Masahiro Hayamoto Sr. (早元 昌弘 Hayamoto Masahiro) was the head of a Yakuza clan of a crime syndicate known as Yamaguchi-Gumi.
Background[]
His history prior to running the local chapter of the infamous crime syndicate, Yamaguchi-Gumi is unknown. Being the leader of the syndicate, he generates his income from pornography, smuggling of goods, drug trafficking (primarily amphetamines) and arms trafficking.
Around the 1960's, his only son, Masahiro Hayamoto Jr. was born. To ensure his safety from assassination attempts, including one in 1988, where he was shot in the neck by a member of a rival yakuza clan, he inhabits a six-story castle named Katsuyama-jō in Honshu island and deployed a highly-trained Yamaguchi-Gumi mercenary group,which later came to be known as Hayamoto's ninjas,along with the latest electronic security measures for the overall security of the castle.
Given this penchant for weaponry, Hayamoto spends a lot of time with them, even acquiring a missile guidance system. This has infuriated the Agency's client, who wants Hayamoto to be eliminated and the guidance system be recovered.
Since the exact whereabouts of Hayamoto's castle was unknown, Agent 47 first kills his son Masahiro Hayamoto Jr, at his remote private estate and plants a GPS transmitter in his corpse. Hayamoto Sr attends his only son's funeral resulting in revealing his whereabouts to the agency. ICA tracks him down to a castle in Honshu island, Japan, paving the way for 47 to assassinate him and retrieve the missile guidance system from the castle.
Death[]
47 infiltrates the Katsuyama Castle and assassinates Hayamoto with the help of Lei Ling who gives him a special keycard to access Hayamoto's compound at the top floor of the castle, after which he retrieves the experimental missile guidance system from Hayamoto's private museum in the castle's basement, and escapes the Castle by a helicopter.
Abilities[]
Skilled Martial Artist: He is a prodigy in weapons based martial arts and a skilled user of the Katana.
Master Swordsman: His excellent swordmanship is a result of his honed skills in Kendo, Kenjutsu and Iaido.
Physical Agility: Despite his old age, he is seen to be agile and combat-ready like his Ninjas while pulling out his flashy sword techniques and movement, when 47 engages in combat with him.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- If he gets alerted, he won't retaliate and will instead flee into the museum in the basement to pick the missile guidance system and then try to escape in his helicopter, if he succeeds, the mission fails. If the helicopter is destroyed using the bomb, then he will escape through the front gate. However, if 47 damages him or kills the concubine right in front of him, he becomes hostile and attacks 47 with his katana.
- Even though the missions can be completed by leaving many witnesses, his assassination was unsolved, or thought to be an accident, canonically. The former is more likely, because the player must steal a ninja's outfit to reach the first alarm grid without the snipers suspecting him, or they can kill the snipers and evade the guards, both of which would give away the fact that Hayamoto was indeed assassinated, in the mission At the Gates.