A new young leader and a surprise visit… Why did the leader of the Yamaguchi Gumi VI, Shinobu Tsukasa, appear at “Shin-Yokohama Station in the daytime” with his top executives in tow?

Shin-Yokohama Station in the late afternoon, when many people come and go, was in an uproar.

A little past 3:00 p.m. on April 22, strong-looking men in suits appeared one after another in the station. Around them, about 30 investigators from the Kanagawa Prefectural Police and the Metropolitan Police Department were on high alert. Amidst the strange atmosphere that made people passing by the station stop in their tracks, the leader of the Yamaguchigumi VI, Shinobu Tsukasa, 83, made his appearance.

Wearing a gray suit and sunglasses, Tsukasa walked with dignity, paying no attention to his surroundings. Slightly behind him is Shomei Takeuchi, 65, a young leader who just took office on April 18. What was the purpose of his sudden arrival at Shin-Yokohama Station with a new leader in tow?

The purpose of Mr. Tsukasa’s visit to Yokohama was to pay his condolences to President Jiro Kiyota of the Inagawa-kai, who had passed away the previous day, the 21st. The relationship between the two is deep, as the young head of Yamaguchigumi VI, Mr. Takeuchi, and the president of Inagawa-kai, Mr. Kazuya Uchibori, had exchanged a five-minute brotherly sake cup. Since the news of the death of the president of Inagawa-kai, it is likely that Mr. Tsukasa himself went to the funeral” (a journalist familiar with the Yamaguchigumi situation).

About an hour and a half before Mr. Tsukasa’s arrival, Seiji Takayama (77), who had assumed the newly established post of “advisor” from the Wakagashira under the new personnel structure, also showed up at Shin-Yokohama Station. The three top leaders of the new organization came together to pay their condolences, which may have been due to the efforts of the Inagawa-kai in the declaration of the end of the “Yamaguchigumi split war” issued at the beginning of April.

Chairman Uchibori moved directly at the “front line of the feud.

This August, a full 10 years will have passed since the ongoing “split war” between the Yamaguchigumi VI and the Kobe Yamaguchigumi. It has become a long-term war rarely seen in the world, and it was on April 7 that a drastic change occurred on the front line. Several members of the executive board of the Yamaguchigumi VI visited the Hyogo Prefectural Police. They submitted a written pledge not to start any conflict with the Kobe Yamaguchigumi in the future. This was in effect a “declaration of an end,” but it was the Inagawa-kai that preceded it.

At the beginning of this year, with the informal consent of the Yamaguchigumi VI, Chairman Uchibori of the Inagawa-kai went around to all the friendly organizations in Japan and compiled a written request concerning the end of the conflict. This laid the groundwork that the declaration of termination was not the sole decision of Yamaguchigumi VI, but was endorsed by the friendly organizations. On top of that, Yamaguchigumi VI submitted a written pledge to the Hyogo Prefectural Police.

However, the submission of the written pledge was unilateral, and as long as the intention of Kobe Yamaguchigumi is unknown, the police authorities will not accept Yamaguchigumi VI’s claim at face value and admit that the “war has ended. Still, there is no doubt that this is a significant change, and it is also true that Inagawa-kai made a great effort. It can be said that the relationship between the two has become even stronger.

The visit by the Tsukasa group leader and others was a reminder of the depth of the relationship between the two groups.