Long story short a study in the 1950's hypothesised that the way in which an individual holds their cigarette directly correlates to their personality traits as an individual. Whether this holds up now, over eight decades later, is besides the point. This is more so just some fun trivia and a good way to waste your time.

Hope you enjoy the guide.

Originally posted by Caper Magazine 1959:

The way a man holds his cigarette -- along with such personal gestures as how he walks, sits, his nervous habits hand motions -- is a sure sign of his inner self. So says a Los Angeles psychoanalyst, Dr William Neutra, who looks for the ways patients hold their cigarettes. It helps expose -- or at least give a clue to -- many otherwise hard-to-dig-up facts needed in treating the patient successfully. On these two pages are seven examples of what Dr. Neutra has found out about men; also, two examples of ways women hold their cigarettes. Curiously enough, however, the cigarette psychology doesn't work on women. According to Dr. Neutra, women are so affected naturally in their regular posture that they're more often than not too conscious to hold a cigarette, and therefore useless as subjects for this experiment.

Originally posted by Caper Magazine 1959:

A. Just a guess for this female mannerism: insecure, afraid to lose their cigarette. She probably holds onto her man like glue.
B. Typical grasp of a female bored with her date. She has to concentrate on the tip to keep from yawning.
C. Dr. Neutra claims this man is an intellectual, a very brainy type of guy, a contemplative character.
D. This person is generally unreliable, weak, hard to live with, and inclined to excessive lying.
E. Very tense individual, direct, straight-forward, inclined towards stubbornness.
F. A hail fellow, well-met character who enjoys high living. Sort of the Texas Millionaire type.
G. This guy is obviously daring, calculating, literally likes to "play with fire".
H. A dreamer, always off on a tangent.
I. Very pessimistic, excessive in business caution.

Now it's important to keep in mind that this is an out-dated piece of material and should be taken lightly. Everything provided is purely for entertainment purposes and, most likely, do not hold up in our current socio-psychological setting.

With all details provided let's investigate!

If you've already played through a large majority, if not the entirety, of Yakuza 0 you'll have a solid grasp of who Kiryu is as a character. In case you are largely unaware I'll include a paragraph taken directly from the Yakuza wiki page.



It states:

Originally posted by Yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Kazuma_Kiryu#Personality:

Kiryu is the stoic and honor-bound dreamer of the dark yakuza world, living by a strict code of honor and a very strong sense of justice. He is not the type to judge others and is generally accepting of anyone who is friendly towards him. He tends to be the listening ear to the world, giving advice in response to his environment rather than seeking out conversations. He is wise (but certainly not all-knowing) and generally means well for those around him, which makes him surprisingly pragmatic and well-liked. He still considers himself a yakuza at heart, and although he views violence as necessary, Kiryu is disgusted by violent yakuza ...

It can be clearly understood that Kiryu, in short, is stoic, honour-bound with a strong sense of justice and a good heart. Furthermore he is not one to judge and is generally accepting but how does this align with the way he holds his cigarette?





Although it may be difficult to interpret I believe that Kiryus method of holding his cigarette is somewhere between C and H. To reiterate:

Originally posted by Caper Magazine 1959:

C. Dr. Neutra claims this man is an intellectual, a very brainy type of guy, a contemplative character.

and

Originally posted by Caper Magazine 1959:

H. A dreamer, always off on a tangent.

To further understand what the "study" is actually implying here are the specific definitions of key words illustrated in the quotations.

note: all definitions within this guide are define by Merriam Webster and will be included at the top of every quote in which it is referenced

Originally posted by Merriam Webster:

a: of or relating to the intellect or its use
b: developed or chiefly guided by the intellect rather than by emotion or experience : RATIONAL
c: requiring use of the intellect
intellectual games

Originally posted by Merriam Webster:

: a person who practices contemplation

Originally posted by Merriam Webster:

1a: concentration on spiritual things as a form of private devotion
b: a state of mystical awareness of God's being
2: an act of considering with attention : STUDY
made the decision after much contemplation
3: the act of regarding steadily
was lost in quiet contemplation of the scene

Originally posted by Merriam Webster:

1: one that dreams
2a: one who lives in a world of fancy and imagination
b: one who has ideas or conceives projects regarded as impractical : VISIONARY

Now how does this correlate with Kazuma Kiryu as a character?


We can infer from the direct definitions provided by Webster, along with a moderate understanding of the character, to come to the conclusion that, at least in my opinion, this holds up.

As previously mentioned in the wikipedia page for Kazuma Kiryu it stated:

Kiryu is the stoic and honor-bound dreamer of the dark yakuza world ...

and

He tends to be the listening ear to the world, giving advice in response to his environment rather than seeking out conversations. He is wise (but certainly not all-knowing) ...

Therefore the hypothesis presented by Dr. Neutra holds up to some degree.

I'm going to save you some reading here because I won't lie there is a lot there.

It seems to check out; the way Kiryu holds his cigarette links to his personality traits.

Goro Majima has a very high-arching character arch throughout the Yakuza games but since this is a guide specifically for Yakuza 0 I will be focusing on early Majima.



Yakuza 0 predates Goro Majima's adoption of the title "Mad Dog of Shimano" and therefore can best be described by the last lines of his personality section in the wiki.

Originally posted by https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Goro_Majima#Personality:

Before adopting this Mad Dog persona, Majima was much calmer but was emotionally vulnerable. Despite that, pre-Mad Dog Majima was equally as willing to go loose and he frequently converses informally, compared to the much more stoic Kiryu.

