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IEYASU IMURA

Real Name: Sam Imura

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Oyabun (leader) of the Dragon Clan

Group Membership: Yakuza Dragon Clan

Affiliations: David Ishima, Sabrina Morrel, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)

Enemies: Nguyen Ngoc Coy, Deterrence Research Corporation, Kingpin (Wilson Fisk)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: High Lord of the Dragon Clan

Base of Operations: Dragon Clan fortress, located underneath Alcatraz island, San Francisco

First Appearance: (Mentioned) Spider-Woman I#43 (April, 1982); (seen) Spider-Woman I#46 (October, 1982)

Powers/Abilities: Ieyasu Imura possesses no superhuman powers, but is an experienced martial artist trained in the ways of the Yakuza Dragon Clan. He is a natural leader, possessing innate nobility to temper a violent streak he reserves for his enemies.

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Brown
Hair:Black

History:

(Spider-Woman I#46 (fb) ) - The man who would become Ieyasu Imura started life as Sam Imura, who as a teenager was framed for a murder he didn't commit (according to Imura). Sentenced to life in prison, he was sent to the island penitentiary Alcatraz, off the coast of San Francisco. After spending an unrevealed amount of time behind bars, he tried to escape the island and almost drowned. Nearly dying in the riptide, he made the conscious choice to make peace with the violence inside himself. He decided to use it to avenge the wrong done to him by using the tools of evil to protecting the weak from evil men. As fate would have it, Imura then was rescued by members of the Yakuza Dragon Clan whose fortress was located underneath the prison.

Sam learned that the Yakuza Dragon Clan were the only family that still honored the ancient Yakuza ways of protecting the innocent. Finding their philosophy matched with his own newfound vocation, he joined the clan and was trained in their ways, picking "Ieyasu" as his new name upon completing his studies. Over the course of twenty years, Imura rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the clan's oyabun (head of the family).

Imura oversaw the training of many of the clan's recruits, among them Lt. Sabrina "Bree" Morrel, a San Francisco police officer who had grown frustrated by the limits of the law. Imura and Morrel became romantically involved. Together, they used the clan's resources to right many wrongs. Sometimes by working within the boundaries of the law, often bending the rules but never breaking them.

(Spider-Woman I#39 - BTS) - Imura okayed Sabrina Morrel's proposition to invite David Ishima to join the Yakuza.

(Spider-Woman I#43 - BTS) - Imura had sent all the members of the Dragon Clan on a mission to Hawaii, leaving Bree Morrel to fend for herself. A fact she lamented when she had to keep Lindsay McCabe and Pamela Kramer safe from the threat of Viper (Ophelia Sarkissian) and the Silver Samurai (Kenuichio Harada).

(Spider-Woman I#44 - BTS) - After Spider-Woman confronted Bree Morrel over her ties to the Yakuza, the police lieutenant saw herself forced to inform Imura about being found out. Intrigued, Imura ordered members of his clan to shadow both Jessica Drew and Spider-Woman.

(Spider-Woman I#45 - BTS) - Morrel told Imura that the Dragon Clan's attempt at surveillance had failed.

(Spider-Woman I#46 - BTS) - After learning that Nguyen Ngoc Coy had put out a hit on Jessica Drew, Imura made sure Sabrina Morrel would be on hand to protect her. When Morrel helped Jessica and David Ishima fend off a Yakuza hit squad, she finally learned Jessica was in fact Spider-Woman when she saw her use the heroine's trademark venom blast. Bree shared this fact with Imura when she brought the injured and unconscious Jessica and David to the Dragon Clan's stronghold. Imura made sure David's wounds were tended before he sent him home, accompanied by a Dragon Clan member who was to stand watch over him.

(Spider-Woman I#46) - Bree Morrel introduced Jessica to Imura. He welcomed her and explained how the Dragon Clan differed from the other, criminal, Yakuza families. He then extended an invitation to Spider-Woman to join the clan, shocking Jessica with this revelation. Imura assured Spider-Woman he wouldn't try to blackmail her with this knowledge, giving his word that her secret was safe with Bree and him. However, he wanted the heroine's help in preventing the Deterrence Research Corporation from carrying out their plan to assassinate General Coy and the Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), thereby starting a gang war. When Spider-Woman promised to help out, Bree suggested she should be drugged before she left to make sure the location of their base remained secret. Imura decided against that, claiming that just as Jessica had to trust them to keep her secret, so should they trust her with theirs.

After Spider-Woman succesfully prevented the DRC's plot, she returned to Imura who repeated his offer to join the Yakuza. She refused, claiming herself to be too much of a rebel to join any group. Imura understood and wished her well.

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont (writer), Steve Leialoha (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks).

After several issues of build up, Imura finally showed up in Chris Claremont's final Spider-Woman issue, only to vanish off the Earth completely. A bit of a shame, considering the Dragon Clan's "Robin Hood" style take on the Yakuza made for a welcome change of pace.

His chosen name "Ieyasu" most likely refers to Ieyasu, the Japanese statesman (1542–1616) who founded the militaristic Tokugawa shogunate in 1603, a style of government that lasted up until 1867 when it evolved to the Japanese empire of modern day.

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ieyasu Imura has no known connections to

images: (without ads)
Spider-Woman I#46, p10, pan1 (main image)
Spider-Woman I#46, p8, pan5 (closeup)

Appearances:
Spider-Woman I#39 (August, 1981) - Chris Claremont (writer), Steve Leialoha (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Dennis O'Neil (editor)
Spider-Woman I#43 (April, 1982) - Chris Claremont (writer), Steve Leialoha (pencils, inks), Dennis O'Neil, Ralph Macchio (editors)
Spider-Woman I#44 (June, 1982) - Chris Claremont (writer), Steve Leialoha (pencils, inks), Dennis O'Neil (editor)
Spider-Woman I#45 (August, 1982) - Chris Claremont (writer), Steve Leialoha (pencils, inks), Dennis O'Neil (editor)
Spider-Woman I#46 (October, 1982) - Chris Claremont (writer), Steve Leialoha, Trina Robbins, Brent Anderson (pencils), Steve Leialoha (inks), Mark Gruenwald, Michael Carlin (editors)

First Posted: 10/17/2013
Last updated: 10/18/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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