Snafu the Great
Reflections in a Dragon's Eye: From Ronin to Redemption
A Street Fighter Fanfiction
By The Headcrook
Legal Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Capcom Entertainment. The idea of Ryu giving an interview was going on in my head for a while and I decided to act on it. With Fight Hina finished, I wanted to write this before I forget. This is basically a magazine article on Capcom's resident Japanese Ansatsuken warrior, as we see a different side of him that has not been seen before.
Bold text denotes the interviewer speaking.
(With his rugged appearance and polished charm, Ryu Houshi looks more like a Japanese heartthrob instead of a martial artist. We are at his dojo that he co-owns with his wife, Chun Li Xiang in the Aoyama district of Tokyo, sitting in the courtyard. The Ansatsuken-Wushu School of Martial Arts is one of the most popular schools in Japan, given the fact that the teachers are both world-class martial artists. The (formerly disowned) son of a Japanese corporate executive and a third-generation Japanese-American schoolteacher, Ryu - formerly known as Shun Ryuji Hiroyuki - is the youngest child, having a older sister who owns her boutique, and brother, who is also a martial artist and executive of his father's company.
There are no classes today, since Ryu and Chun Li had given the students the weekend off. Dressed in casual clothes and headband, Ryu's manner is cordial and mood light, but he has seen and been though many trials in his years. He speaks perfect English with no accent, but when he speaks Japanese, he does so with a mild Kansai-ben accent as we sit over a pitcher of iced tea, given that he spent his childhood in Osaka. This is his first interview he's given since the release of Street Fighter Alpha collection as he watches his pupil (and niece), Sakura Kasugano practice with his two children, ages 7 and 9.)
For starters, my last name wasn't Houshi at first. It was originally Hiroyuki before I was disowned and declared ronin by my father. Shocking, I know.
You speak English very well.
It's funny. I was taught how to speak English before Japanese. I can pull a mild or heavy Japanese accent just to throw people off. My mother was a English schoolteacher. I wasn't born in Osaka, I was just raised there. I was actually born in Honolulu, hence the dual citizenships. When I was six, I moved back to Japan with my family.
Is English the only language you can speak?
English, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese...what can I say? I got a lot of free time on my hands, so I tend to study.
It shows. But why did your father disowned you and made you ronin?
It was back when I was seventeen. He wanted me to follow him into the corporate world. But I've been studying martial arts ever since I was six and I was interested in opening up a dojo instead of working with stiff-necked executives. He also set up an arranged marriage between myself and another girl. She was in love with another man, so I canceled the engagement. (smiles sardonically) Dad was upset when he found out that the engagement was over. He meant good, but his problem was that he wanted to control our lives.
But I was the rebel of the family. When I told him that I didn't want an engagement to a woman who loved someone else, he was mad. But when I told him what I wanted to do with my life, he was furious. We ended up having a falling out and he threatened to disown me and declare me ronin if I didn't obey him. I refused, saying that he can't control my life and that he can go to hell for all I care. When I look back on that day, I tend to feel regret over what I said. We both had our pride and mine won out.
So what did you do?
When I told my master what had happened, he decided to let me stay with him for the moment. What I didn't tell my father was that Waseda University had offered me a full martial arts scholarship, so I jumped on that. But there was the matter of my name. Because I was disowned and a ronin, I needed a new name, otherwise they wouldn't have given me the scholarship.
People have been calling me Ryu instead of Ryuji ever since I was a kid and given my skills in the martial arts, people would tend to say that I was a rising star, a prodigy in the martial arts world. The Japanese term for 'star' was Hoshi, but I added the 'u' in the last name when I filled out the paperwork. Why I did that, I still don't know, but the last name looked good when writing it in English.
And so, Ryu Houshi was born.
In a sense. Without my father's constant badgering, I was truly free. I left my past behind and started to walk down my path in life. When I started working with Capcom, I legally changed my name to Ryu Houshi. For all intents and purposes, Shun Hiroyuki no longer existed.
