A player from the Kansai Go institute. Yashiro studied Go when he was ten and became a professional player by the age of fifteen, thus praised by his teacher and regulars of the Kansai institute as a prodigy. However, he often has trouble garnering supports from from his parents, who believe playing Go has no future and force him to continue high school. Unabashed by this setback, Yashiro strives to become a successful player to prove he made the right choice.

Yashiro&#039;s style is considered by many as  offbeat and even rather reckless, as he tends to try out unconventional hands (such as a Tengen and 5-5 opening, which are very rarely used due to the risks they present) yet still plays very well. However, Kurata comments that Yashiro&#039;s strength isn&#039;t enough to play moves of that level, as proven by his devastating loss against the superior Hikaru when he started their game with a 5-5. 

After stumbling across a haunted Go board, irresponsible Hikaru Shindo discovers that the spirit of a master player has taken up residence in his consciousness. In his pursuit of the "Divine Move," Fujiwara-no-Sai awakens in Hikaru an untapped interest and genius for the game, and soon the schoolboy is chasing his own dream--defeating the famed Go prodigy Akira Toya!
 
(Source: Viz Media)
 Note: There are 197 chapters total in the original release.

Hikaru is given a phone call asking him to appear in the Japan/China/Korea Junior's Tournament but he finds out he will have to take place in a preliminary tournament to choose Japan's three contestants. Upon discussing this with Akira, he discovers that Akira has already been chosen for the tournament and will not be taking place in the preliminaries. Hikaru then decides not to visit Akira's Go Salon until he takes his place on the team with Akira. That may be tougher than originally planned, as not only does Hikaru have to battle with old friends for one of two coveted spots, but he may have a new challenger, in a promising player from the Kansai Go Institute. 
(Source: Anime News Network)

Kiyoharu Yashiro