Yamane the Ogre is a character in the Samurai Champloo episode Beatbox Bandits. He was the head of the Hakone Checkpoint and has worked there for 30 years, and is now retired. He was best known for not letting a single criminal pass by the checkpoint.
He is voiced by Toshihiko Seki in the original Japanese version and voiced by Liam O'Brien in the English dub.
History[]
As a young man, he was an underling at the Hakone Checkpoint, working under its head at the time, Kinogasa, who only had the job because he was the son of rich parents. While working at the checkpoint, Mugen, Jin, and Fuu try to pass through using forged travel permits (unknown to their knowledge), and they are arrested. Yamane notes that Mugen was a unique man, having the eyes and attitude of a wild stray dog.
When the guards at the checkpoint find out one of the criminals they have to extradite is dead, Yamane has an idea to let Mugen carry the head of the criminal back to the police who served the warrant while keeping Jin and Fuu as insurance. Kinogasa approves of his idea and gives Mugen the head to deliver. As Mugen leaves, Kinogasa commands Yamane to secretly follow Mugen to make sure he is not betraying the deal.
As Yamane follows Mugen, he sees that the forest he is in is full of tengu warrior priests who capture Mugen in a trap. He finds Mugen tied up and shown for humiliation at the priests' hideout by Aohabu, the leader of the warrior priests. The priests put Mugen in a storage house with the wrapped head, so Yamane sneaks up to the mini prison to ask Mugen about his status, but a priest sees him and knocks him out. Yamane is then tied up and rolled into a straw bundle to join the imprisoned Mugen.
Mugen recognizes Yamane as one of the checkpoint guards, and Yamane has an idea to escape. He contorts himself out of the straw and grabs one of Mugen's shoes to start a fire in the prison. He then yells at the priests for help due to the fire, and one of the priests comes in to check the fire and is subdued by Yamane. Yamane unties Mugen and they attempt to escape with the head but are surrounded by tens of warrior priests. Aohabu decides they can be executed now, and Mugen tells Yamane to hit the deck so that he can fight the priests. The fire spreads to the marijuana plants and creates huge puffs of smoke, intoxicating everyone on a marijuana high that makes them giddy.
The marijuana field burns so much that the smoke spreads to the Hakone Checkpoint, where the smoke also affects the guards into a state of happiness that makes them unknowingly set Jin and Fuu free. As the two of them walk past the checkpoint, they see Mugen, Yamane and the other warrior priests dancing happily, still possessing the deceased human head.
Thirty years later, Yamane remarks on this story on his last day as the head of the Hakone Checkpoint, wondering where that wild dog Mugen is up to now.