Asakura Yohmei

Asakura Yohmei (麻倉葉明) is a fictional character in the Shaman King manga and anime series. He is Asakura Yoh and Hao's maternal grandfather and is the current head of the Asakura Family.

Appearance
He has white puffy hair with a bald spot on the top of his head and black eyes and he wears traditional Japanese style clothing. back in his youth, his hair was black and Yohmei proclaims that he had not a single balding spot back then. Years after the Shaman Fights, he grew a large mustache.

Abilities and Powers
Yohmei is an onmyōji who specializes in divination and fortune telling. His abilities are so skilled that he is employed by numerous important politicians and wealthy business people. However, as explained by himself, the future cannot be seen clearly and as such he can only gaze into what might be a possible future.

Shamanic Spells and Techniques

 * Onmyōjutsu (陰陽術): Using his knowledge in onmyōjutsu, he is able to see small glimpses into possible futures. He uses this technique to make money by predicting the future events of people and organizations.


 * Shikigami Kooni: By using a Shikigami summoning technique, which is his specialty, Yohmei can create and control any number of these small Over Souls using leaves as their mediums. Yohmei almost constantly uses these, even outside of combat, to do small tasks like fetching items, holding the newspaper, and so forth. However, if he so wishes they can send verbal messages or even kill people if they have sufficient numbers.


 * Asakura-shiki Onmyōjutsu: Hyaku Shikigami (麻倉式陰陽術百式神): This is Yohmei's favored technique which creates countless Shikigami Kooni, that he can then use to surround an opponent and attack them from all directions at once.

Past
Yohmei was born on July 2, 1919 in Izumo, Japan.

In 1985, Yohmei foresaw that Asakura Hao was going to reincarnate within the womb of Keiko, Yohmei's daughter, so Yohmei planned to kill his grandson as soon as he was born. However, when they discovered she was carrying twins, Yohmei reluctantly decided he would rather kill both of them rather than risk allowing Hao to be reborn. But during the birth, Yohmei hesitated for a moment as he was hit with remorse for killing his own grandson, and that moment was all that Hao needed to summon the Spirit of Fire to protect himself.

When Yoh was young, it was Yohmei who brought him up and trained him due to the long absences of Mikihisa and Keiko's busy schedule. Yohmei had a very hard time though due to Yoh's laziness and stubbornness.

Shaman Fights in Tokyo
After losing to Johann Faust VIII, Yoh travels to Izumo to train with his grandfather. Yohmei sends Yoh through the Cavern of Shamans in order to improve his furyoku level. Seven days later, Yohmei tests Yoh's improved Over Soul.

While Yoh and his friends return to Tokyo, Umemiya Ryunosuke remains behind and requests Yohmei's help in becoming a shaman. Yohmei initially refuses but yields after a week. Yohmei tasks Ryu with following the Hii River and scaling Mount Setsu.

Traveling through America
While Yoh is in America, Yohmei invites Kyōyama Anna to Izumo and shows her the secret shrine of Asakura Hao and the Chō-Senjiryakketsu. After Anna subdues Zenki and Goki who were guarding the book, Yohmei tasks her with delivering the book to Yoh and teaching him the spells contained within it.

Shaman Fights Second Round
Near the end of the second rounds, did Yohmei and the rest of her family, including the returned spirit of Asakura Yohken have a final meeting with the Tao Family. When he mentioned the incident at the beach earlier, Mikihisa presented the badly hurt Brocken Meyer to the Tao Family and explained his connection to Hao. They also hoped that they could learn something important by making him talk.

Invading the Plants
When the Shaman Fights was moved to the "Continent of Mu" the Asakura Family, the Tao Family and the Usui Family had a barbecue party at the beach, awaiting the results of the fight and hoping that their children would make it.

Flowers
On his deathbed, he warned Tamao about the coming of the Asakura Branch Family. He explained that they would most likely target his great-grandson Asakura Hana and tasked Tamao with protecting him.

Trivia

 * A running gag in the anime series is whenever Yohmei does something wrong, Asakura Kino will hit him in the face with her cane.