Yamamoto Ability Reference Post
A.k.a. "How to Kill People with a Bird, a Dog and a Bamboo Sword."
This is mainly just for my own reference, since I'm in the process of trying to write a fic featuring a battle between Yamamoto and Gokudera. But I figured I might as well post it in case anyone else is interested.
(Note: There are a lot of Japanese sword terms under the cut; this is a pretty good translation reference.)
Shigure Souen Ryu
The kanji for Shigure Souen Ryu means "Shower in late autumn; blue swallow." According to Yamapapa, the style "had many people thrown into darkness during the time of war... it's a sword of murder."
"Shigure Souen Ryu's four defensive formations and four offensive formations make up eight forms that allow response in accordance with the circumstances." - Reborn.
Shigure Kintoki
Yamamoto's trademark sword is "forged from steel" and feels heavy even though it looks and normally wields like a bamboo sword (can't even cut vegetables). The kanji means "shower in late autumn, golden moment/time."
It should be noted that Shigure Souen Ryu makes extensive use of water in almost all of its techniques; in fact, the only techniques that don't seem to require water to work are the third, fourth and eighth forms. However, Kojirou, Yamamoto's box swallow, can create rain flames wherever he flies, and since the rain flames seem to have much the same consistency/effect that water does, as long as Yamamoto uses his box when he fights, he can use all of the Shigure Souen techniques no matter where he is.
Shigure Souen Ryu Forms
1st Offensive Form - Torrential Rain (aka Axle of Rain)
Yamamoto stands with the sword held out horizontally in front of him, then charges in with a thrust (chudan tsuki). This is accompanied by Kojirou's rain flames, and can be mixed with Mirror Rain. (During his first fight with Genkishi, Yamamoto switches from the first form to the ninth and then to the second in rapid succession, before finishing off with Beccata di Rodine.)
2nd Defensive Form - Surging Rain
"Obscuring his form with a wall of water, and at the same time, defending with the counteraction of his body. That way, he wasn't hit!" Yamamoto scoops columns of water up and over him in long arcs, obscuring him from view. Squalo tried to slash at him uselessly, but Yamamoto was able to use the water cover to get away.
During the Curse of the Rainbow Arc, Yamamoto used his rain flames in order to (unsuccessfully) perform this move against the Vindice.
3rd Offensive Form - Sudden Downpour (aka Last-Minute Rain)
Yamamoto drops his sword and kicks it toward his opponent in a stabbing arc, running along behind it. He then reclaims the katana, having either wounded his opponent or at the very least caught them off-guard. He used this technique in his attempt to rescue Chrome during the Sky Battle; it worked pretty well until Mammon decided to be a dick.
4th Defensive Form - May Wind, October Rain
This is "a supreme evasive technique based upon synchronizing with one's opponent's breathing." Basically, Yamamoto just moves fast like a freak to avoid being hit. Post-training with TYL!Squalo, Yamamoto can also use the propulsion from his rain blades to move even faster.
5th Offensive Form - Early Summer Rain
Yamamoto charges forward in waki no kamae, and starts to swing upward with gyaku kesa giri. At the last second, he lets go of the sword, letting his rear hand swing back down to catch it as it falls back. He then swings up again and completes the strike, having caught his opponent off-balance.
6th MYSTERY FORM
WHAT IS THIS? WE DON'T KNOW. But by process of elimination, we can guess that it's defensive. And probably badass.
7th Defensive Form - Spraying Rain
Yamamoto uses his sword to bring the water up around him forming a sort of cloud-shaped shield. It was powerful enough to repel Squalo's gunpowder blasts at extreme close range.
8th Offensive Form - Pouring Rain
One of the only techniques that doesn't require water. He starts in a crouching iai goshi stance, charges forward with his sword in (I think) karuma no kamae, and then, still crouched, slices a wide arc over his head (I can't quite tell if it's kesa giri or yoho giri). This attack becomes even more powerful when Yamamoto infuses the blade with rain flames.
During the Curse of the Rainbow Arc, Yamamoto did a leaping version of this against the Vindice which was pretty cool (although it looked different enough that if he hadn't shouted the name of it, I would have thought it was a completely different attack).
9th Offensive Form - Mirror Rain
Yamamoto starts in a baseball stance for no real reason, then uses his sword to swirl the water around him in a sort of cyclone a la Surging Rain, finishing the cut in a crouching iai goshi stance with the sword held in kasumi no kamae. Then he disappears behind the water, and reappears behind his confused opponent, jumping down to strike with a shomen uchi. BUT IT TURNS OUT THAT IS ONLY AN ILLLUUUSSION created by his reflection in the water; the real Yamamoto strikes from the other side, finishing the attack.
10th Special Form - Scontro di Rodine (Clash of the Swallow)
Based off of Scontro di Squalo, but with Kojirou there to mix things up a bit. Yamamoto parts the water on either side of him, then sends Kojirou zooming ahead, obscuring his opponent's vision with a giant wave. Yama then attacks. We don't get to see what kind of cut he uses, but the technique was effective enough to put a gash in REBORN'S FUCKING HAT, so it's safe to say it's pretty badass.
