Kizuna of the Dark Current--Dohinkai and the Shadow of Yukitaka Maeda (1971-2024)

Kizuna of the Dark Current--Dohinkai and the Shadow of Yukitaka Maeda (1971-2024)

To date, there is little information on Noritaka Maeda, the first generation of the Maeda family of the Dōnin-kai, in official documents or press articles, and the details of his career and activities have not been disclosed. The Maeda family is assumed to be one of the internal organizations of the Dojinkai, a designated organized crime syndicate based in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, but the first generation of the Maeda family, Noritaka Maeda himself, has rarely been mentioned separately in the history of conflicts and organizational changes. His existence is quietly submerged in history as a part of the spreading dark current of the Dōnin-kai.

The Dōjinkai is a designated organized crime syndicate based in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, founded in 1971 by Isoji Koga and officially recognized as a designated organized crime group by the Fukuoka Prefecture Public Safety Commission in 1992. The group has approximately 320 members and has spread its influence throughout Fukuoka, Saga, Kumamoto, and Nagasaki prefectures.

Its successive chairmen include Isoji Koga I, Seijiro Matsuo II, Yoshihisa Onaka (Yoshihisa Matsuo) III, Tetsuji Kobayashi IV, and Kenichi Fukuda, who became the fifth president in May 2024. Kenichi Fukuda leads a powerful faction called the Fukuda-gumi, and is regarded as the most powerful person in terms of financial power and organizational leadership.

The history of the Dojinkai has been colored by blood feuds on numerous occasions. In particular, during the "Yamamichi War" that unfolded from 1986 to 1987, nine members lost their lives in a fierce clash with the Yamaguchigumi. Between 2006 and 2013, the group fought to the death with the Kyushu Seidokai, which split from an internal feud, resulting in forty-seven incidents in which hand grenades and machine guns were used and fourteen people were killed.

In response to this escalation of violence, the local community also took action. In Kurume City, a citizens' movement demanding the withdrawal of the headquarters office grew, forcing the Dojinkai to move its base to Miyaki Town, Saga Prefecture. The Fukuoka Prefectural Police also established the Chikugo District Boryokudan Control Headquarters to cut off the Doyinkai's funding sources and to clarify the true nature of the organization.

In recent years, there have been dramatic developments such as the "reconciliation" with archrival Namikawa-kai and the "simultaneous retirement" of the top leaders, and the map of gangs in Kyushu is being quietly rewritten. The police and society are now quietly watching to see whether the Dōnin-kai will indeed reorganize itself under the Fukuda V regime, or whether it will ignite a new conflict.