Gouken

Gouken (剛拳) is a playable character in the Street Fighter series. He is Ryu's adoptive father, Ryu and Ken's martial arts master, Dan's former master as well as Akuma's older brother. Gouken is most often depicted as an elderly man with a white beard and prayer beads around his neck. In his most recent Street Fighter IV appearance, Gouken wears a single sleeved,Navy Blue colored karate gi and sports a long, white braid of hair adorned with a single prayer bead. Gouken plays an integral role in the series' backstory, and was first depicted as a picture in Akuma's ending in Street Fighter Alpha. Gouken's first actual appearance as a character was in Street Fighter IV, as a boss character. He is an unlockable character in the home console version of the game. He bears a strong resemblance to the rival series, Tekken's Jinpachi Mishima.

History
While earlier Street Fighter games made references to Ryu and Ken's master, Gouken made his first illustrated appearance in Street Fighter II RYU, Masaomi Kanzaki's manga adaptation of Street Fighter II. Since then, Gouken has appeared in several Street Fighter movies and comics, including UDON's Street Fighter line of comics, and the Street Fighter Alpha: Generations movie. Before having a canonical illustration in Street Fighter Alpha, Gouken's appearance would differ vastly between media.

Story
According to Capcom's official account of Akuma's backstory, the two brothers were once students of Goutetsu, a practitioner of nameless martial art that was original developed with the intention of killing an opponent, which origins are rooted back to Japan's feudal age. Goutetsu taught his skills to Gouken and Akuma. Eventually, the two brothers began to differ in the methods and usage of their fighting style. Akuma became bent on completely mastering the style, and embraced the killing aspect of the art to the point of succumbing to the Satsui no Hadou, or "killing intent". Gouken, on the other hand developed his own style: turning fatal techniques such as the Hadouken and Shoryuken into tools for self-defense, removing their killing potential. After succumbing to the Satsui no Hadou, Akuma would fight and murder Goutetsu, before leaving behind both his master's dojo and his brother in order to train by himself.

During this time period, Gouken would found his own dojo, and took Dan as his first pupil. However, Gouken learned that the reason Dan wanted to learn martial arts was for revenge, and rejected him for his motives. Later, Gouken would find an abandoned orphan, Ryu, and take him under his wing. Ryu was joined by a second student, Ken, who was sent from America by his father, a good friend of Gouken's, in order to learn humility and respect. After Gouken began to train the two boys, Akuma would make a sudden appearance at Gouken's dojo. There, Akuma would challenge Gouken to a fight. Akuma was soundly defeated by his brother, but Gouken spared his life even after Akuma's insistence that Gouken should kill him. After Akuma's arrival and departure, Gouken would continue to train the two boys. Eventually, Gouken would find his two students adept enough to leave the dojo and travel the world to continue their studies.

Afterwards, Akuma would reappear at Gouken's dojo, and challenge his brother to a rematch. This time with Akuma ending up as the victor and supposedly killing him with the Shun Goku Satsu. However, because Gouken used a technique similar to Gen's and emptied his soul of emotions, he was merely left in a deep coma. Because he was unconscious for an extended period of time, Ryu and Ken believed their master to be dead, and left him as such.

Street Fighter IV
After awakening, Gouken would leave his dojo and tail his students, with the objective of sealing the Satsui no Hadou harboring itself within Ryu (even though he has rejected using that power, it is still there within him). Gouken successfully finds Ryu after Seth's defeat, and manages to seal the Satsui no Hadou. Akuma appears afterwards and is furious at Gouken for completing his task.

The two brothers then face off in a 2nd rematch, with control of Ryu's fate as the prize. The outcome of this fight is unknown, though by the time of Street Fighter III, Gouken is nowhere to be found and Ryu appears to remain free of the Satsui no Hadou's influence.

Video
Video:Gouken Ultra I - Shin Shoryuken HD

Gallery
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