Kenuichio Harada is the original Silver Samurai. The character first appeared in Daredevil #111, and was created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Bob Brown. A Japanese mutant who uses his powers to charge his katana and wears a samurai-style armor made of a silvery metal, he is the illegitimate son of Lord Shingen, the half-brother of Mariko Yashida, a cousin of Sunfire and Sunpyre, and a nemesis of Wolverine.
Shin Harada
Shingen "Shin" Harada is the new Silver Samurai. The character first appeared in Wolverine Vol. 2 #300, and was created by Jason Aaron and Steven Sanders. A human who relies on technology, he is Kenuichio Harada's son named after Lord Shingen, his grandfather.
The Kenuichio Harada version of Silver Samurai appears in the Wolverine and the X-Men animated series, voiced by Keone Young.
The Yashida Clan is referenced in '. In the episode "Widow's Sting", the group is mentioned by Madame Hydra to Baron Strucker to have pledged their allegiance to Hydra.
The Kenuichio Harada version of Silver Samurai appears in ', voiced by Takanori Nishikawa.
Film
An adapted version of Silver Samurai named Ichirō Yashida appears in the 2013 film The Wolverine, played by Haruhiko Yamanouchi and Ken Yamamura. An amalgamation of Ogun and both versions of Silver Samurai from the comics, he's depicted as the Yashida clan's technology empire's original founder, Wolverine's old acquaintance, Shingen Yashida's father, Mariko Yashida's grandfather and Yukio's foster father. As a young man in the Japanese military, Ichirō's life was saved by Logan during the United States' atomic bombing of Nagasaki and even offered his personal sword as gratitude. As an old man dying of cancer, Yashida arranged to be visited by Logan before seemingly passing with a family suit of samurai armor at his funeral as a symbolic guardian. Unfortunately, his successor being Mariko instead of Shingen leads to his son's own plans. In actuality, Yashida faked his death and equipped himself into his own giant robotic adamantium Silver Samurai suit which wields a katana and a wakizashi with Dr. Green and Kenuichio Harada as enforcers. Obsessed with Wolverine's healing factor and immortality, Yashida devised his Silver Samurai armor not only to sustain himself but also to steal Wolverine's healing powers. Even eliminating Harada in his way, he uses his heated adamantium blades to sever Wolverine's adamantium claws which allowed him to extract Wolverine's healing factor via his Silver Samurai armor and regains his youthful form. However, Ichirō gets struck by his granddaughter with Wolverine's broken adamantium claws. As Ichirō loses control of his Silver Samurai armor, Wolverine's regrown bone claws impales Yashida through his chest which made him revert to his elderly form before tossing him to his death in a crevasse below.
Video games
The Kenuichio Harada iteration of Silver Samurai was a playable character in ' and ', voiced by Yasushi "Ike-Bomb" Ikeda.
The Kenuichio Harada iteration of Silver Samurai appears in , voiced by Keone Young.