What about your mother? What did she have to say about all of this?
She actually supported me in my decision. That was a good thing for me.
So how did the rest of your family took the news of you being disowned?
There were mixed reactions. My older brother, who was also a martial artist and the pride of my father, supported him while my sister was against it. Hiro was always the ass kisser, if you will, always looking for Dad's approval. When Hiro found out about my name change and that I was working for Capcom, he threatened to out me as a ronin.
Wouldn't that have affected your employment with Capcom?
No. Because I had told my bosses about my past and my new name. As long as I didn't use my old name, they didn't have a problem with it. Pretty effective loophole. So Hiro challenged me to a match, saying that if he won, then I would acknowledge that he was the better fighter and I would resign from Capcom in disgrace. If I won, then he would leave me alone.
But you won the match.
You can say that I had several tricks up my sleeve. Not that I got out of the match entirely unscathed. Ever since we were kids, he would use me as his personal punching bag. But let's just say that my dear brother would think twice in challenging me. Not after I demonstrated my newest technique on him.
The Twin Fists of Death.
Or the Shin Shoryuken if you prefer. Dad was watching in the audience as well. I knew he was there, but he didn't came for me. He came for his eldest. I could care less about what he thought. He was pissed to see Hiro lose to a 'disgraceful ronin' as myself.
How did being a ronin affect your education?
Being disowned does has its advantages. You are no longer bound to family honor, you can't hold back. What I've learned is that honor means bullshit if it affects your conscience. Dad was upset that his honor was compromised with the breaking of the engagement while mine was still intact. He wanted to live my life through his decisions and I refused. I knew that no university would accept a ronin, hence the change in name. Nobody didn't ask any questions about Shun Hiroyuki, which is how I wanted it to be. For all intents and purposes, my old life was gone, my name was scratched off from public records, no birth certificate, nothing. (smiles) Ken's dad managed to pull some strings and gave me a new life as Ryu Houshi through several documents, a new birth certificate and identification.
So what got you interested in martial arts?
Watching old martial arts films. Fighters like Sonny Chiba, Chuck Norris, even the late Bruce Lee. Mom knew Master Gouken through his daughter and that was how Ken and I got to train under him.
Tell me about Gouken.
He's very demanding. He wants nothing short of perfection in the martial arts. As I said, I started my training at six, and by the time I was fifteen, I earned my black belt in Ansatsuken. When I turned twenty, I gained Shihan status in the art.
So he's not really dead? What about him and Akuma?
Gouken's retired from martial arts. Akuma took over at the Osaka school. Gouken's more of a traditionalist when it comes to fighting, but Akuma is something of a radical.
You learned from both of them.
When I came to Tokyo, I studied under Akuma. Ansatsuken is like two sides of a coin. And I wanted to learn everything I can about it. Akuma was happy to help. When we started working on Super Turbo, I pulled several strings to have him hired at Capcom. He played the part of a possessed fighter well, and that also helped out plenty with the Dark Hadou angle.
Do you know any other styles of fighting other than Ansatsuken?
I studied both Judo and Kyokushin Karate, since Ansatsuken was based off of those styles, and that helped strengthen my Ansatsuken. I also studied Jiujitsu and Chun Li taught me Kenpo. She offered to teach me Wushu, but I declined. To pay her back for teaching me Kenpo, I taught her Ansatsuken.
So it's really not really a form of Shotokan Karate, like we were originally told?
No. Ansatsuken was designed as a killing art, that much is true. The name translates to Murderous or Assassin's Fist. Because of Street Fighter II's release onto the home systems, Capcom of USA changed the name from Ansatsuken to Shotokan Karate.
The question that everyone want to know is how you got a job working for Capcom.
Well, I graduated high school at sixteen, and three years later, I graduated from Waseda with a degree in physical education. I worked my ass off to the point that I skipped a grade and I gained enough credits to graduate a year early. I was also active in martial arts and competed in both full contact and the underground fight clubs. That was where I met Sagat.
