The Kokusui-kai ("Patriotic Society") (國粹会), founded in 1958, is a
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, ...
-based
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 ...
organization with an estimated 1000 members. Despite its relatively low membership, it is widely viewed as a wealthy and successful gang, controlling Tokyo's fashionable Ginza district. Its ''oyabun'', or godfather, was Kazuyoshi Kudo until his suicide in February 2007.The Guardian - Suicide suspected in yakuza death /ref>
The gang had long been a member of the Kantō Hatsukakai, a federation of Tokyo yakuza groups opposed to the powerful, Kansai-based
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 ...
.
This changed in August 2005, when in a surprise move, the Kokusui-kai withdrew from the Kantō alliance and became an affiliate of the Yamaguchi-gumi. The timing of the change was particularly interesting: the Yamaguchi-gumi's new godfather,
Kenichi Shinoda
, also known as , is a Japanese Yakuza, the sixth and current ''kumicho'' (supreme kingpin, or chairman) of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza organization.
Career
Shinoda was born in Ōita, Kyushu.Kantō region. The merger with the Kokusui-kai, in which Shinoda became sworn brothers with Kazuyoshi Kudo in a
sake
Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...
-sharing ritual, was concrete evidence of the Yamaguchi's expansion.