Tense Capture: Woman’s Voice Singing Sakamoto Fuyumi Song Heard at Chairman Shinobu Tsukasa’s ’82nd Birthday Party’ of the Sixth Generation Yamaguchi-gumi, as ‘Bursting Smile’ Captured!

“I can see you!”

It was a little after 4:30 in the evening of January 25, when a voice echoed in a certain place in Seto City, Aichi Prefecture, a voice as bold as the cold wind. The voice signaled the appearance of a black luxury car.

The location was the headquarters of the Seto Family, a secondary organization of the Yamaguchigumi VI. The parking lot was lined with a row of executives of the VI. Amidst the heightened tension, with plainclothes police officers providing security, it was Shinobu Tsukasa, 82, who alighted from the luxury car.

On this day, we held a birthday party for the head of the Tsukasa clan,” said Seiji Takayama, 76. After 5:30, a karaoke contest started. As in past birthday parties, a companion was invited to join the birthday party, and in addition to the beautiful voices of the members who were proud of their singing, a woman’s voice could be heard singing a Fuyumi Sakamoto song at times. The birthday party was very lively and lasted until after 7:00 p.m.,” said a police official.

After the party, Mr. Tsukasa came out in a good mood, led by Mr. Takayama and Mr. Takeuchi. His face was flushed, as if he had enjoyed the celebratory sake. After chatting with the executives with a smile that made the corners of his eyes droop, he got into a pickup truck and left the headquarters.

It seems that the birthday party was a fulfilling one, but on the other hand, there are some points that are worrisome. Since Corona, the Tsukasa group leader has held his birthday parties in secret. This year, however, by mid-January, rumors were circulating in the neighborhood. Why did he not hide the holding of the event this time?

It must have been because his aim was to show that he was still alive and well. The split war with the Kobe Yamaguchigumi will enter its 10th year this summer. Before that, in order to show the sense of unity of the union inside and outside, they probably dared not to hide the birthday party in which all the executives were present” (Journalist covering Yamaguchigumi).

The split war started in August 2003. The number of members in both camps has been drastically reduced to an estimated 200 on the Kobe side, compared to approximately 3,800 on the Rokudai side. With the gap in strength widening significantly, there was a major upheaval at the beginning of the year before the turning point.

On January 14, a former member of the Yamaguchigumi VI secondary organization was shot to death at a Starbucks in Shikokuchuo City, Ehime Prefecture. The alleged culprit was Yuichiro Maeya, the number two member of the Ikeda-gumi, a former affiliate of the Kobe Yamaguchigumi.

The Ikeda-gumi is allied with the Kizuna-kai, a martial arts organization that opposes the Rokudai, and in September 2010 it formed an equal kinship with the Kobe Yamaguchigumi, making it a keystone of the “anti-Rokudai Yamaguchigumi alliance. The significance of the number two being wanted and absent is great.

The young leader of the Kizumikai also caused a shooting incident in 2008, was wanted, and disappeared, so the Rengo side has lost another powerful person. The shooting incident itself is said to have been the result of a personal grudge, and the Rokugan Rikudai have issued a notice to each block, telling them not to retaliate. The Rokugyo VI side cannot stop laughing as they see the enemy camp destroying itself on its own.

The Rokume VI side has no scruples about diplomacy. Three days after the incident, Wakao Takayama visited the funeral of a Sumiyoshikai executive and held a three-way meeting with Kazuya Uchibori, 71, chairman of the Inagawa-kai, and Shuji Ogawa, chairman of the Sumiyoshikai. They deepened their friendship. Behind the smiling face Tsukasa showed at the birthday party, he may have been expressing a relaxed attitude toward the split war, which has entered its final phase.

From the February 16, 2024 issue of “FRIDAY