Heihachi Mishima

The iron-fisted patriarch who rules the Mishima Zaibatsu with an unyielding grip on power.

Heihachi Mishima (Japanese: 三島平八, Hepburn: Mishima Heihachi) is a character and one of the main antagonists of Bandai Namco's Tekken series. Introduced as a boss character in the first Tekken game from 1994, Heihachi is depicted as the abusive father of Kazuya Mishima and the CEO of a military firm known as the Mishima Zaibatsu, which was founded by his own father, Jinpachi Mishima. Heihachi has served as the final boss and antagonist of Tekken 2, and as a major character in Tekken 7, though not the sole protagonist. As one of the main characters, he is one of several characters to be playable in six main installments (Tekken 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7).

Quick Facts

Series: Tekken
Creator: Hajime Nakatani
First: Tekken (1994)
Designer: Aya Takemura; Takuji Kawano (Tekken 4–Tekken 5, Soulcalibur II)
Origin: Japan
Nationality: Stateless (Citizenship revoked by Japan)

Lore & Background

Heihachi's backstory and motives are revealed in Tekken 7. He is the only son of Jinpachi Mishima, who founded the Mishima Zaibatsu. Heihachi later met Kazumi Hachijo, who was sent by her family. They married, and Kazumi gave birth to their son, Kazuya.

One evening, Kazumi attempted to kill Heihachi; her clan foresaw his attempt at world domination in the future and sent her to assassinate him. A heartbroken Heihachi killed her in self-defense. Following Kazumi's revelation as a devil, it explains why Heihachi knocked Kazuya out and threw him off a cliff when he was five years old: because Kazuya, and later Heihachi's grandson Jin, inherited Kazumi's devil gene. In the first Tekken game, Heihachi hosted the first King of Iron Fist Tournament.

Kazuya won and threw Heihachi off a similar cliff. During Tekken 2, Heihachi took Kazuya's unconscious body to a volcano and threw him in, regaining control of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Fifteen years later, Heihachi learned of a creature, Ogre, with immortal blood, and sought it to create an "ultimate life form." He trained his grandson Jin to take revenge against Ogre.

After Jin defeated Ogre, Heihachi's forces killed Jin, but Jin reawakened with the Devil within him and smashed Heihachi through a wall. In Tekken 5, Heihachi was seemingly killed by Jacks but survived. He has one known illegitimate child: Lars Alexandersson.

Reader's Guide

Heihachi Mishima is the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu, the military firm founded by his father Jinpachi, and one of the main antagonists of the Tekken series. He is the abusive father of Kazuya Mishima, and much of his story is a running fight with his son and his grandson Jin Kazama. In the first game he hosts the King of Iron Fist Tournament and offers ownership of the Zaibatsu to whoever can beat him; Kazuya takes control of it, and in the second game Heihachi wins it back by throwing his son into a volcano.

Later he hunts the immortal blood of Ogre to create an "ultimate life form", and during the fourth tournament learns he needs the Devil Gene carried by Kazuya and Jin to splice Ogre's DNA into his own. He is one of four characters playable in all eight main games and was the protagonist of Tekken 2 and Tekken 7, which reveals his backstory and motives and ends with his apparent death at Kazuya's hands.

Did You Know?

Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada has stated that Heihachi is his favorite character in the series overall and the one he most frequently selects when playing.
After Heihachi's original voice actor Daisuke Gōri died, Unshō Ishizuka was hired as his new voice actor for Tekken 6.