Furthermore it states the very beginning of the entry:

Originally posted by https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Goro_Majima#Personality:

Majima is a resourceful, charismatic, and commanding individual. He has gained the respect of friend and foe alike, because of his ferociously independent personality and abilities in battle. He is also a successful businessman

but how does he hold a cigarette?




Now there aren't many screenshots of Majima smoking throughout Yakuza 0 and as of making this guide I've only got this one available but it's still enough information to analyse.

Goro shares physical similarities to Kiryu's method.

Both Kiryu and Majima hold it between their index and middle finger while curling their ring and pinky finger. Despite this, a core difference between them is Kiryus resting hand.



Goro's resting hand is much closer to a blend of H and I. These being:

Originally posted by Caper Magazine 1959:

H. A dreamer, always off on a tangent.

and

Originally posted by Caper Magazine 1959:

I. Very pessimistic, excessive in business caution.

Since in an earlier section I already defined what it means to be a dreamer I'll focus primarily on the term "pessimistic".

Originally posted by Merriam Webster:

Definition of pessimistic
: of, relating to, or characterized by pessimism : GLOOMY

Originally posted by Merriam Webster:

Definition of pessimism
1: an inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome
2a: the doctrine that reality is essentially evil
b: the doctrine that evil overbalances happiness in life

If these definitions were referring to Mad Dog Majima you could throw any validity out the window but considering this is pre-Mad Dog it'd be fair to say that this may hold up. Goro dreams of his freedom; though free to roam the streets of his city as he pleases he is a caged animal locked into the confines of his urban prison. He is a split frame of mind longing to be free again but feeling trapped in his own world.

So it'd be fair to say that it checks out but I'm curious to see if Mad Dog Majima holds themselves the same way.

I'm going to save you some reading here because I won't lie there is a lot there.

It seems to check out; the way Goro holds his cigarette links to his personality traits although it may differ between pre and post adoption of the Mad Dog alias

Below I'm including two ally characters, or I guess in the case of Nishitani you could argue anti-hero but whatever, and will analyse them, in a much shorter method, collectively

Akira Nishikiyama　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Homare Nishitani

Nishiki is described by the wiki as:

Originally posted by https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Akira_Nishikiyama#Personality:

Nishikiyama started off to be very loyal and supportive towards his friends and family such as Kiryu and Kazama. He also hangs out with Kiryu often in several activities and frequently banters about his inadequate taste in fashion. Despite being forced by the Dojima family to fight against Kiryu, Nishikiyama fought alongside his sworn brother many times and promised that he'd always be there. Nishikiyama also seems to worry about Kiryu for his reckless attempts against the Dojima family. He also firmly believes that people can succeed in the world through appearance rather than substance.

while Nishitani is described as:

Originally posted by https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Homare_Nishitani#Personality :

Nishitani is wild and almost sadomasochistic in his desires, even when he was a child. He relentlessly pursues whatever he feels like, doing whatever its takes to get what he wants. A man whose three tenets of life are money, sex, and violence, he is an unpredictable foe that not even the Omi Alliance can control. Nishitani even confesses that he's turned on by fighting strong rivals like Goro Majima.

Nonetheless, he is shown to be loyal to those who cooperate with him and is somewhat of an idol among his followers. He also respects those who can meet him on the same level, physically, and mocks his adversaries for trying to defeat him with weapons instead of their fists.

Nishitani is also quite intelligent. For example, he quickly bypassed the "Customer is King" policy after Majima invoked it to avoid fighting him. He was also able to accurately deduce the identity of the man that took Makoto away from Majima.

Although there's a lot of writing here, and you are welcome to read through it if you please, I'm going to compress it down into dot points for each character so you, as a reader, are more easily able to interpret the information.

• Loyal
  
• Supportive
  
• Charming
  
• Anxious (on occasion)
  
• Vanity

• Wild
  
• Borderline Sadomasochistic
  
• Persistent
  
• Sense of loyalty and honour
  
• Intelligent and Deductive

Below are screenshots of Nishikiyama and Nishitani holding their cigarettes. It's important to note that this is the only scene, in Yakuza 0, I was able to find where Nishiki is visibly holding his cigarette.





Something super important to note is how Nishitani is the only character who seems to have a distinctly different way of holding his cigarettes.

Nishitani is an E. Nothing else. This means:

E. Very tense individual, direct, straight-forward, inclined towards stubbornness.

Now each individual can argue about the validity of whether or not he is a tense individual but we can focus on the idea that he is direct, straight-forward and inclined towards stubbornness. In fact the wiki even stated that:

He relentlessly pursues whatever he feels like, doing whatever its takes to get what he wants.

Although he may have an underlying tenseness it's impossible to deny the fact that the one of the core aspects of Nishitanis character is his persistence.

Alternatively Nishiki follows a standard form of the protagonists having an H grip indicating that he is a dreamer and always off on a tangent. Whether this checks out is debatable and up to personal interpretation. One could argue that Nishiki, following in the shadow of Kiryu, longs for the same dream he does or, more accurately, wants Kiryus dream to come true.

Essentially, Nishikis dream is for Kiryus dream to come into fruition.

Time to save you some reading.

Nishitani is unique. He appears to be one of the only characters to have a different way in which he holds his cigarette and, to some degree, it reflects his stubborn personality.

Nishikiyama is debatable but I'd like to argue that it checks out. His dream, after all, is to help Kiryu achieve his dream.

Whether or not it was there intention it seems to check out for at least these four characters.

Thank you for reading this. If there's anything you think I've missed, needed to add or just constructive criticism feel free to comment below.

I may add other side characters in the future but for now I hope you have a lovely day.