Tale.08: Yuna - Survival of the Nameless Thief Who Created The Ghost

Amidst the blood and mire covering Tsushima, a nameless thief dismantled the pride of the Samurai and gave birth to a new monster, “The Ghost.” The subject of this article is Yuna, the deuteragonist of the story, a woman who most profoundly twisted the trajectory of the protagonist Jin Sakai’s soul, while simultaneously saving him more than anyone else. She is not merely a partner; she embodies the despair and survival instinct of the subjugated class in Tsushima, functioning as the sharpest critic of the ideology of “Honor” upheld by the privileged class.

This report delves into the philosophy of Yuna by logically distinguishing between “facts”—such as in-game texts, character dialogues, and collectibles (Records)—and “analysis” based on the spiritual and historical background of the time. It systematically and comprehensively unravels her complicit relationship with Jin Sakai, the gruesome trauma of the past she continued to bear, and how it wove the tragic myth of the legend of The Ghost.

1. The Philosophy of the Mire: Class Society in the Kamakura Period and the Primal Landscape of the Subjugated

To unravel Yuna’s behavioral principles and philosophy, an understanding of her social standing and the Japanese view of life and death at the time is indispensable. Her ideology arises from a fundamentally different horizon than that of the privileged Samurai.

1.1 [Fact] The Absolute Bottom of Class Society and the Wave of New Buddhism

Japanese society during the Kamakura period was divided by an extremely rigid class system. While the Samurai emerged as the new ruling class, the majority of the population consisted of peasants, beneath whom existed discriminated classes known as Hinin (outcasts) and Eta (the heavily polluted). Hinin referred to those expelled from communities or criminals, while Eta were people forced to engage in occupations considered “impure” under the religious concepts of the time, such as disposing of animal carcasses and leatherworking. These classes fell outside the protection of Samurai law and were subjected to extreme poverty and social discrimination.

Against the backdrop of such harsh realities, new forms of Buddhism spread among the masses during the Kamakura period. While the Samurai class supported “Zen Buddhism” for the purpose of self-cultivation and mental discipline (self-control), “Pure Land Buddhism” (Jodo-shu and Jodo Shinshu), preached by Honen and Shinran, rapidly gained followers among peasants and the subjugated classes whose daily survival was in jeopardy. This promised salvation in the afterlife (rebirth in the Pure Land) simply by chanting the Nembutsu, eliminating complex rituals, and signified spiritual escape and salvation from the hardships of this world.

1.2 [Analysis] The Rejection of Salvation and “Survival in the Present World”

While it was common for the subjugated classes of the time to cling to “salvation in the afterlife,” Yuna’s philosophy is highly unorthodox and based on a thoroughgoing focus on worldly benefits (survival). She never dreamed of the Pure Land in the afterlife, nor did she believe in the slightest in the illusion of “honorable protection” by the Samurai. This is because the order and peace valued by the Samurai were built upon a system that condoned violence and exploitation against those at the very bottom, like herself.

For Yuna, neither the mercy of gods and Buddhas nor the morality of the Samurai saved her and her younger brother, Taka, from starvation and abuse. Her sole behavioral principle was simply “to survive this very day, even if it means eating dirt.” This ruthlessly cold survival instinct is precisely what later violently collides with the public identity of Samurai “Honor” and becomes the driving force to destroy it.

The following table organizes the structure of the conflicting “Philosophy of the Samurai” and “Philosophy of the Thief” in the story, taking into account the historical and social background.

2. The Slave Plantation and Ineradicable Scars: Yuna’s Personal Trauma

Behind Yuna’s cynical view of Samurai morality and her choice of a blood-stained survival strategy lies unspeakable childhood trauma.

2.1 [Fact] A Gruesome Upbringing and Memories of Exploitation

Yuna and her brother Taka were born as poor peasants in Yarikawa, Toyotama. Her childhood was dominated by an alcoholic mother who repeatedly subjected them to physical abuse. When Taka was six years old, their mother breaking his arm served as the decisive catalyst for Yuna to flee their childhood home, taking her brother with her. Their mother reportedly died a month later, but this was merely the beginning of their life on the run.

