Master Kodokuna Yang is the creator of The Art of Airjitzu, and later, a spirit trapped in the Temple on Haunted Hill. Yang taught Airjitzu to his students, but he secretly yearned to live forever so his work wouldn't be forgotten. Using the Yin Blade, he tried to become immortal, but its powers backfired, and he turned into a ghost, along with his Temple and students. Many years later, the Ninja later traveled to Yang's haunted Temple to claim the Scroll of Airjitzu, but they were tormented by Yang. During their escape, Cole was turned into a ghost. Some time later, as Nadakhan rebuilt his home realm, Yang's Temple was lifted into the sky and cleansed with water—forcing him and his students to flee. After Jay made his final wish, recent events were undone, but due to an anomaly, the Temple remained floating in the sky.
On the Day of the Departed, Yang intended to revive the Ninjas' old enemies and use them as a distraction while resurrecting himself through the Rift of Return. As the Ninja fought their adversaries, Yang opened the Rift while Cole fought his students. Cole would eventually confront Yang and destroy the Yin Blade, allowing Yang's students to cross through the Rift. Yang admitted his arrogant desire to live forever, allowing him and Cole to make amends. However, Yang refused to cross through the Rift, as someone had to be the master of the Temple and ultimately pushed Cole into the Rift. After the Rift closed, Yang remained in his Temple, which was now purified.
Biography
Early life
Yang in his youth.
At an unknown point in time, Yang went on a quest to master all martial arts, learning Spinjitzu, Fang Kwon Do, and many others in his journey. From his accumulated knowledge, Yang invented the art of Airjitzu. However, growing old at the time he created Airjitzu, he decided to preserve his work by passing it down to his students, which he had gathered shortly after he created the martial art. He was an excellent master who even had a statue of himself built before the Temple of Airjitzu in his honor. However, his pupils were afraid of him because of his strict teachings, causing him to become worried he would not be remembered as a good master, or remembered at all.
He later discovered the forbidden Yin Blade and planned to use its dark magic to attain immortality and live forever as the greatest master of all time. After testing the Blade's magic on several trees, Yang decides performing the ritual atop his Temple only to accidentally curse the entire Temple of Airjitzu, transforming himself and his students into Ghosts to haunt the Temple for the rest of time. As master of the haunted Temple, he eventually grew mad and enslaved his students with the power of the Yin Blade, binding their wills to his power.
At some point, Yang would lose the Yin Blade, where it would be placed in a Clearstone case at the Ninjago Museum of History along with a description and portrait of him.
Possession
Ghost Story
Yang was mentioned by Misako to be the creator of Airjitzu, and that his Scroll is located in the Ancient Library of Domu.
The Temple on Haunted Hill
During the Ninjas' stay at Yang's Temple to locate the Scroll of Airjitzu, he threw many obstacles (the fears of the Ninja) at them to get them stuck in the Temple so they would turn into ghosts when the morning comes. Later, it's revealed that he merely tested the Ninja to see if they were worthy of obtaining the Airjitzu scroll. However, as the morning came and the curse on Yang's Temple started to take effect on the Ninja, the ghosts of Yang's students showed themselves, revealing that Yang had chained them up, as they were imprisoned by Yang. The Ninja then quickly fled to the entrance, not wanting to suffer the same fate as Yang's students. They manage to reach the entrance, but Cole dropped the scroll mid-way and thus had to go back in to retrieve it, which caused him to turn into a ghost. Yang's laugh echoed from the inside the Temple as the Ninja stood outside, staring at Cole sadly after his transformation into a ghost.
Skybound
Wishmasters
After his Temple was torn out of Ninjago by the Sky Pirates to help reconstruct Djinjago in the sky, he left his Temple to go angrily confront Nadakhan, claiming it was his domain. However, the latter, unimpressed, promptly ordered Dogshank to shoot water at him and his students, forcing them to abandon the Temple.
The Way Back
Yang's Temple was strangely left still floating in the sky despite Jay's final wish undoing Nadakhan's actions. This may be due to Yang having "power" over his Temple, being able to do whatever he desired to do with it.