A Street Fighter Fanfiction
By The Headcrook
Legal Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Capcom Entertainment. The idea of Ryu giving an interview was going on in my head for a while and I decided to act on it. With Fight Hina finished, I wanted to write this before I forget. This is basically a magazine article on Capcom's resident Japanese Ansatsuken warrior, as we see a different side of him that has not been seen before.
Bold text denotes the interviewer speaking.
(With his rugged appearance and polished charm, Ryu Houshi looks more like a Japanese heartthrob instead of a martial artist. We are at his dojo that he co-owns with his wife, Chun Li Xiang in the Aoyama district of Tokyo, sitting in the courtyard. The Ansatsuken-Wushu School of Martial Arts is one of the most popular schools in Japan, given the fact that the teachers are both world-class martial artists. The (formerly disowned) son of a Japanese corporate executive and a third-generation Japanese-American schoolteacher, Ryu - formerly known as Shun Ryuji Hiroyuki - is the youngest child, having a older sister who owns her boutique, and brother, who is also a martial artist and executive of his father's company.
There are no classes today, since Ryu and Chun Li had given the students the weekend off. Dressed in casual clothes and headband, Ryu's manner is cordial and mood light, but he has seen and been though many trials in his years. He speaks perfect English with no accent, but when he speaks Japanese, he does so with a mild Kansai-ben accent as we sit over a pitcher of iced tea, given that he spent his childhood in Osaka. This is his first interview he's given since the release of Street Fighter Alpha collection as he watches his pupil (and niece), Sakura Kasugano practice with his two children, ages 7 and 9.)
For starters, my last name wasn't Houshi at first. It was originally Hiroyuki before I was disowned and declared ronin by my father. Shocking, I know.
You speak English very well.
It's funny. I was taught how to speak English before Japanese. I can pull a mild or heavy Japanese accent just to throw people off. My mother was a English schoolteacher. I wasn't born in Osaka, I was just raised there. I was actually born in Honolulu, hence the dual citizenships. When I was six, I moved back to Japan with my family.
Is English the only language you can speak?
English, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese...what can I say? I got a lot of free time on my hands, so I tend to study.
It shows. But why did your father disowned you and made you ronin?
It was back when I was seventeen. He wanted me to follow him into the corporate world. But I've been studying martial arts ever since I was six and I was interested in opening up a dojo instead of working with stiff-necked executives. He also set up an arranged marriage between myself and another girl. She was in love with another man, so I canceled the engagement. (smiles sardonically) Dad was upset when he found out that the engagement was over. He meant good, but his problem was that he wanted to control our lives.
But I was the rebel of the family. When I told him that I didn't want an engagement to a woman who loved someone else, he was mad. But when I told him what I wanted to do with my life, he was furious. We ended up having a falling out and he threatened to disown me and declare me ronin if I didn't obey him. I refused, saying that he can't control my life and that he can go to hell for all I care. When I look back on that day, I tend to feel regret over what I said. We both had our pride and mine won out.
So what did you do?
When I told my master what had happened, he decided to let me stay with him for the moment. What I didn't tell my father was that Waseda University had offered me a full martial arts scholarship, so I jumped on that. But there was the matter of my name. Because I was disowned and a ronin, I needed a new name, otherwise they wouldn't have given me the scholarship.
People have been calling me Ryu instead of Ryuji ever since I was a kid and given my skills in the martial arts, people would tend to say that I was a rising star, a prodigy in the martial arts world. The Japanese term for 'star' was Hoshi, but I added the 'u' in the last name when I filled out the paperwork. Why I did that, I still don't know, but the last name looked good when writing it in English.
And so, Ryu Houshi was born.
In a sense. Without my father's constant badgering, I was truly free. I left my past behind and started to walk down my path in life. When I started working with Capcom, I legally changed my name to Ryu Houshi. For all intents and purposes, Shun Hiroyuki no longer existed.
