YAMAKAYAKA

Real Name: Yamakayaka

Identity/Class: Human (World War II era through post-World War II era) (Japanese)

Occupation: Sumo wrestler, soldier

Group Membership: U.S. Army

Affiliations: Combat Kelly, Cookie Novak, Major Thorn

Enemies: Chinese military (Chung Pu, others)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Yama"

Base of Operations: Mobile in Korea;
    formerly Tokyo, Japan

First Appearance: Combat Kelly I#10 (February, 1953)

Powers/Abilities: Yamakayaka was an experienced sumo wrestler who applied his wrestling techniques into hand-to-hand combat. He was exceptionally strong and could easily throw a fully-grown man through the air or single-handedly lift a jeep or truck. One one occasion, he snapped a tank's gun barrel in two. He also proved to have terrific endurance, surviving a direct collision from a jeep to his stomach. He was also surprisingly agile, able to leap surprisingly high into the air.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 7'0")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 400 lbs.)
Eyes: Black
Hair: Black

History:
(Combat Kelly I#10 (fb) - BTS) - A sumo wrestler who was part of Japan's military occupation of Manchuria during World War II, Yamakayaka was taken prisoner by the Communist army. Amused by his sumo wrestling, the Chinese decided to keep him alive. Yamakayaka eventually fell under the control of a Chinese colonel who brought him along on the invasion of Korea.

(Combat Kelly I#10) - After seeing the U.S. soldier Combat Kelly's hand-to-hand prowess against his men, the colonel arranged to capture Kelly alive, thinking he would be a fit adversary for Yamakayaka and claiming he would set Kelly free if he won against Yamakayaka. Their fight was prepared as a traditional sumo wrestling match and Yamakayaka observed the normal rituals, taking water from a ceremonial cup, wiping his skin with an ohikorsami and sprinkling salt around the ring. Yamakayaka flung Kelly into the ropes of the ring so hard that Kelly was able to propel himself back at Yamakayaka and knock him out of the ring and off his feet. The colonel was humiliated at Yamakayaka's defeat and was about to shoot him but Kelly knocked out the colonel from behind. Yamakayaka then helped Kelly and his comrade Cookie Novak fight their way out of the Chinese camp. Yamakayaka expressed his gratitude to Kelly for saving his life and declared that he was now Kelly's "prisoner and servant." Kelly refused, telling Yamakayaka that he was instead now a free man. Yamakayaka conceded but declared he would follow Kelly and "Mr. Cookie" wherever they went.

(Combat Kelly I#11/2) - Yamakayaka showed off his strength to "Mr. Combats" and Cookie as he insisted on joining them on a patrol. Kelly decided to test Yamakayaka by giving him a rifle and telling him to show what he'd do to a wooden pole if it were a Communist soldier. Yamakayaka responded by smashing the pole to pieces with the butt of the rifle, claiming he'd seen that maneuver in a comic book. Finally, Kelly asked Yamakayaka to hit a bull's-eye using a heavy machine gun. Yamakayaka complied by picking up the gun and throwing it at the target. Kelly refused to let Yamakayaka come with them but he followed the duo at a distance. When Kelly and Cookie were captured by the Chinese, Yamakayaka came to their rescue, overpowering their captors with his bare hands. He also stopped a jeep with his stomach then dragged the jeep by its grill and threw it over a ravine. As Chinese forces began to ascend the hilltop where Yamakayaka stood, he rolled howitzer canons down the hill until he had beaten the entire enemy force. After seeing all he had accomplished, Kelly admitted Yamakayaka had proved himself as a G.I.

(Combat Kelly I#13) - Yamakayaka found Combat Kelly and Cookie Novak about to be rolled over a cliff while tied to a boulder by their Chinese military captors. Yamakayaka grabbed the Chinese colonel and dropped him over the side of the cliff. When an enemy soldier came up behind him, Yamakayaka sat on him. A soldier named Chung Pu tried to shoot Yamakayaka but Yamakayaka bent his barrel so the bullet shot him in his face. The soldier beneath Yamakayaka stabbed him with his knife to force him to rise. Angered, Yamakayaka grabbed the soldier by his legs and, while uttering a stream of insults in Japanese, he hurled the soldier through the air and over the cliff.

    Yamakayaka untied Kelly and Cookie then again inquired about his petition to join the U.S. Army. Combat Kelly informed him that when he brought the matter to Major Thorn, Thorn informed him the regulations were against it. As they headed back to their camp, they came upon Major Thorn, who was in the clutches of Chinese soldiers who were about to execute him by firing squad. Yamakayaka charged into the fray, bowling over the firing squad like a line of dominoes. Though still unarmed, Yamakayaka quickly overcame all of the soldiers. A helicopter pilot tried to escape but when Major Thorn told Yamakayaka, Kelly and Cookie that he was carrying maps the Chinese had stolen from him, Yamakayaka jumped and grabbed the helicopter by its landing struts then held it on the ground so Combat Kelly could stop the pilot and retrieve the plans. Overwhelmed at Yamakayaka's performance, Major Thorn declared "blazes with regulations" and announced that he would recommend Yamakayaka for enlistment. Yamakayaka continued back to camp with Kelly and Cookie, now jumping up and down with delight. Kelly remarked that if he did join the U.S. Army, the war should be "over in week!"

