Why I love Yasuo and why you should too!
Yasuo is a deeply hated champion in his game, but he is one of my favorite champions and the one I choose to main. So I wanted to share with you my reasons for loving him, his origins, lore, and so much more.
Yasuo and his kit are designed to fit the fighting style of the ancient samurai, but more Specifically Musashi Miyamoto. Musashi was both a swordsman and ronin. He was a wanderer with an incredible duel streak. He was undefeated and won somewhere between 80-100 fights. Musashi was a journalist, a painter, a warrior, and military leader. He was even a great philosopher. This guy was a badass. He beat entire clans alone. That is what gave rise to his name. He killed an entire clan alone. One of my favorite things that I have heard about him and his fights came from the testimony of another warrior. As an opposing group approached the strong hold of people Musashi was set to protect, Musashi stood alone on a bridge and fought them off, tearing them apart in a wild whirlwind.
http://i.imgur.com/ArjaoHT.jpg
http://pre10.deviantart.net/6019/th/pre/f/2011/242/6/5/musashi_miyamoto_by_kanomaru-d48asyr.jpg
Yasuo's appearance was very heavily influenced by Musashi.
Quotes:
1 - "Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men."
2 - "You can only fight the way you practice."
3 - "You must understand that there is more than one path to the top of the mountain."
4 - "In fighting and in everyday life you should be determined through calm. Meet the situation without tenseness yet not recklessly, your spirit settled yet unbiased. An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak. Do not let the enemy see your spirit."
5 - "All men are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them."
6 - "Think lightly of yourself and think deeply of the world."
7 - "Do nothing which is of no use."
8 - "If you wish to control others you must first control yourself."
9 - "Get beyond love and grief: Exist for the good of Man."
10 - "Step by step walk the thousand-mile road."
11 - "there is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself."
Musashi TimeLine
1578 −6 Musashi's brother, Shirota, is born.
1584 0 Miyamoto Musashi is born.
1591 7 Musashi is taken and raised by his uncle as a Buddhist.
1596 13 Musashi duels with Arima Kihei in Hirafuku, Hyōgo Prefecture.
1599 15 Duels with a man named Akiyama in the northern part of Hyōgo Prefecture.
1600 16 Believed to have fought in the Battle of Sekigahara as part of the western army. Whether he actually participated in the battle is currently in doubt.
1604 20 Musashi has three matches with the Yoshioka clan in Kyoto. (1) Match with Yoshioka Seijuro in Yamashiro Province, outside the city at Rendai Moor (west of Mt. Funaoka, Kita-ku, Kyoto). (2) Match with Yoshioka Denshichiro outside the city. (3) Match with Yoshioka Matashichiro outside the city at the pine of Ichijō-ji.
1604 20 Visits Kōfuku-ji, Nara and ends up dueling with the Buddhist priest trained in the style of Hōzōin-ryū.
1605–1612 21–28 Begins to travel again.
1607 23 Munisai (Musashi's father) passes his teachings onto Musashi.
1607 23 Duels with the kusarigama expert Shishido Baiken in the western part of Mie Prefecture.
1608 24 Duels Musō Gonnosuke, master of the five-foot staff in Edo.
1610 26 Fights Hayashi Osedo and Tsujikaze Tenma in Edo.
1611 27 Begins practicing zazen meditation.
1612 28 Duel with Sasaki Kojirō takes place on Ganryujima (Ganryu or Funa Island) off the coast of Shimonoseki in which Kojiro is defeated. Briefly opens a fencing school.
1614–1615 30–31 Believed to have joined the troops of Tokugawa Ieyasu in the Winter and Summer campaigns at Osaka Castle, but no significant contributions are documented.
1615–1621 31–37 Comes into the service of Ogasawara Tadanao in Harima Province as a construction supervisor.
1621 37 Duels Miyake Gunbei in Tatsuno, Hyōgo.
1622 38 Sets up temporary residence at the castle town of Himeji, Hyōgo.
1623 39 Travels to Edo. Adopts a second son named Iori.
1626 42 Adopted son Mikinosuke commits seppuku following in the tradition of Junshi.
1627 43 Travels again.
1628 44 Meets with Yagyū Hyōgonosuke in Nagoya, Owari Province.
1630 46 Enters the service of Lord Hosokawa Tadatoshi.
1633 49 Begins to extensively practice the arts.
1634 50 Settles in Kokura, Fukuoka Prefecture for a short time with son Iori as a guest of Ogasawara Tadazane.
1637 53 Serves a major role in the Shimabara Rebellion and is the only documented evidence that Musashi served in battle. Was knocked off his horse by a rock thrown by one of the peasants.
1641 57 Writes Hyoho Sanju-go.
1642 58 Suffers severe attacks from neuralgia.
1643 59 Migrates into Reigandō where he lives as a hermit.
1645 61 Finishes Go Rin No Sho/The Book of Five Rings. Dies from what is believed to be lung cancer.
Random Yasuo facts;
These are from random areas which also include things from the league wiki page!
1 - Yasuo's first skin was high noon Yasuo. Cowboys and westerns were movies inspired by samurai and samurai movies. So Yasuo got a cowboy skin.
2 - Yasuo was designed by CertainlyT
3 - Yasuo is voiced by Liam O'Brien.
4 - Yasuo is not his birth name. He was given this new name when he joined the sword school in an effort to steady his wild nature
5 - The flute that Yasuo plays in his dance animation is a Shakuhachi.
Some music to jam to while playing Yasuo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmqJEaF2eNY
