came to respect the boy's determination to defeat Ogre before he sensed the Devil Gene and decided to eliminate him), and admitted
Ling Xiaoyu into his school (complete with a Panda bodyguard) after she aggressively attacked one of his yachts. Of course, he also had ulterior motives to each of these actions, which fits into his personal code of mutual gain. The only times Heihachi has been shown with a genuine soft side is when he plays with his best friend and pet bear,
Kuma and Kuma's son, Kuma Jr.
It's not yet known why Heihachi has become so interested in creating an "ultimate lifeform" by combining the DNA of himself, Ogre and Devil, but it can be assumed that because he no longer wishes to succeed his company to either of his hereditary heirs (Kazuya and Jin), that the best he could do now would be to clone an heir and ensure that it would be worthy. Another theory is that he wants to find a way to use Ogre and Devil's blood to make himself an immortal, thus making an heir unnecessary. A third theory is that his interest may simply have something to do with his desire to take over the world using these lifeforms. The answer to this will likely come in future Tekken installments.
*In English, his full name would roughly be translated to "Eighth Peace of the Third Island". Apparently all Mishima given names end with the kanji 八 (meaning eight, pronounced as "Ya", "Pachi", or "Hachi").
*Heihachi is one of only 4 characters (Namely
Paul Phoenix ,
Nina Williams , and
Yoshimitsu ) to have appeared in every game in the series, and is a staple character amongst fans.
*Despite being 75 years old (as of
Tekken 5), Heihachi appears to be in superhuman health. However, he's still not Tekken's oldest combatant. Both his father Jinpachi and
Wang Jinrei are his seniors by at least 30 years.
*Heihachi's closest friend was Kuma, his bear bodyguard. After Kuma's death, Heihachi raised Kuma's son, Kuma Jr., but Kuma Jr. left Heihachi to train in the wild after he lost to Paul Phoenix in Tekken 3.
*Heihachi doesn't have a devil gene, but the reason for this is hotly contested. Jinpachi's story states that he was possessed by a "thing", but doesn't specify exactly what this entity was. However, Heihachi describes his father as having "Devil's Blood", though the exact meaning of this is unknown. Whether Jinpachi actually has the devil gene is unknown; ergo, it's unknown whether or not Heihachi has it, and merely hasn't "activated" it or if he lacks it entirely.
*In Tekken 3, when Ogre is defeated he seems to absorb Heihachi to transform into True Ogre (unless the player plays as Heihachi, in which case it is Jin who gets absorbed).
*Heihachi actually forgot that he'd left Jinpachi imprisoned under Hon-Maru, according to both his and Kazuya's Story Mode dialogue.
*Heihachi has been voiced by Daisuke Gouri since Tekken 3, but he was voiced by Banjou Ginga on the first 2 Tekken games.
*Though completely non-canonical, Heihachi also made a guest appearance in the
PlayStation 2 version of
Soul Calibur II as well as the
Mario Party-esque
Pac-Man Fever and the
crossover game
Namco x Capcom.
