Yato

Yato (, Yato), also known by his given name, Yaboku (, Yaboku), is one of the main three protagonists of Noragami. He is an obscure god who aims to become a God of Fortune. In the past, he was known as a God of Calamity.

Appearance
Yato appears to be a young man in his late teens to early twenties with a height of 173cm (5’7”). He has messy, dark black hair and light blue eyes with small, round pupils that become narrow when he is serious or angry, resembling that of a cat's.

Yato is often seen wearing a navy tracksuit that has a small golden crown on the right side and a pair of brown boots. He wears a faded blue scarf with tears around his neck.

In the flashbacks, he is seen with a ponytail and wears a dark-colored man's kimono.

When imagining himself becoming the wealthiest God, he has a large red cape, a crown, and holds a pink hand fan.

Personality
Yato can be mischievous, crude, and unpredictable in his behavior. At times, he is rather childish or gullible. He often indulges in fantasies of becoming a supremely successful god, with a large, luxurious shrine and many miko fawning over him.

Yato is quite tight with his money, wanting to complete any and all of his jobs so that he wouldn't have to refund his clients and even feeling temptation to sell his shinki when presented with a large offer. However, despite his grand aspirations, he decidedly charges only 5 yen per job, which is the standard offering at shrines. He also spends his money on drinking, gambling, and good luck trinkets. According to Yukine, it is rare that Yato would spend his money to make someone else happy.

Despite his seemingly carefree personality, Yato can be very serious when the situation requires it. He has a complex moral code. He has shown himself to believe in harsh and risky teaching methods, demonstrated by his handling of Manabu's bullying situation and Yukine's first ablution. He believes gods to be unable to do wrong and has low tolerance for people who he views as weak-spirited or who want to commit suicide. However, he also demonstrates an underlying sense of compassion; for example, empathizing with Yukine's situation and wanting to raise him up, or not wanting shinki to witness a human give up a chance at life.

Yato has shown great determination and perseverance in pursuit of his goals, spending centuries trying to become a more popular god and break away from his past with his Father and The Stray. Because of this desire, Yato is very secretive concerning the details of his past, though he doesn't attempt to lie when confronted with it.

Although Yato was taught to think that killing was a game by Father, he has consistently shown concern for people's wishes and well-being, even before seeing Sakura's horror at what he considered a "game." Under Sakura's gentle guidance, he became more reluctant to murder, regretting being involved in killing jobs tasked by his father and wants to cut himself off from killing people in the present - although he seems less reluctant when dealing with those who have done wrong, such a criminals. Even still, Yato can be a merciless person, showing great loyalty towards those he loves and cares for. He was angered when Hiyori was kidnapped to the point where he challenged Bishamon, believing she was the one responsible. He was also devastated when Yukine sacrificed himself to save him during said fight.

Skills & Abilities

 * Limited Immortality: Yato cannot be killed or lethally injured by Near Shore entities.
 * Teleportation: Yato is able to teleport between locations on the Near Shore through a phone call. Once he has a shrine and is officially recognized as a god, he is also able to teleport to and from Takamagahara.
 * Divine Possession (り, Kami gakari): Yato is capable of possessing a human that he has formed ties with.
 * Weapon Usage: Yato is skilled in armed combat, able to quickly adapt to new weapons and use them effectively. Notably, all of his past shinki have been weapons.
 * Rend (, Zan): While wielding a shinki, Yato is able to use this ability to destroy ayakashi. Although this technique exists in the manga, it is only named in the anime.
 * Sunder (, Zetsu): While wielding a shinki, Yato has the ability to sever the ties between two or more individuals. It is implied by Tenjin that this ability may be unique to Yato. Although this technique exists in the manga, it is only named in the anime.
 * Microburst (, Shūu): While wielding Rekki, Yato is able to create a scattershot of arrowheads.
 * Crimson Petals (, Sekka): While wielding Rekki, Yato is able to create a series of delayed explosions, capable of effecting damage over a wide range.

Known Shinki

 * Unnamed male Shinki (status unclear), seen in a flashback in God of Calamity.
 * Unnamed Shinki (status unclear)

Trivia

 * It is revealed that Yato's real name is Yaboku . Yaboku contains the kanji ya (, meaning "night") and boku (, meaning "divination"). Sakura mistakenly reads as the katakana ト to, producing the name that Yato currently goes by.
 * In the past, Yato was known as a God of Calamity (, magatsukami). In Japanese mythology, the magatsuhi-no-kami was a god (or several, depending on other versions of the myth) who was born from the god Izanagi during the purification following his trip to Yomi.
 * Adachitoka's early "Noragami" sketches featured in Stray Stories Volume 1 indicate that his "scarf" is actually a hand towel from a bath house, and that Yato is "kind of a neat freak."
 * After sundering the Heavens, Yato has becomes known as Amagiri-no-Mikoto (, "August Sunderer of the Heavens," lit. Heaven Rending Lord).
 * Yato's exact age is unknown. However, historical references in flashback chapters date the earliest ones to the Heian era, which would make Yato at least 1,000 years old. It can be assumed based on interpreting panels from Chapter 46 that he was born around the 960s, which would make him roughly 1,050 years old, give or take a few decades.
 * In an omake featuring the story of how he met Mayu, he states that he is around Tenjin’s age.
 * Yato's expressions and portrayal often mimic that of a cat.
 * Yato has rather sweaty hands, as both Tomone and Yukine have complained about it. He is shown to be rather sensitive about this topic.
 * Yato is shown to be a skilled tailor in both Stray Stories and the main continuity. In Stray Stories he gives Yukine a hand-made sweater and gives Hiyori a hand-made wedding dress. In the main series, he works a loom to make formal attire for both himself and Yukine for Kamuhakari.
 * Furthermore, he has shown talent as an artist. This seems to be true in the manga, considering he sold doujinshi in the past and was shown drawing a fairly accurate picture of Hiyori in Chapter 53, albeit with wings and naked.
 * He is shown cross-dressing in Chapter 48 and Chapter 52.
 * His character song is Tsukiyo no Fune ノ.
 * He was once tricked into creating a bank account, which now occasionally has mystery money transferred into it. This is how he was able to buy a cell phone.
 * Yato is said to be "not bad-looking but [...] pathetic" by Masaomi Iki.

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