Chairman Kazuya Uchibori personally attended the meeting… Special circumstances: “more than a dozen executives of the Inagawa-kai” appeared in Yokohama, where more than 20 investigators were on high alert.

The Chairman’s vehicle is coming in!

The evening of September 11, when the temperature had been over 30ºC since the morning, was still sweltering at around 4:30 p.m. The voices of strong men in black suits and black ties echoed through a funeral hall on the outskirts of Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The “chairman’s car,” a Century, appeared shortly afterward, and Kazuya Uchibori, 71, chairman of the Inakawakai, stepped out with a stern expression on his face.

Please come this way.

The person who rushed up to the Century and greeted him was Shomei Takeuchi, 64, assistant to the young leader of the Yamaguchigumi VI. In the waiting room of the funeral hall, the main direct members of the Yamaguchigumi VI executive branch, including Shinobu Tsukasa (82), Seiji Takayama (77), the number 2 head of the Yamaguchigumi, were all present.

On that day, a wake was held for Masayuki Yamazaki, the fourth president of the Masuda clan and a direct member of the Yamaguchigumi VI, who died on September 5. The funeral hall was attended not only by the top executives of the Yamaguchigumi VI, but also by the heads and executives of each gang that had friendly relations with the Masuda Gumi, and they welcomed Chairman Uchibori, who was the last to arrive.

The “strict conditions” imposed at the funeral

A person related to the Yamaguchigumi VI reveals the inside story.

The Mashida-gumi was organized in Yokohama as a vanguard of the Yamaguchigumi’s expansion into the Kanto region during the reign of Kazuo Taoka, the third head of the Yamaguchigumi, and is a militant organization that has built its ground. President Yamazaki was the third head of the Mashida-gumi, and after he handed over the succession to the current fourth head, Hideaki Mizushima, in 2011, he became the president of the Mashida-gumi while remaining the direct supervisor of the Yamaguchigumi VI, and continued to be active in the Mashida-gumi.

Although there have been occasions in the past when the head of the Tsukasa-gumi and the young leader Takayama have attended the funeral of a direct leader, it was extremely unusual for them to appear together in the Tokyo metropolitan area. With the authorities on high alert, not only the Masuda clan leaders, but also the assistant head, Mr. Takeuchi, must have taken the lead in welcoming the attendees so that the wake could be completed without delay. Mr. Takeuchi exchanged a five-minute sake cup with Chairman Uchibori. He personally greeted the attendees and escorted them to the funeral hall.

More than 20 investigators from the local Kanagawa Prefectural Police, Chiba Prefectural Police, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and Hyogo Prefectural Police were on guard duty.

The funeral was held as a family funeral for the Yamasaki family. The authorities imposed strict conditions, such as finishing the service around the time of the 5 p.m. general wake reception, not wearing a gang badge, and not exchanging greetings outside the building,” said an Inagawa-kai official.

Good relationship with Yamaguchigumi VI shown inside and outside

In order to mourn the death of President Yamazaki, a man of distinguished service, many top leaders and major direct attendants from the Yamaguchigumi VI attended the ceremony. It was Inagawa-kai that the senior executives attended on a scale not inferior to that of Yamaguchigumi VI. In addition to Chairman Uchibori, more than a dozen people attended, including Tomeyoshi Sadakata, the general manager of the Inagawa-kai, and Ryuji Ikeda, the general manager of the Inagawa-kai. It seems that there was a sense of duty between the two prestigious yakuza groups, which share the same locality of Yokohama City.

The Inagawa-kai attendees did not come in order of position. The top leaders and executives of Inagawa-kai-affiliated organizations that had close ties with the Masuda clan came at different times. Chancellor Sadakata is the third head of the Umechi clan, and General Director Ikeda is the 12th head of the Koganei clan. Yokohama is the main ground of the Inagawa-kai, and the Masuda-gumi is also based in Yokohama, so many families have in-laws who come and go. That is why there were that many people in attendance. I heard that three seats were prepared for the top three members of the gang who attended the nominated burning of incense.

After completing his attendance at 5:00 p.m., Chairman Uchibori left the funeral hall first and started his way home in a Century as the assistant head Takeuchi and other Yamaguchigumi VI leaders saw him off. Mr. Takeuchi watched the attendees leave the funeral hall until the end.

The relationship between Yamaguchigumi VI and Inagawa-kai is strong, and this funeral showed it again to the world. It seems that President Yamazaki’s wide friendship further deepened the bond between the two” (Journalist familiar with Yamaguchigumi affairs).

In August, the split war between the Yamaguchigumi VI and the Kobe Yamaguchigumi marked its 10th year. Immediately after that, an incident occurred in Miyazaki Prefecture in which a member of the Yamaguchigumi VI gang shot and killed a senior member of the Ikeda-gumi, with whom they were in conflict. Although the funeral was held in the midst of anticipated retaliation by the Ikeda-gumi, the head of Tsukasa-gumi and other top leaders attended the funeral with dignity.

Perhaps they wanted to show the strength of the Yamaguchigumi VI’s solidarity.

This is the view of the journalist mentioned above. This time, the funeral ended without delay. I hope this is not the “calm before the storm” of a fierce retaliation battle.