Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #118 (Feb 1979).

She first met the X-Men when they returned from a sojourn in the Savage Land and were asked to help Japan, which was being blackmailed by the terrorist Moses Magnum.

[4] Some time later, however, Mariko was married by Shingen to yakuza gang leader Noburu-Hideki to solidify her father's connections to the Japanese underworld, and was subjected to brutal domestic abuse by her husband.

However, Mariko explained her opinion of her father and presented the family katana to Logan as a token of her approval as an honorable warrior who is properly entitled to it.

[6] When the control was lifted, Wolverine and Mariko resumed their romantic relationship after a period of separation, but have not reconsidered marriage.

Mariko also refused any closer engagement with Logan until she had dealt with her father's criminal legacy, which she felt honor-bound to rectify.

The X-Men returned from the first Secret Wars and, accidentally ending up in Japan, fighting a dragon their companion Lockheed had brought along.

Wolverine killed her and vowed to avenge Mariko by yearly severing parts of Matsu'o's body on the anniversary of her death.

Mariko participates in an attempt to bomb forces of Apocalypse based in North America, though she knows this would mean extensive civilian deaths.

Perry Moore includes her as an example of the poor treatment of gay superheroes, paralleling the earlier Women in Refrigerators.

I've done one story arc in Green Lantern featuring a gay character who was a survivor of a hate crime.

[18] Mariko Yashida appears in Wolverine Noir as a businesswoman looking to expand her father's interests into 1937's New York City and recruits Jim and Dog Logan.

[20] In the present, Logan is shown in a relationship with a woman named Yami Yashida, until she is killed in a plane crash.

She is saved by Kenuichio Harada with the Black Ninja clan and taken to a research center based where Ichirō was born.