The is the third largest of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

groups, with approximately 3,100 members. It is based in the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

, and was one of the first yakuza organizations to begin operating overseas.

History

The Inagawa-kai was founded in

Atami, Shizuoka is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 36,865 in 21,593 households and a population density of 600 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Atami is located in the far ea ...

in 1949 as the by

Kakuji Inagawa Kakuji Inagawa (稲川角二 ''Inagawa Kakuji''), also known as Seijō Inagawa (稲川聖城 ''Inagawa Seijō''; November 1914 – December 22, 2007) was a Japanese yakuza boss best known for founding the Inagawa-kai, Japan's third-largest yakuz ...

."1993 Police White Paper Chapter 1 : The Actual Condition of the Boryokudan"
1993, ''

National Police Agency National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries: *Afghanistan: Afghan National Police *Haiti: Haitian National Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: Cuban National Police *East Timor: National Police of E ...

'' Most of its members were drawn from the

bakuto ''Bakuto'' (博徒) were itinerant gamblers active in Japan from the 18th century to the mid-20th century. They were one of two forerunners (the other being ''tekiya'', or peddlers) to modern Japanese organized crime syndicates called ''yakuza'' ...

(traditional gamblers), and

illegal gambling Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, ...

has long been the clan's main source of income. It has also expanded into such fields as drug trafficking,

blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

, and

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

. The Inagawa-gumi was renamed the Inagawa-kai in 1972. After Kakuji Inagawa, the gang was led by Susumu Ishii, who led it to unprecedented financial prosperity during the 1980s Japanese bubble economy. At one point the clan's assets were estimated to be over $1.5 billion. After Ishii's death in 1990, Inagawa's son

Toi Inagawa Toi Inagawa (稲川土肥 ''Inagawa Toi''; 1940 – May 29, 2005), a.k.a. Yuko Inagawa (稲川裕紘 ''Inagawa Yuko''), was ''kaicho'' (Godfather) of the Inagawa-kai yakuza gang in Japan from 1990 until 2005. He was also 2nd ''socho'' of the In ...

took over as ''kumicho'' and led the clan until his death in May 2005. Yoshio Tsunoda took up the mantle in 2006, heading the clan until his death in February 2010."Friendly fire - Inagawa-kai faces Yamaguchi-gumi takeover"
Janes.com. Apr 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-21. Kazuo Uchibori may be next in line to lead the clan, but his status as a kyodaibun (blood brother) to Takeuchi Teruaki, a senior member of the

Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan's largest ''yakuza'' organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe before World War II. It is one of the largest criminal organizations i ...

, may complicate things. February 2009 saw the Inagawa-kai 'Honbu' (Head Office) relocate from the Roppongi district of Tokyo to Akasaka. There is currently strong resistance from the local political groups and residents of Akasaka meaning that the location of the new Honbu may change yet again. The Inagawa-kai quietly helped to provide relief in the wake of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

by sending supplies to affected areas. As a whole, the group shipped over 100 tons of supplies, including

instant ramen Instant noodles, or instant ramen, is a type of food consisting of noodles sold in a precooked and dried block with flavoring powder and/or seasoning oil. The dried noodle block was originally created by flash frying cooked noodles, and this is ...

, bean sprouts, paper diapers, batteries, flashlights, tea and drinking water, to the Tōhoku region.

Key persons

Inagawa-kai's renowned figures in the 20th century include Tatsuo Deguchi (known as the "Moroccan Tatsu" or "Tatsu of Morocco"), Kingo Yoshimizu, Kijin Inoue, Takamasa Ishii, Haruki Sho, and Kiichiro Hayashi."Yukyo Yakuza-den, Inagawa-kai Grand President"
13 April 2009, Eiji Oshita and Tadashi Ichinose, , known as "

Gotenba is a city on the southeastern flank of Mount Fuji in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 88,370 in 36,096 households, and a population density of 450 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geogra ...

boss", was originally a Chinese national who moved to Japan as a forced laborer with his family. He was best known as the Grand Advisor for the third-generation Inagawa-kai and was one of the most respected godfathers in Inagawa history.

Leadership

* 1st ''kaicho'':

Seijo Inagawa Kakuji Inagawa (稲川角二 ''Inagawa Kakuji''), also known as Seijō Inagawa (稲川聖城 ''Inagawa Seijō''; November 1914 – December 22, 2007) was a Japanese yakuza boss best known for founding the Inagawa-kai, Japan's third-largest yakuz ...

(real name:

) * 2nd ''kaicho'': Takamasa Ishii (real name: Susumu Ishii) * 3rd ''kaicho'': Yūkō Inagawa (real name:

) * 4th ''kaicho'':

Yoshio Tsunoda Yoshio is both a masculine Japanese given name and a Japanese surname. Possible writings Yoshio can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義雄, "justice, masculine" *義男, "justice, man" ...

* 5th ''kaicho'':

Jiro Kiyota Jiro is the registered name used by Sun Microsystems for an extension to Java (programming language), Java and Jini. Jiro as an industry initiative, along with an EMC initiative called "Wide Sky" were catalysts in the late nineties for a common i ...

(Korean name: Shin Byong-Kyu, 신병규)

In popular culture

* In the 2010 movie ''

Predators Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

'', one of the main characters is a

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

enforcer Enforcer or enforcers may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Comics * Enforcer (comics), a Marvel Comics character * Enforcers (comics), a Marvel Comics team * New Enforcers, another Marvel Comics team Film and television * ''The Enforcer ...

known as Hanzo (played by

Louis Ozawa Changchien Louis Ozawa Changchien (born October 11, 1975) is an American actor best known for his role in the films ''Predators'' ( 2010) and '' The Bourne Legacy'' (2012). Early life and education Changchien was born in Queens, New York and raised in New Y ...

) who is revealed to be a high ranking member of Inagawa-kai. * In the popular

tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...

Shadowrun ''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspir ...

'', the kaicho (boss/head/oyabun) of Inagawa-kai in the Shadowrun universe is Michizane Oi, a notorious Japanese

elf An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

and Yakuza gangster and son of a powerful executive, Samba Oi, the Chairman of the Board of Mitsuhama Computer Technologies (or MCT), one of the biggest

Keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that are loosely organized alliances within the social world of Japan's business community. The ''ke ...

s in

. * In '' Hitman 2: Silent Assassin'', one of the characters, Tanaka Kusahana is a high-ranking member of Inagawa-kai (''saiko-komon'' or senior advisor).

References

{{Designated Boryokudan 1949 establishments in Japan Yakuza groups