(Combat Kelly I#15/2) - Kelly and Cookie took Yamakayaka to the obstacle course to test his abilities. When they asked him to get to the other side of a brick wall, he simply charged through the wall rather than climb over it. When told to get over a barbed wire fence without touching it, Yamakayaka jumped over the fence in a single bound. When they told him to get through a steel culvert, Yamakayaka became stuck in the narrow object but burst through the culvert. Ordered to swing across a pool of water using a rope, Yamakayaka was embarrassed when the rope broke and he fell in the water. As Yamakayaka was climbing a tall structure built from logs, the obstacle course was invaded by enemy soldiers. Yamakayaka utilized the various objects in the obstacle course as weapons against the enemies, hurling logs at them, capturing soldiers in a lasso made from the rope, confining soldiers inside culverts, tying up soldiers in barbed wire and finally throwing bricks from the brick wall to knock soldiers unconscious. Yamakayaka had some doubts about the usefulness of the obstacle course but he informed Combat Kelly that the obstacle course was indeed a very useful weapon.

(Combat Kelly I#16/2) - Yamakayaka happily informed Kelly and Cookie that Major Thorn had officially made him a private first class in the U.S. Army as a temporary duty assignment under the auspices of the United Nations. Major Thorn confirmed the assignment and asked Kelly and Cookie to take Yamakayaka into the field and test him out in several jobs to see where he'd be the best fit. Immediately after receiving these orders, Cookie noticed a Chinese assault force charging towards their camp. Yamakayaka lifted two .50 caliber machine guns and fired them simultaneously, easily repelling the attack. Major Thorn informed them that the attack was a diversion and ordered the three to deliver ammunition to their right flank. The three men brought a truck of ammunition to the flank but were bogged down on a muddy road. Yamakayaka lifted the truck out of the mud and they continued their journey. On the right flank, they found several enemy machine gun nests whose machine guns had wrecked the truck's engine. Unable to deliver the artillery ammunition, Yamakayaka began hurling it through the air at the machine gun nests, destroying them. Yamakayaka single-handedly carried the rest of the ammunition to the artillery guns. On their way back to the front on foot, they encountered an enemy tank. Yamakayaka grabbed the tank's barrel and snapped it in two then used the broken barrel to smash the tank apart. Reporting back to Major Thorn, Combat Kelly declared Yamakayaka would be best in his own division - "the one man Yamakayaka division!"

(Combat Kelly I#19/4) - Combat Kelly and Cookie Novak were again captured by the Chinese and Yamakayaka came to their rescue, kicking a Chinese officer so hard that his dentures fell out. Yamakayaka again showed his prowess in battle, using unarmed combat to defeat the squad who had been guarding Kelly and Cookie then setting his friends free. However, a large enemy convoy was traveling nearby. To get past the convoy, Kelly and Cookie dressed as Chinese soldiers and pretended to have taken Yamakayaka as a prisoner. The three men were told to enter the last truck in the convoy, which they quickly commandeered then crashed. The trio continued this tactic, moving from one truck to the next in line and crashing each vehicle, leaving just the lead vehicle alone. The three friends then returned to camp.

(Combat Kelly I#20/3) - Yamakayaka insisted on accompanying "Mr. Cookies" while he was on a patrol. Cookie disputed the notion that he required the help of Yamakayaka or even Combat Kelly. Even as Cookie said this, Yamakayaka silently killed a sniper with his bare hands then buried him. Yamakayaka continued to shadow Cookie during his patrol, catching a grenade that was thrown at Cookie and hurling it back at the five Chinese who had been hidden in ambush; Cookie believed he had seen them first and saved himself. Trying to get rid of Yamakayaka, Cookie invited him to play hide and seek and told him to count to 1,000 before coming to find him. Yamakayaka obeyed then found Cookie had been ambushed, knocked out and tied up by the Chinese. Yamakayaka swiftly defeated the entire Chinese squad with his bare hands then revived Cookie. Cookie assumed he had defeated the Chinese himself and was rewarded with a medal from Major Thorn but Yamakayaka confided to Kelly that he was the one who had saved Cookie.

Comments: Created by Hank Chapman and Joe Maneely.

Profile by Prime Eternal.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Yamakayaka should not be confused with:

Chung Pu

Chung Pu was a soldier in the Chinese army. Alongside his colonel and another soldier, he helped capture Combat Kelly and Cookie Novak then tied them to a boulder, which they intended to roll over a cliff unless the soldiers told them where to find battle maps for their coming attack. Yamakayaka threw Chung Pu's colonel over the cliff. When Chung Pu drew his rifle on Yamakayaka, the sumo wrestler bent the end of Chung Pu's rifle. When Chung Pu fired his weapon the bullet hit him in the face, killing him.





--Combat Kelly I#13

images: (without ads)
Combat Kelly I#10, page 3 (Yamakayaka, main)
Combat Kelly I#20/3, page 3, panel 2 (Yamakayaka, face)
Combat Kelly I#13, page 3, panel 5 (Chung Pu)

Appearances:
Combat Kelly I#10 (February, 1953) - Hank Chapman (writer), Joe Maneely (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Combat Kelly I#11/2 (March, 1953) - Hank Chapman (writer), Joe Maneely (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Combat Kelly I#13 (April-May, 1953) - Hank Chapman (writer), Dave Berg (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Combat Kelly I#15-16 (August-October, 1953) - unidentified writer, Dave Berg (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Combat Kelly I#19/4 (February, 1954) - unidentified writer, Dave Berg (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Combat Kelly I#20/3 (March, 1954) - Hank Chapman (writer), Dick Ayers (penciler), Ernie Bache (inker), Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 08/05/2025
Last updated: 08/05/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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