Tenzen Yanagi

Tenzen Yanagi is an eccentric old man, who meets Yusei Fudo on a paddy wagon after Yusei has been caught by the Public Security and is being sent to a detention center. A cheery old man who is well-versed due to his many travels to foreign lands, Yanagi serves as one of Yusei's allies.

Biography
While trespassing in New Domino City, Yanagi witnessed the appearance of the Crimson Dragon while Jack Atlas and Yusei dueled. He is later captured by Security and transported to a detention center. (In the English dub, a guard tells Yusei that Yanagi has been to the center many times before. When Yusei asks Yanagi why this is, Yanagi says that he smuggles his treasures into New Domino, implying that the cards in his deck are not legal.)

Yanagi meets Yusei on the wagon to the center and quickly befriends him. At the center, Yanagi duels Bolt Tanner in place of Yusei, since Yusei had his Deck confiscated. After his defeat, Tanner mocks and stomps on Yanagi's cards despite Yanagi's pleas and explanation of how they are valuable to him. Disgusted by Tanner's behavior, Yusei defeats Tanner using Yanagi's cards. After Yusei's performance, Tanner befriends both of them.

When Rex Goodwin tries to confirm his suspicions about Yusei being a Signer, Yanagi informs Yusei about the Signers and the legend of the Crimson Dragon. The warden, Takasu beats up Yanagi, for the sake of displeasing Yusei.

Before Yusei leaves the center, Yanagi gives him his "Totem Pole" card.

Yanagi and Tanner were later freed thanks to Saiga. Yanagi stayed with Yusei and kept rooting for him during the Fortune Cup. After Jack and Yusei's Duel ended, he and the others headed to Saiga's hideout through a tunnel. Here Luna spoke with Yusei about the vision they saw of Satellite being destroyed. She ask him what a Signer is, to which Yanagi interrupts and explains everything to her. This time he draws a sketch figure, explaining though that it's been a while since he saw this, the drawing represents the Crimson Dragon, as it almost looked exactly on the stone tablet which is in the Sky Temple. Yusei gets surprise to see the tail of the dragon being the same as his birthmark, and Luna's is one of the claw. Yanagi explains that according to the legend of The People of the Stars, all five of the birthmarks that are engraved in their arms are divided parts of the dragon itself.

Since the Crimson Dragon showed up fully represented during the Fortune Cup, Yanagi concludes that the last Signer must have also been present.

Deck
Yanagi plays a Hidden Treasure Deck, based around monsters themed after rare and mysterious objects from all over the world. His cards share the odd characteristic of inflicting damage to himself or forcing himself to discard. These cards work in conjunction with "Curse Reflection Doll" and "Triangle - O" to reverse the damage to his opponent.