What awaited them in their flight was an even deeper hell. Yuna sought help from a man known as The Black Wolf, but he was a vicious slave trader who specialized in targeting children, as well as a sexual predator. Drugged and violated, the siblings were sold to the cruel slave traders, The Mamushi Brothers. During their grueling days at the slave plantation, a girl named Ichi, who was also a slave, continuously protected the two from the worst punishments. Eventually, the three attempted to escape, but Ichi fell during the flight. Driven by the terror of their pursuers, Yuna and Taka did not stop; they abandoned Ichi and survived. From then on, until the invasion of the Mongols, the siblings wandered Tsushima, making a living as thieves.

2.2 [Analysis] Private Guilt and the Distortion of Self-Sacrifice

This series of past events is extremely crucial for understanding the psychological structure of Yuna’s character. She is not merely a “pitiful victim,” but carries the indelible guilt of a “perpetrator” who abandoned her benefactor (Ichi) in order to survive. Her constant state of high tension and her aggressive, calculating behavior toward others stem from this guilt and a profound misanthropy that dictates she will “never trust anyone again.”

Furthermore, the fact of Taka’s sexual abuse by The Black Wolf explains the fundamental motive behind why Yuna was so overly protective of Taka and tried to keep him away from the Samurai’s war. Her entire life was concentrated on a single purpose: to protect her deeply wounded brother and allow him to lead a decent life on the mainland. While the Samurai fight for macro-level causes such as the “country” or the “people,” Yuna fights solely for the micro-level family that is “Taka.” This extreme personal devotion is precisely what generated a tremendous obsession capable of easily surpassing public “Honor.”

3. A Gruesome Bloodline: The Fate Between Old Yarikawa and the Sakai Clan

The historical background of Yuna’s hometown, “Yarikawa,” and the blood-stained fate with the Sakai Clan that lies there form an indispensable layer in discussing the philosophical themes of this work.

3.1 [Fact] The Yarikawa Rebellion and the Shadow of Kazumasa Sakai

In the “Yarikawa Rebellion” that occurred decades before the main game, the Yarikawa clan (headed at the time by Tokimasa Yarikawa) revolted against the central authority of the island held by the Shimura clan. The Samurai of Yarikawa were considered the finest swordsmen in Tsushima, boasting formidable military might, such as wielding the unblockable three-strike “Dance of Wrath.” However, this rebellion was thoroughly suppressed by the allied forces of Lord Shimura and Kazumasa Sakai (Jin’s father). In the process of this suppression, Kazumasa Sakai employed extremely brutal and rational methods. Later, in the DLC Iki Island, it is revealed that Kazumasa massacred islanders by any means necessary and was feared as “The Butcher of Iki.” It is not hard to imagine that a similarly bloody purge was carried out during the suppression of Yarikawa. As a result, the people of old Yarikawa continue to harbor a deep, cross-generational hatred toward the bloodlines of Shimura and Sakai.

The in-game collectibles, “Records,” document the tragic situation in Yarikawa during the invasion of the Mongols. In a record titled To My Brother, despair against the overwhelming violence of the Mongols is spelled out: “Komoda is in ashes. The walls of Azamo are useless against them. They are not like the bandits of the past. They have massive weapons that rain fire from the sky. Flee north.” Furthermore, records such as Rationing in Yarikawa Stronghold reveal the extreme conditions of the domain’s people suffering from starvation in isolation and helplessness.

3.2 [Analysis] The Paradoxical Alliance Between the Perpetrator’s Bloodline and the Victim

Given this historical background, the philosophical irony hidden in the meeting and alliance between Yuna and Jin Sakai is immeasurable. One of the primary culprits who turned Yuna’s hometown into scorched earth and brought further poverty and chaos to her childhood (which is highly likely the direct or indirect cause that led to her alcoholic mother and her fall to slave traders) was none other than Jin’s father, Kazumasa Sakai. In Act II, Jin attempts to rally the people of Yarikawa to his side to counter the Mongols, but they fiercely refuse to cooperate out of a lingering grudge against Jin, a “man of Sakai.” However, with the help of Yuna and Taka (such as guiding him through an old secret passage), Jin infiltrates the stronghold of Yarikawa, ultimately saving them from despair as the spirit of “The Ghost” and winning their trust.

Yuna helped Jin, the “descendant of the clan that destroyed her hometown,” and even guided him to be welcomed as the savior of Yarikawa. This is an extremely paradoxical process of reconciliation. Yuna prioritized immediate “survival” over the historical fate of the Samurai (grudges between clans). While the privileged Samurai were immobilized, bound by past “Honor” and “grudges,” Yuna, who had lived at rock bottom, had no luxury to be trapped by the weight of such history. The land of Yarikawa, which his father Kazumasa tried to rule with “power and fear,” was overcome by his son Jin through “solidarity with a subjugated citizen named Yuna” and “discarding his own Honor,” thereby becoming its true protector.

