<p><span class="strongInContent">For the Yamaguchigumi VI, the year 2013 was a &#8220;milestone year. It unilaterally put an end to the ongoing split war with the Kobe Yamaguchigumi. Nonfiction writer Masahiro Ojima, whose books include &#8220;The True Story of the Yamaguchigumi Split,&#8221; looks back on this turbulent year.</span></p>
<figure id="attachment_451850" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-451850" style="width: 950px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="52511a67"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/12/e68fe49e552e4b66819f82cc1e85733c.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-451850" class="wp-caption-text"> Shinobu Tsukasa (center) has reigned as the head of the Yamaguchigumi VI for 20 years. He will turn 84 next January, but his influence is still enormous.</figcaption></figure>
<p> Ten years have passed since the split of the &#8220;Yamaguchigumi VI,&#8221; Japan&#8217;s largest crime syndicate, in August 2003, and the rivalry that has been fought between it and the breakaway &#8220;Kobe Yamaguchigumi.</p>
<p> So far, murders with pistols and other incidents have occurred, and for a period of time, shots were fired at rival offices, large vehicles such as dump trucks were raided, Molotov cocktails were thrown, and brawls broke out in the downtown area on a daily basis, resulting in dozens of deaths. This year, however, the Yamaguchigumi VI unilaterally declared an end to the war in April. Perhaps because of this, there have been no major incidents since then, and the end of the year has passed relatively peacefully.</p>
<p> At the time of the split, Yamaguchigumi VI had approximately 6,000 members and Kobe Yamaguchigumi approximately 2,800, a power difference of approximately 2 to 1. However, a number of heinous incidents occurred one after another, including the shooting death of a senior member of the Kobe Yamaguchigumi around the fall of 1919. The Yamaguchigumi VI became dominant, and according to the latest data compiled by the police authorities as of the end of 2012, the number of members of the Yamaguchigumi VI has greatly decreased to approximately 3,000, while the number of members of the Kobe Yamaguchigumi has decreased to approximately 120.</p>
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<h3><span class="strongInContent"> Another case of infighting in &#8217;25</span></h3>
<p> In the 10 years since the split, 95% of the members of Kobe Yamaguchigumi have left the organization. A senior police official in charge of organized crime control estimates that the Kobe (Yamaguchigumi) side may have double-digit membership data as of the end of this year, and the gap between the two sides is likely to widen further.</p>
<p> The last case of rivalry this year is believed to be the arson attack on the home of Kunio Inoue, 77, head of the Kobe Yamaguchigumi clan in Kobe City, which occurred in January. A former Yamaguchigumi VI-affiliated leader entered the premises of Inoue&#8217;s home with a pistol in his possession. He was arrested on charges of arson other than arson of buildings and violation of the Firearms Control Law.</p>
<p> Although the rivalry between the two gangs was quieted down for the New Year&#8217;s holiday, a senior official of a designated gang operating in the Tokyo metropolitan area, who has been watching the split, said, &#8220;In the yakuza society, there is a principle of righteousness and a principle of justice.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In yakuza society, there is an unwritten rule that fights are not to take place on celebratory occasions such as the unveiling of a leader&#8217;s successor&#8217;s name, or on mourning occasions such as a funeral for a senior leader. Basically, people keep quiet on the happy New Year&#8217;s day, but there is no guarantee that nothing will happen.</span></p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Aims behind the &quot;declaration of the end of the war&quot; of the Yamaguchigumi VI"></div>
<figure id="attachment_451847" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-451847" style="width: 2140px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="49509f10"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/12/0b0469ffe8f7fe176b5992b09431317b.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-451847" class="wp-caption-text">Seiji Takayama (right) assumed the position of Advisor in April this year. He succeeded Shomei Takeuchi (left), a member of his parent organization, Kodokai, as Wakagashira.</figcaption></figure>
<h3><span class="strongInContent"> It will take time to &#8220;lift the designation of specific anti-tank wars.</span></h3>
<p> A senior investigator of the police authority mentioned above said, &#8220;Even if the Yamaguchigumi VI makes a declaration of termination, it is not possible to say, &#8216;Yes, is that so? The purpose may be the lifting of the designation as a specific feud, but there is no change in the state of rivalry and strife. For the time being, the designation will continue.</p>
<p> The designated gangs for specific conflicts, as pointed out by a senior police official, are organizations designated by the Prefectural Public Safety Commission under the Violence Prevention Law when there is a risk of serious harm to the general public due to conflicts between designated gangs. This provision was newly established in the fifth amendment of the Anti-riot Law in 2012.</p>
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<p> Once an organization is designated as a &#8220;designated organized crime group,&#8221; it is prohibited by the Public Safety Commission to gather with more than five other members of the same organized crime group in a designated &#8220;warning area&#8221; within the designated area. Violators are subject to immediate arrest without the need for a cease and desist order or other administrative order. The restricted areas are set in Osaka City, Kobe City, Nagoya City, and other cities.</p>
<p> The Yamaguchigumi VI and the Kobe Yamaguchigumi were designated in January 2008 because their rivalry has been intensifying since the fall of 2007. Yamaguchigumi VI is in a state of &#8220;triple designation&#8221; because it is also in a state of rivalry and warfare with Ikeda-gumi and Kizuna-gumi, which further split from Kobe Yamaguchigumi, and both of them are designated as specified rivalry-designated organized crime groups.</p>
<p> The first designation for a specific warring gang was given in December 2012, when the Kyushu-based &#8220;Dojinkai&#8221; split as well and was involved in a series of conflicts with the &#8220;Kyushu Seidokai. In this conflict, more than ten people were killed on both sides, and there were also civilian victims. Again, both the Dojinkai and the Kyushu Seidokai declared an end to the conflict in June 2001. However, the restrictions on designated gangs were lifted one year later, in June 2002. Because of this precedent, the lifting of the designation of the Yamaguchigumi VI and the Kobe Yamaguchigumi is not yet foreseeable.</p>
<p> In April of this year, while the rivalry between the two organizations was quieting down, it became clear that Seiji Takayama (78), the leader of Yamaguchigumi VI, who had been managing the organization as the number two for about 20 years, was to step down as an adviser to the organization. Shomei Takeuchi (65), an assistant to the young leader, was appointed as the successor young leader. The two top members of the Yamaguchigumi VI gang, Shinobu Tsukasa (83) and Takeuchi, are again both from the Kodokai.</p>
<p> While the Yamaguchigumi VI is steadily consolidating its organization, the Kobe Yamaguchigumi has made no overt moves. The fact is that the organization is undeniably shrinking, and the gap between the two tends to grow even larger. (Titles omitted)</p>
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 Takero Shintai

 For the Yamaguchigumi VI, the year 2013 was a "milestone year". It unilaterally put an end to the split war that had continued with the Kobe Yamaguchigumi. We look back at the turbulent year of 2013 once again.

[Special reading] A drastic change in the front line of the struggle in which a lot of blood was spilled&#8230; The track of the milestone year of the &#8220;declaration of the end of the struggle&#8221; of the Yamaguchigumi VI.

[Special reading] A drastic change in the front line of the struggle in which a lot of blood was spilled… The track of the milestone year of the “declaration of the end of the struggle” of the Yamaguchigumi VI.

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