What about your mother? What did she have to say about all of this?
She actually supported me in my decision. That was a good thing for me.
So how did the rest of your family took the news of you being disowned?
There were mixed reactions. My older brother, who was also a martial artist and the pride of my father, supported him while my sister was against it. Hiro was always the ass kisser, if you will, always looking for Dad's approval. When Hiro found out about my name change and that I was working for Capcom, he threatened to out me as a ronin.
Wouldn't that have affected your employment with Capcom?
No. Because I had told my bosses about my past and my new name. As long as I didn't use my old name, they didn't have a problem with it. Pretty effective loophole. So Hiro challenged me to a match, saying that if he won, then I would acknowledge that he was the better fighter and I would resign from Capcom in disgrace. If I won, then he would leave me alone.
But you won the match.
You can say that I had several tricks up my sleeve. Not that I got out of the match entirely unscathed. Ever since we were kids, he would use me as his personal punching bag. But let's just say that my dear brother would think twice in challenging me. Not after I demonstrated my newest technique on him.
The Twin Fists of Death.
Or the Shin Shoryuken if you prefer. Dad was watching in the audience as well. I knew he was there, but he didn't came for me. He came for his eldest. I could care less about what he thought. He was pissed to see Hiro lose to a 'disgraceful ronin' as myself.
How did being a ronin affect your education?
Being disowned does has its advantages. You are no longer bound to family honor, you can't hold back. What I've learned is that honor means bullshit if it affects your conscience. Dad was upset that his honor was compromised with the breaking of the engagement while mine was still intact. He wanted to live my life through his decisions and I refused. I knew that no university would accept a ronin, hence the change in name. Nobody didn't ask any questions about Shun Hiroyuki, which is how I wanted it to be. For all intents and purposes, my old life was gone, my name was scratched off from public records, no birth certificate, nothing. (smiles) Ken's dad managed to pull some strings and gave me a new life as Ryu Houshi through several documents, a new birth certificate and identification.
So what got you interested in martial arts?
Watching old martial arts films. Fighters like Sonny Chiba, Chuck Norris, even the late Bruce Lee. Mom knew Master Gouken through his daughter and that was how Ken and I got to train under him.
Tell me about Gouken.
He's very demanding. He wants nothing short of perfection in the martial arts. As I said, I started my training at six, and by the time I was fifteen, I earned my black belt in Ansatsuken. When I turned twenty, I gained Shihan status in the art.
So he's not really dead? What about him and Akuma?
Gouken's retired from martial arts. Akuma took over at the Osaka school. Gouken's more of a traditionalist when it comes to fighting, but Akuma is something of a radical.
You learned from both of them.
When I came to Tokyo, I studied under Akuma. Ansatsuken is like two sides of a coin. And I wanted to learn everything I can about it. Akuma was happy to help. When we started working on Super Turbo, I pulled several strings to have him hired at Capcom. He played the part of a possessed fighter well, and that also helped out plenty with the Dark Hadou angle.
Do you know any other styles of fighting other than Ansatsuken?
I studied both Judo and Kyokushin Karate, since Ansatsuken was based off of those styles, and that helped strengthen my Ansatsuken. I also studied Jiujitsu and Chun Li taught me Kenpo. She offered to teach me Wushu, but I declined. To pay her back for teaching me Kenpo, I taught her Ansatsuken.
So it's really not really a form of Shotokan Karate, like we were originally told?
No. Ansatsuken was designed as a killing art, that much is true. The name translates to Murderous or Assassin's Fist. Because of Street Fighter II's release onto the home systems, Capcom of USA changed the name from Ansatsuken to Shotokan Karate.
The question that everyone want to know is how you got a job working for Capcom.
Well, I graduated high school at sixteen, and three years later, I graduated from Waseda with a degree in physical education. I worked my ass off to the point that I skipped a grade and I gained enough credits to graduate a year early. I was also active in martial arts and competed in both full contact and the underground fight clubs. That was where I met Sagat.