4. The Death of Honor and the Conception of “The Ghost”: A Myth Born from Survival Instinct

In the first half of the story (Act I), Yuna functions not merely as a guide, but as the creator who fundamentally remakes Jin Sakai’s identity and conceives the concept of “The Ghost.”

4.1 Fact: The Instigation of Assassination and the Naming of “The Ghost”

It was Yuna who rescued Jin when he was severely wounded and on the brink of death at Komoda Beach. However, her actions were not out of pure affection. It was a highly calculating survival strategy: “to use a capable Samurai as a mercenary to rescue her captive brother (Taka).” During Jin’s recovery, Yuna teaches him “Thief tactics”—deceiving the eyes of the Mongol soldiers and taking their lives from behind. Jin initially resists fiercely, claiming it “goes against the way of the Samurai,” and insists they should declare their names and fight from the front, but Yuna dismisses this, stating, “If you go from the front, the prisoners will be killed instantly.”

Later, at the Komatsu Forge, upon seeing Jin repel the Mongol soldiers through gruesome means, Yuna intentionally spreads a rumor among the townsfolk: “He is not human; he is a vengeful spirit (Ghost) of Tsushima.” By bestowing the new title of “The Ghost” upon Jin, it begins to take on a life of its own as a “legend” accompanied by fear and hope among the masses.

4.2 [Analysis] The Dismantling of Ethics and the Fabrication of a Myth

“Honor died on the beach.” As represented by this symbolic line, Jin’s ethics as a Samurai completely collapsed once before the rational violence of the Mongols. However, it was none other than Yuna who presented him with a new way of life and gave him an “indulgence” to employ dishonorable means. “Desperation can bring out the demon in the best of men.” These words of Yuna plainly demonstrate how easily the extreme conditions of war can destroy an individual’s morality. Furthermore, the line, “If we have crossed the line, then we chose the right line,” provides a powerful affirmation to Jin, who suffers from ethical conflicts, prioritizing results (saving lives) over a great cause. When Sensei Ishikawa condemned Jin’s Assassination with “Like a thief!”, the scene where Yuna immediately retorted, “Or a Ghost,” marks the moment she executed a semantic substitution (paradigm shift) from “dishonorable thief tactics” to the “divine feat of a transcendent being (The Ghost).”

Deeply involved in the success of this myth fabrication is the traditional Japanese Shinto and Buddhist view of life and death. Since ancient times in Japan, there has been a belief that powerful individuals who met unjust deaths become Onryo (vengeful spirits) or Goryo (honorable spirits) to curse the present world, and by appeasing and enshrining them, they are conversely transformed into powerful guardian deities. Now that the Samurai, the guardians of the establishment, had been annihilated at Komoda Beach, what the masses on the brink of despair sought was not a lord preaching morality, but an extrajudicial and violent Onryo who would avenge their grudges. Yuna, ignoring Jin’s personal conflicts and guilt, fashioned him into an “idol” for the masses. She was the producer who fabricated “The Ghost” as part of her survival strategy, and Jin descended (or ascended) into the actor performing that script.

5. The Settlement of the Past and the Price of Blood: The Karma Depicted in Tales of Tsushima

In the middle of the story (Act II), Yuna’s personal narrative takes a major turn from a mere “flight for survival” to “confronting past trauma and revenge.” Her personal quests, the four-part “Yuna Tales,” highlight the depth of the karma she bears.

The following table organizes the progression of facts in Yuna’s tales and the philosophical themes embedded within them.

5.1 [Analysis] Solidarity Between the Unforgiven

The deep sorrow inherent in Yuna’s story lies in the fact that she is not merely an innocent “victim,” but continues to carry the guilt of a “perpetrator” who sacrificed another (Ichi) in order to survive. When Ichi verbally abuses her as a “dishonorable thief who makes worthless promises,” Yuna accepts it without resistance. From the perspective of “Karmic retribution” in Kamakura Buddhism, she can never escape her own sins. The hatred directed at her by Ichi was a mirror that forced Yuna to face the ugliness of her own survival instinct.