Known weakness: walls.
11th Special Form - Beccata di Rodine (Swallow's Beak)
Based off of Zanna di Squalo. Yamamoto lunges at his opponent and attacks with a flurry of rapid-fire stabs. (In fact, this is almost exactly like Zanna di Squalo.) He used this technique in his first fight against Genkishi.
Squalo's Attack Forms
Since Yamamoto has demonstrated a habit of stealing/modifying Squalo's attacks when the mood strikes him, I'm going to list these here too.
Attacco di Squalo (Shark Attack)
"A concussion-type sword attack that, by means of a violent shock to the entire body, creates a strong shockwave that numbs the opponent's nerves." "Attacco di Squalo's impact is even greater than that of having your bare hand hit by a bat." Yamamoto partially combated this technique by hitting his own arm to forcibly disperse the effects. TYL!Yamamoto used this attack to paralyze a Strau Mosca, and our Yamamoto borrowed it in his first fight against Genkishi. His version was infused with a rain flame, making use of its tranquility effect.
Zanna di Squalo
Squalo attacks with a flurry of strikes that are less like stabs and more like "he tore into the air itself." Basil was pretty concerned. This attack left Yamamoto pretty bloodied.
Scontro di Squalo (Clash of the Shark)
Squalo parts the water with his sword a la Moses, then charges forward like a lunatic. Supposedly he used this "legendary" technique to defeat the first Sword Emperor, but we don't actually get to see it because Yamamoto owns him with Mirror Rain.
Asari Ugetsu (Morning Moon Obscured by Rain)
This is Yamamoto's four-sword style acquired during his training with TYL!Squalo. It makes extensive use of his box dog buddy Jirou's three "short-blades" which are basically lightsabers made from rain flames. (Kojirou fuses with Shigure Kintoki to create the fourth sword, aka the one that looks like a magic fairy princess wand.) Yamamoto is enough of a show-off to twirl the hilts around on his fingertips like some sort of swordsman Harlem Globetrotter, and can use them to fire concentrated blasts of rain flames in order to fly around the same way that Tsuna does with his dying will flames. He can also fling them around like knives to stab people.
Aggregate Form - Jiunoka (Autumn Shower Transformation)
Yamamoto charges straight in and attacks every fucking thing with rain flames. RAIN FLAMES, RAIN FLAMES EVERYWHERE. The flames' tranquility effect slows and negates his opponent's attacks and the opponent himself, leaving him open for Yamamoto's final strike.
Also, post-training, Yama has the ability to use his ring's flames to sense and see through illusionary attacks. This doesn't have much to do with his sword fighting, but it's worth noting for future reference.
Version X
During the Inheritance Arc, Yamamoto gets powered up along with the rest of the Vongola, and his Vongola ring and animal boxes get combined and transformed into his sweet new Vongola Gear Rain Necklace Version X. It's shaped like a sword with kind of a swirl of water going around it, topped with a totem pole that goes (bottom to top) Vongola crest/lil Jirou head/even lil'er Kojirou head. It's easily the best Vongola Gear because Yamamoto is perfect as always.
When he powers up the Gear into Cambio Forma mode, his clothes transform into a kendo uniform (gi and hakama along with a pair of metal gauntlets and (for whatever reason) funky metal crocs. (Okay, sandals.) He has two swords in this form, one with a Jirou (his dog box animal) hilt and one with a Kojirou (his swallow box animal) hilt.
Special 12th Form - Sadachi Kirisame (Left Sword - Mist Rain)
Yamamoto uses the Jirou sword mounted on his right hip to fuck his opponent's shit right up with "an infinite number of slashes." That's a lot of slashes.
But actually, the slashes aren't meant to cut the opponent at all--the sword is actually able to pick up the opponent's scent. "Using scents, [Jirou] is able to fully perceive the entire space that the sword has passed through."
Special 12th Form - Udachi Kirisame (Right Sword - Slashing Rain)
Once Jirou!sword has sniffed out the opponent's whereabouts, Yama uses Kojirou!sword to finish the job. The Kojirou!sword increases his speed. It kind of looks like he stands there for a moment charging up, and then attacks in a sudden shounen burst of awesome power. He used this attack against Daemon-Spade-in-Katou-Julie's-Body, but since neither of them were at full strength, it's hard to tell exactly how powerful it really is.
Fun fact--both halves of Yamamoto's two-sword Special 12th Form attack are pronounced "Kirisame", but the name has different meanings due to the different kanji used. 霧 means "mist", while 切り is a form of the verb meaning "to cut"; however, both are pronounced as "kiri." Because Yamamoto is a punny little shit.
Aaaaand I think that's it for Yamamoto's current attack capabilities. I'll update this again the next time he decides to be a badass.
ETA: Many thanks to draconianangel for clarifying the 10th and 11th Special Forms! ♥
ETA: As of 2018, this post has been updated to include all of Yamamoto's known attacks.