Jōichirō Yukihira Husbando

Jōichirō Yukihira, né Saiba, is the widowed father of Sōma Yukihira. He was a 69th Tōtsuki Generation student, a former resident of the Polar Star Dormitory, and previously started out as a 7th seat of the Elite Ten Council as a freshman before being promoted to 2nd seat during his third year. Due to pressure received by his peers to keep being the best in Tōtsuki, he subsequently left the Academy by the suggestion of Senzaemon Nakiri. He never returned, causing him to not graduate. Nonetheless, he is a prodigious chef who is looked up to by all. Jōichirō has long, brown hair which is swept back, save for a single group of bangs that hangs over his face down to his chin. Even when cooking, all of his hair is tied back except for that one strand. His eyes are sharper and more serious than his son, and he has a slight beard on his chin. His body is well toned and generally, wears form fitting shirts and pants. His outfits when shown are usually his standard Yukihira cooking uniform or a professional white chef's uniform when cooking in New York. Upon his return to Polar Star Dormitory, he wore a tight black shirt and slacks. In his youth, Jōichirō's overall appearance resembles Sōma's current appearance. His hair was just as unkempt, but missing his signature long bang and much shorter. His eyes were much more relaxed and carefree. Unlike Gin, Jōichirō's coat was unbuttoned, his tie was rarely tied up to his neck, his dress shirt was open and his undershirt was visible. Like his son, Jōichirō is laid back but a professional and has a serious side that emerges whenever he is cooking. His skills in cooking are world famous. Back in his student days, Jōichirō was very charismatic, earning many admirers and the respect of his peers. Even in the present day, he became popular with Sōma's friends at the Polar Star Dormitory. He is noted to have a manly aura. He also developed some eccentricities like cooking strange dishes and neglecting his duties as an Elite Ten Member in favor of winning competitions. Jōichirō took immense pleasure in infuriating his best friend Gin Dōjima and using Jun Shiomi as a subject to his disgusting dishes. Fumio observed that he was very moody. As the sole parental figure in Sōma's life, he is a mentor, teacher, and rival to his son, though he never pushed Sōma to become a chef, allowing Sōma to develop that interest on his own. Jōichirō is, if anything, very supportive of his son, and the two share many similarities, such as the shared habit of creating horrible dishes and feeding them to unsuspecting people, which proves their connection. He purposely left home to work in New York so Sōma would have to attend Tōtsuki and motivated him by telling him that he needs to succeed in Tōtsuki if he ever wants to surpass him. Despite this, Jōichirō does occasionally like to see Sōma stressed and frustrated by challenging him to many cook-offs, which have always ended in Jōichirō's victory. Again though, this is to show Sōma how much more he has to grow. During his time at Tōtsuki, he was much more relaxed and carefree, but still retained his horrible experimental cooking habit even back then. It is due to this talent that Jōichirō had the habit of making horrible dishes. Gin noted that it was his only way to release steam from the pressure he received from his peers. Fumio noted that because of his nature in his youth, he lost many Shokugekis because of his lack of drive or simply underestimating his opponents due to his own laziness. Jōichirō was a main driving force and a pioneer of the Polar Star Golden Era, but unlike his fellow Polar Star friend Gin Dōjima who Fumio compared to a loyal dog, Jōichirō is likened to a stray cat for his wandering habits. However, when insulted or tested, Jōichirō displayed utter ruthlessness against his opponents and sometimes even displayed some cockiness in his abilities, even challenging a group of fifty opponents simultaneously by himself. This made him both respected and feared by many students at Tōtsuki at the time. Even in his later years, he retained his serious aura in cooking duels and many individuals still hold profound respect for Jōichirō, including Gin, Senzaemon, Fumio, and Azami Nakiri. This led to him earning the nickname "Asura" by his fellow classmates, a name that has endured for several decades after his departure from the academy.