The fact of “sexual abuse toward Taka” revealed during the subjugation of The Black Wolf explains all of Yuna’s behavioral principles. Her every decision of life and death was concentrated on the single purpose of protecting her wounded brother. Murdering The Black Wolf was not mere revenge, but an expression of her own distorted justice: “to prevent the creation of any more powerless children.”

What should be noted here is that Jin also carries the guilt and trauma of “leaving his father, Kazumasa, to die.” Jin, a noble Samurai, and Yuna, a mud-covered thief. These two, positioned at opposite poles, resonate deeply in their private trauma of “failing to protect (abandoning) a beloved family member.” It is analyzed that Jin’s assisting in Yuna’s gruesome revenge and dirtying his hands with cruel acts like displaying the severed heads of The Mamushi Brothers was not for the great cause of the Samurai, but out of personal empathy for someone with the same wounds, and as a substitute act of atonement for failing to save his father.

6. Innocent Sacrifice: The Collapse of Ethics Brought About by Taka’s Death

The story shatters Yuna’s philosophy in the most cruel manner during the late stages of Act II, in “A Reckoning in Blood.”

6.1 [Fact] Taka’s Execution and Yuna’s Despair

Taka was an exceptional blacksmith, a talented young man who forged the Grappling hook and the “Ghost Armor” for Jin. He had a timid personality with no combat ability, but after being rescued by Jin, he became fascinated by the fighting style of “The Ghost” and volunteered to fight for Tsushima himself. Yuna’s primary goal was to keep Taka away from the war and escape to the mainland, but Taka gradually showed independence and began to shake off his sister’s restraints.

At Fort Koyasan, Taka, who took independent action to help Jin, is captured by Khotun Khan. The Khan hands Taka a sword and offers, “Kill Jin, and I will spare your life.” However, Taka does not betray his benefactor Jin; he slashes at the Khan and is brutally decapitated as a result. Before the headless corpse of her brother, Yuna breaks down in tears, saying, “My whole life, he was a part of me. And… And now… I’m alone.” Having completely lost her purpose of escaping to the mainland, she solidifies her resolve to remain in Tsushima to avenge her brother, walking the Asura Path alongside Jin as a “demon of revenge” to eradicate the Mongols.

6.2 [Analysis] The Price of the Myth and the Collapse of Identity

Taka’s death is one of the greatest tragedies in this work, an event that fundamentally transforms Yuna’s behavioral principles. The heroic tale of “The Ghost,” which Yuna poured her heart and soul into cultivating for her own survival strategy. Ironically, the one who was most deeply inspired by that myth and, of all things, lost his life to it, was her brother Taka, whom she loved and wanted to protect more than anyone else in the world. Yuna wanted to keep Taka within the confines of a “peaceful blacksmith,” but the overwhelming charisma emitted by “The Ghost,” which she herself produced, transformed Taka into a martyr of self-sacrifice.

Here, Yuna’s philosophy completely collapses. The moment she, who held “survival” as her primary principle, lost the meaning of that survival (Taka), all that remained within her was a pure “impulse for violence (revenge).” At the same time, this becomes a decisive pressure (curse) upon Jin. The reason Jin had to completely discard Samurai Honor and ultimately accept his identity as “The Ghost”—using poison and stabbing enemies in the back—was so as not to let the innocent sacrifice of Taka be in vain, and above all, to fulfill his responsibility to Yuna, who was sinking into the depths of despair. With Taka’s death, Jin and Yuna became an inseparable entity as “avengers who lost their family,” and the room for Samurai Honor to interject between them completely vanished.

7. The Solitary Demon and Phantom Love: The Trajectory from Iki Island to Ezo

In the process leading from the final act (Act III) to the DLC Iki Island and the epilogue, the complicit relationship between Yuna and Jin is elevated into a form of ultimate self-sacrifice.

7.1 [Fact] The Abandonment of Honor and the Ultimate Choice

In the retaking of Castle Shimura, Jin resorts to the decisive “dishonorable act” of poisoning the Mongols in order to minimize casualties among his allies. Infuriated by this, Lord Shimura demands, as a political compromise to protect Jin from the Shogun’s punishment, that he “pin the blame on Yuna (a rogue thief), claiming she instigated all the dishonorable deeds.” However, Jin firmly rejects this, choosing to become a severe criminal (traitor) himself to protect Yuna. Later, on their way to corner the Khan, Jin and Yuna confess their feelings before a campfire, acknowledging that they “could not have survived without each other.” In the final battle, Yuna fights alongside Jin to the end, successfully taking the head of the Khan.

