Ryu (Street Fighter) the development team, was meant to let viewers know he was "a karate master at first sight". In an interview with "Game On!", Capcom Research and Development head Noritaka Funamizu stated that of the series' characters, Ryu was one of the most popular characters with American audiences, alongside Zangief and Guile. For "Street Fighter IV", Kyle Hebert was cast as Ryu in preparation of the return of his "Evil Ryu" persona. In an interview with Gamereactor, Ansah talked about Ryu and Ken's story from "Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist" and said "a good analogy with Ryu is that he's not actually
Tenshinsho Jigen Ryu dharma name, Zenkitsu (善吉, also read Zenkichi). He was the chief Buddhist priest of the Tennji Temple near Kyoto. Although his life was short lived he did manage to pass on the Tenshinsho Jigen Ryu to Togo Shigekata (東郷 重位, 1560- 1643), a samurai from the Satsuma domain, who after 3 years of having returned to Satsuma synthesized the Tenshinsho Jigen Ryu with the Taisha Ryu to create the Jigen Ryu. According to tradition, the Tenshinsho Jigen Ryu would remain a well-kept secret through the Jigen Ryu and Yakumaru Jigen Ryu lines, and passed down through a series of dai