Yama–Ichi War

The Yama–Ichi Feud (山一抗争, Yama-Ichi Kōsō) was a yakuza conflict mainly fought in the Kansai region of Japan from 1985 to 1989, between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Ichiwa-kai gangs.

Yama-Ichi War
Date1985-1989
Location
Kansai region, Japan
Result

Yamaguchi-gumi victory

  • Several Yamaguchi-gumi members later arrested due to increased police attention
Combatants

 Japanese Government

In Hawaii:
 US Government

 Ichiwa-kai Yamaguchi-gumi
Casualties and losses
None Unknown Unknown
Over 36 killed in total

Kazuo Taoka was the third boss of the Kobe-based Yamaguchi-gumi, who made the family into by far the biggest yakuza family in Japan. When he died of natural causes in 1981, then wakagashira (underboss) Kenichi Yamamoto was in prison and the other top lieutenants decided to wait for his release. However, in early 1982, Yamamoto suddenly died of liver failure. After his death, the top lieutenants could not immediately elect a boss, and they temporarily chose Hiroshi Yamamoto as acting boss and Masahisa Takenaka as wakagashira.

The circumstances that precipitated the conflict were as follows: Hiroshi Yamamoto, accompanied by 18 of his lieutenants and 3,000 other individuals, seceded from the Yamaguchi-gumi to establish his own organization, the Ichiwa-kai. This division was the result of professional envy, as Yamamoto had been perceived as a potential candidate for the esteemed title of kumicho, or supreme godfather, within the Yamaguchi-gumi. However, his aspirations were thwarted when Masahisa Takenaka was selected for the role by the other members, including the influential Fumiko Taoka, widow of Kazuo Taoka.

On January 26, 1985, Yamamoto sent a team of hitmen to Takenaka's girlfriend's home in Suita. While waiting for an elevator, Takenaka, underboss Katsumasa Nakayama, and one other member of the family were shot dead, sparking a bloody nationwide conflict that came to be known as the Yama–Ichi War. The enraged Yamaguchi-gumi and its newly chosen acting boss Kazuo Nakanishi and wakagashira Yoshinori Watanabe vowed to wipe out the Ichiwa-kai in revenge.[1]

In the years that followed, 36 gangsters were killed and many more were seriously wounded in an estimated 220 gun battles.[2] At the time, local newspapers carried daily "scorecards" with the latest body counts on both sides.

The war continued for several years, and the Yamaguchi-gumi eventually prevailed. It proved to be a pyrrhic victory however, as many of the gang's members, including Masahisa Takenaka's high-ranking brother Masashi, were arrested in the ensuing police crackdowns. Realizing they were outnumbered and outgunned, many Ichiwa-kai members sought police protection. With the help of a neutral Tokyo gang, the Inagawa-kai, a peace accord was finally brokered under which the remaining Ichiwa-kai defectors were allowed to rejoin the Yamaguchi-gumi.

In 1989, Yoshinori Watanabe was elected as fifth kumicho of the Yamaguchi-gumi.[3]

References
  1. Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld ,David E. Kaplan, 2003
  2. TOPPAMONO: Outlaw. Radical. Suspect. My Life in Japan's Underworld
  3. Viviano, Frank (May–June 1995). "The New Mafia Order". Mother Jones Magazine. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
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