Day of the Departed
Yang first appears as he confronts Cole through a painting, telling him to "close the circle." This prompts Cole to steal the Yin Blade and fly up to Yang's Temple to settle the score, where he meets Yang. Yang begs Cole to not attack him but the latter ignores this and attacks only for this to backfire as Yang's students capture Cole and lock him up.
Yang fights Cole at his temple
Yang reveals his plan was to trick Cole into unleashing the souls of the Ninjas' former enemies, where they will distract the separated remaining Ninja while the ghostly master opens a Rift to the Departed Realm and become mortal again. Cole escapes and fights Yang for awhile until the corrupt master overpowers him and proceeds to demoralize him calling him a ghost who will be forgotten and who will take his place as Master of the house. However, Yang hears the voices of the Ninja who have defeated their villains and come to help Cole. This reenergizes Cole who rises to face off against Yang again.
This time in their fight, Cole unleashes enough power to shatter the Yin Blade and freeing Yang's students of his control. As the Rift begins to close, the formerly imprisoned pupils are prompted by Cole to go through the Rift, allowing them to become mortal while Yang admits defeat. Bitter, Yang reveals he wanted to be immortal so he would not be forgotten and Cole reminds him as the creator of Airjitzu that he would not be forgotten by anyone. Cole then flies the two of them towards the Rift but Yang tells him one of them must remain behind as the Temple's master because of the curse, and throws Cole into the disappearing Rift claiming he wanted to settle his "debts."
Afterwards, Cole becomes human again and he and the Ninja move into the Temple, while Yang wanders the halls, no longer a sadistic monster but a kind master who has accepted his fate, with only Cole being aware of his presence.
LEGO.com Description
No one knows when Yang lost his mind. The creator of Airjitzu was strict and feared by his students from the start. He began to make them stay behind after school, then he locked them in the attic and finally he cursed them, trapping them in the Temple of Airjitzu forever. Now he prowls his dojo as a ghost for eternity (without so much as a TV to pass the time), ready to share his bad luck, as Cole discovered to his cost!
Appearances
LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu
Season 5: Possession
- 46. "Ghost Story" (pictured)
- 48. "The Temple on Haunted Hill"
Season 6: Skybound
- 61. "Wishmasters"
Day of the Departed
Season 7: The Hands of Time
- 65 "The Hands of Time" (pictured)
- 66. "The Hatching" (pictured)
- 67. "A Time of Traitors" (pictured)
- 70. "The Attack" (pictured)
Season 10: March of the Oni
- 97. "The Fall" (pictured)
Video Games
- The LEGO Ninjago Movie Videogame (non-canon)
Notes
- As it's revealed at the end of his debut episode, Master Yang's spirit imprisons those who enter his Temple by turning them into a ghost, forcing them to be his students forever.
- Strangely, the more common phrase used both by Master Wu and the Ninja is "As iron sharpens iron, (sibling, brother, etc.) sharpens (sibling, brother, etc.)." While Master Yang's saying makes the subjects different (sensei and student).
- On a similar note, he seems to be the ghost equivalent of Master Wu, as they're both teachers and masters of their respective, similar martial arts, use similar phrases, and have similar appearances as well.
- The info given of Yang portrays him as a far more malevolent master, in comparison to Wu. Even as a spirit, he is shown to be a malevolent spirit, imprisoning his victims and forcing them to be his students forever.
- Yang seems to be an extremely powerful ghost, seeing as how not only can he curse others who enters his Temple, but also transport it into another dimensions as seen when the Ninja tried to escape his Temple. Its unclear if all ghosts possesses such powers, or if its just Master Yang. It's possible, however, that these powers might be explained by the fact that he was changed into a ghost thanks to the Yin Blade, instead of being sent to the Cursed Realm.
- "Kodokuna" (孤独な) means "lonely" or "solitary," while "Yang" means "sun."
- Also, as stated by himself, "Yang" also means "good," as a reference to the concept of the "Yin-Yang."
- Yang's minifigure depicts him with a ghostly tail instead of legs, although he never has a ghostly tail at all during the show.
- Yang is an unlockable character in The LEGO Ninjago Movie Videogame. His blind bag can be found in the level "The Dark Ravine."
Gallery
Promotional Media
In LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu
