Kyōichi Hiyū is a young artist and martial artist. Monks discovered him abandoned as a baby on their temple doorstep, and the monk Gendō raised him, becoming both mentor and adoptive father. Gendō trained Kyōichi in esoteric Buddhism and martial arts before Kyōichi left for Tokyo to pursue art. He maintains a romantic relationship with his high school-aged girlfriend, Shiho Murase. Kyōichi is the human incarnation of Byakko, the White Tiger of the West, one of Chinese mythology's Four Holy Beasts. This grants him supernatural combat abilities, including manifesting spectral tiger imagery. Under extreme stress, these powers escalate uncontrollably, transforming him into a feral state. Following a confrontation with antagonist Miki Chiyoe at Shiho's residence, Kyōichi is seemingly killed. He later reappears alive in Tokyo, regressed to a primal form due to destabilized powers. Allied monk warriors Ryora and Kinshi subdue him, helping him regain his senses, after which his fighting style becomes more aggressive. During the Shinjuku climax, Kyōichi battles Miki's forces while tormented by illusions of Shiho's violation. He witnesses Gendō's death, learning his mentor was secretly a reanimated corpse under Miki's control. Facing Miki in a hopeless stand, Shiho's spirit intervenes, self-destructing to destroy the temple, resulting in Kyōichi's death. His final thoughts express a hope to reunite with Shiho in a future reincarnation. The character appears across all three OVA episodes (1987–1989) and the 1991 manga adaptation; the manga remains unfinished and provides no additional narrative divergence or character expansion beyond the animated version.