Fate of Pride and Blood - Yamaichi War and Hiroshi Yamamoto's Decision

Fate of Pride and Blood - Yamaichi War and Hiroshi Yamamoto's Decision

In 1984, the Yamaichi War broke out, which shook the Japanese underworld. It was one of the largest postwar conflicts between the Yamaguchigumi, Japan's largest crime syndicate, and its offshoot, the Ichiwakai. It began as a struggle over the position of the next head of the gang after the death of the third head, Kazuo Taoka. Many expected young leader Hiroshi Yamamoto to succeed him, but the chosen successor was Masahisa Takenaka of the Takenaka clan. Yamamoto, his pride damaged, left the organization and formed a new Ichiwakai. Here, the curtain opens on a battle that will wash blood from blood.

The war spread throughout the country, and gunshots rang out in the streets of downtown Osaka, claiming many lives. The war intensified with an assassination attempt on Masahisa Takenaka and a series of gun battles and attacks in Minami. Then, in January 1985, when Takenaka was assassinated at the long-established ryotei "Ichiriki" in Kyoto, the anger of the Yamaguchigumi reached its peak and a thorough retaliation began. The large-scale crackdown by the police and the cutting off of financial sources led to the rapid decline of Ichiwakai and the gradual fading of Yamamoto's influence.

Finally, in 1969, Hiroshi Yamamoto decided to dissolve the Ichiwakai. The man who once led 3,000 members was defeated because of his pride, and the war came to an end. Later, in 1992, the Anti-Gang Law was enacted, and Japan's gangster society entered a new era. A man who lost everything because he put his pride first. His name and the scars of the war still cast a deep shadow over the Japanese underworld.