He is the latest descendant and heir to the Asakura family, a prestigious family of a shaman whose lineage dates back to the Heian era. Despite Yoh's claims that he wishes to become Shaman King merely to live an easy life, his primary motivation is the promise he made to Anna when they first met and he saved her life after her powers, fueled by her deep-seated hatred of humanity and the resulting loneliness she felt, nearly destroyed her. Because Yoh's own loneliness in childhood, resulting from being regarded as an outcast by his peers for being a shaman, he deeply treasures his friends and will not hesitate to do anything to protect them. It is revealed in the series Yoh was born as the younger of a pair of identical twin brothers to Keiko Asakura and Mikihisa Maki. Before Yoh's birth, it had been predicted that the family's progenitor, Hao Asakura, would reincarnate himself for the second time as one of Keiko's children and attempt to become Shaman King. The circumstances allowed the Asakuras to spare Yoh and Yohmei raised his grandson with the hope that he would be able to defeat Hao once and for all, thwarting Hao's plans to create a shaman only world. In 1995, Yoh's grandmother Kino suggests that Yoh be engaged to her apprentice, Anna Kyoyama. Accompanied by the spirit Matamune, Yoh went to Aomori and fell in love with Anna at first sight. However, her unchecked ability to read minds resulted in Anna closing her heart off and developing a hatred of humanity, which manifested as powerful demons. Matamune, who had once been the original Hao's greatest friend, used his power to help Yoh save Anna; Anna began to open her heart again out of the love she had developed for Yoh and Yoh resolved to become strong enough to summon Matamune again in material form. Upon entering the Shaman Fight, he meets a number of the shaman who would become his friends and allies. Upon the second round of the Shaman Fight, Yoh becomes the leader of "Team Funbari Onsen", which includes "Wooden Sword" Ryu and Faust VIII as his teammates. When Yoh learns of his connection to Hao and learns more about his past and personality, Yoh becomes determined not only to stop Hao from realizing his plan to create a shaman only world, but also to the considerably more difficult task of saving Hao by defeating the darkness in Hao's heart.