The main character of Graveyard of Honor was Rikio Ishikawa (1926-1956), who received his sakazuki (family bond) from Kaoru WADA, the chief of the Wada-gumi, in 1942. Ishikawa soon took charge of the black market in the South Exit area of Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. In an attempt to deal with complaints from one of his men, in 1946, he tried to negotiate with Wada but was instead ordered to sever his pinkie. Later that year, he severely injured Wada with a short sword, and the Boss took a month to recover from the attack. Ishikawa was imprisoned for eighteen months due to the attack, and upon his release, he was ordered to stay away from the Kanto Plain region (Tokyo area) for ten years.

Ishikawa moved to Osaka, but he returned to Tokyo in 1949 (well in advance of his 10-year ban) and shot fellow Yakuza Kouzaburo IMAI. Upon Ishikawa's surrender, he was sentenced to ten years in Fuchu Prison in Tokyo. On February 2, 1956, he committed suicide by jumping from the roof of Fuchu Prison. In his prison cell was his final corrspondence: a poem reading "Oowarai sanjyunen no bakasawagi" (It is so funny, my life of 30 years was a crazy party).

For his rebellion against Yakuza honor, Rikio Ishikawa became a legend in the Yakuza world.