was 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 ter ...

gang member, the fifth generation ''wakagashira'' 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 ...

, was the third ''kumicho'' of the Yamaken-gumi yakuza gang, and second generation ''kaicho'' of Kenryu-kai. He was an

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

graduate. In 1969, Kuwata was active in the Yamaguchi-gumi. In 1989, he climbed up to

Yoshinori Watanabe was a yakuza, the fifth ''kumicho'' (chairman or Godfather) of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza organization. He became kumicho in 1989. He was known for a more low-key approach than his predecessors, partly due to an anti-gang law pas ...

's personal secretary, which within a year, he was promoted up to the head assistant. Kuwata was involved in a December 1997 assassination in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Tokyo police found a handgun which had been dropped by one of Kuwata's subordinates after a

drive-by shooting A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...

. He was charged with weapons possession in 1998, and was sentenced to 7 years in prison by the

Tokyo District Court is a district court located at 1-1-4 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 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 ...

. His appeal was rejected by the

Tokyo High Court is a high court in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The is a special branch of Tokyo High Court. Japan has eight high courts: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Sendai, Sapporo, and Takamatsu. Each court has jurisdiction over one o ...

and then the

Japanese Supreme Court The , located in Hayabusachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, is the highest court in Japan. It has ultimate judicial authority to interpret the Japanese constitution and decide questions of national law. It has the power of judicial review, which allows it to ...

in May 2003. During his time in jail, Kunio Inoue adopted his child in 2004. In 2005, the ''kumicho'' status of Yamaken-gumi was transferred to Kunio Inoue when Kuwata sufficiently retired. During his time in Hachiiozi medical prison, Kuwata's liver disease deteriorated vastly and the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office ended his prison term on March 15, 2007. Three weeks later, on April 5, 2007 in his home in Osaka, he died at the age of 67.

Notes and references

Translated from the corresponding article in Japanese Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuwata, Kaneyoshi Yakuza members 1939 births 2007 deaths People from Osaka Yamaguchi-gumi