Yamaguchi-gumi Split Feud: Power Gap Surpasses 25 Times on 10th Anniversary

The largest domestic yakuza syndicate, the Sixth Generation Yamaguchi-gumi, split in August 2015. The ongoing conflict with the breakaway Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi will reach its 10-year mark this summer, continuing for a prolonged period.

In this context, the latest police records on the organization’s members have been obtained. According to the documents, as of the end of 2024, the Sixth Generation Yamaguchi-gumi has approximately 3,300 members, while the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi has only about 120, resulting in a power disparity of 27 to 1. This significant difference makes it unlikely for the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi to reverse the situation. However, the police authorities remain on high alert, considering the ongoing conflict between the two factions.

The rift created over money

The National Police Agency compiles the number of organized crime group members nationwide at the end of each year. When the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi split in 2015, the organization had about 6,000 members, while the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi had around 2,800 members. According to senior police officials, the causes of the split were strict money collection practices and the authoritarian management of the organization under the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi’s leadership. Discontent grew within five organizations, including the Yamaguchi-gumi’s Yamaken-gumi, Takumi-gumi, Ikeda-gumi, Kyoyu-kai, and Masaki-gumi, which formed the core of the split, leading to 13 organizations breaking away from the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi and establishing the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi. The head of the new organization was Kunio Inoue (76), the former leader of the Yamaken-gumi. The Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi initially attracted many members because it promoted itself as a group with lower financial demands.

However, irregular money collection practices also began within the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, leading to dissatisfaction within the organization. In 2017, Takemi-gumi’s executive, Kizuna Oda, left with 400 people, eventually founding the Kizuna-kai, which now operates independently. Later, in 2020, the Ikeda-gumi also left the group. Following this, other core organizations continued to break away, leaving the group fragmented.

Aside from money issues, one reason the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi shrank was because of the ban on retaliation issued by the group’s leader, Inoue, regarding incidents triggered by the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi. A senior leader of a designated violent crime group based in the Tokyo metropolitan area, who had been observing the conflict, expressed confusion, saying:

“Since it’s a Yakuza fight, it doesn’t make sense not to retaliate when you’re attacked. Even if the boss says no, you can just claim that the young members acted on their own. In the Yakuza world, it’s hard to understand being victimized without retaliating, and even regular people would find it strange.”

As a result, the number of members in the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi dropped drastically from around 2,800 members initially to 510 by 2021, and the latest data shows that by the end of 2024, the group has dwindled to approximately 120 members. The Kizuna-kai, which started with about 400 members, now has around 60 members, and the Ikeda-gumi has decreased from around 80 members at its founding to about 60 members.

Arson incident by a former member of the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi

The most intense escalation in the split feud over the past 10 years occurred in the fall of 2019, when a top executive of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi was brutally killed by dozens of gunshots from a highly lethal automatic rifle known as the “M16.” The arrested individual was a former member of the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi. Additionally, two members of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi were simultaneously shot and killed in a separate incident.

In response to these continuing incidents, both the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi and Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi were designated as designated violent groups under specific conflict in January 2020, which severely restricted their activities.

In October 2022, an incident occurred where Ikeda Takashi, the head of the Ikeda-gumi, was attacked with an 18-centimeter survival knife while getting a haircut in a barbershop in Okayama city. Subsequently, the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi also became designated as a specific conflict group with Ikeda-gumi.

The Kizuna-kai also caused incidents involving the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi. In January 2022, the boss of the Isshin-kai faction, affiliated with the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi, was shot and killed at their office in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture. In April 2023, a Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi executive, who also served as the manager of a ramen shop, was killed in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture. In both incidents, the arrested individuals were senior members of Kizuna-kai. The police have classified the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi as being in a state of conflict with Kizuna-kai as well.

Given these incidents, the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi is currently designated in a triple conflict situation with the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, Ikeda-gumi, and Kizuna-kai.

Conflicts have continued into this year. On January 19, a fire broke out at the residence of Inoue, the leader of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, in Kobe City. The arrested suspect was a former member of the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi. A senior police official noted, “Although incidents are no longer occurring as frequently as before, attacks on Inoue’s residence, the main base, are still happening. The conflict is far from resolved. It’s uncertain when a major incident will happen. Moving forward, continuing the specific conflict designation is necessary to severely limit their activities.”