In the DLC Iki Island, Jin, whose mind is invaded by the “Sacred medicine” of the shaman The Eagle (Ankhsar Khatun), is tormented by intense hallucinations. Within those hallucinations, a scene is depicted where Yuna sneaks into the enemy camp alone and appears to rescue the captive Jin (in reality, it was a trap set by The Eagle).

However, after the conclusion of the story, the two are never united, and Yuna leaves Tsushima. Centuries later (in the era of Ghost of Yōtei), Yuna’s short sword is discovered in the ruins of Jin’s dwelling in Ezo (Hokkaido), but her own grave does not exist beside Jin’s.

7.2 [Analysis] The Denial of Romance and Love as a Sacrifice to the Myth

Lord Shimura’s demand to “pin the blame on Yuna” plainly demonstrates how the Samurai class did not treat commoners as humans, viewing them merely as tools (scapegoats) for maintaining the establishment. The moment Jin rejected this, he chose a connection of the soul (Yuna) over blood ties (Lord Shimura) and his public standing (Samurai). The “family” indicated in Jin’s famous line, “I have no honor, but I will not kill my family,” no longer refers to Lord Shimura, but to Yuna and the common people of Tsushima.

The hallucination scene in Iki proves that in the depths of Jin’s mind, Yuna transcends a mere comrade-in-arms and is engraved as “the sole existence who will save him in an absolute crisis (a substitute for motherhood, or a soulmate).” Jin was attempting to overcome the world his father Kazumasa tried to rule with power and fear through his absolute trust in the existence of Yuna.

But why were the two not united? Herein lies the greatest tragedy of the myth of “The Ghost” that Yuna herself created. Yuna deified Jin, turning him into a “transcendent being (vengeful spirit) that saves Tsushima.” Having become a “god (or demon)” bearing the grudges and hopes of the masses, Jin was forced to forfeit his right as a human being to love a single woman and build a peaceful family. Yuna herself was also aware that the legend she created had robbed Jin of his “happiness as a human.” “The Proud Do Not Endure. The Greatest Of Us Fall In The End.” These words of Yuna seem to prophesy the fate of Jin, who discarded his pride as a Samurai and was covered in mud. “As the price for giving birth to The Ghost, she forfeited the opportunity to ever have a life with Jin.” The fact that she left Tsushima and her subsequent whereabouts remain unknown signifies that she stepped off the stage of her own accord. The Ghost must be solitary. Because raw lust and personal happiness could not be allowed to intervene in the shadow of that legend.

The fact that only her short sword was discovered in Ezo centuries later suggests a serene and sorrowful curtain fall peculiar to period dramas, implying that only a fragment of her soul continued to stay close beside the eternally solitary Ghost (Jin).

Conclusion: A Requiem Woven by a Thief and Performed by a Samurai

“Honor” in Ghost of Tsushima is by no means a universal morality. It was a “beautiful deception” created by the Samurai government, the Kamakura Shogunate, to oppress the subjugated classes and justify its own power.

Yuna was born and raised in the darkest mire of that deception—extreme poverty, child abuse, and slavery. Her philosophy was extremely pure in the single point of “surviving,” and therefore became a blade that mercilessly dismantled Samurai ethics.

Her encounter with the noble Samurai Jin Sakai was a miracle for Tsushima, but at the same time, a gruesome curse for the two of them. Yuna taught Jin the arts of a thief, gave him the mask of “The Ghost,” and elevated him to a god of the masses. However, in the process, she lost her beloved brother to the hellfire of war, transformed the man who was supposed to be her soulmate into a “living spiritual entity,” and banished him to a place forever out of reach.

What is the philosophy embedded in the final battle? It is the heavy truth that in order to resist immense violence (the Mongols), one must face the mud-covered “reality,” even at the sacrifice of personal humanity, happiness, and pride. Yuna shattered the lip service of the privileged class and gave birth to a savior who dirties his hands for the people in the truest sense. However, she herself left no name on the center stage of history, disappearing into the darkness of history leaving behind only a single short sword.

What the “survival of a nameless thief” brought forth. It is the death of a proud Samurai, the birth of a solitary demon, and a sorrowful requiem that continues to wander eternally in the wind blowing across Tsushima.