Hamato Yoshi

Hamato Yoshi is the Japanese ninja master whose pet rat, Splinter, learned his techniques by mimicking his movements. After Yoshi's tragic death, Splinter carried on his teachings, eventually passing them to the four mutant turtles he raised as his sons.

Hamato Yoshi is one of those names that resonates with a particular weight in the world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lore, and his 1988 debut in Archie's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures — brought to life by Michael Dooney and David Wise — planted him firmly in the Copper Age of comics. Over roughly 36 years of publication history, he's turned up across TMNT Adventures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Giant Size Special, and Mighty Mutanimals, sharing pages with Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Splinter himself. With 50 catalog appearances and at least one collector-recognized key issue to his name, Yoshi is a figure whose presence quietly anchors the mythology that surrounds those famous heroes in a half-shell — the kind of character that rewards the fan who digs a little deeper into the rich, sprawling universe Archie built around the Turtles phenomenon.