"The Sound of Gunfire Breaking the Silence: Assassination Drama at the Shin-Kobe Tea Lounge, Summer 1997.

"The Sound of Gunfire Breaking the Silence: Assassination Drama at the Shin-Kobe Tea Lounge, Summer 1997.

In the afternoon of August 28, 1997, Masaru Takumi, a young Yamaguchigumi V leader, was shot and killed instantly in the tea lounge of the Shin-Kobe Oriental Hotel. The shot rang out as he was talking with Saizo Kishimoto, head of the Yamaguchigumi General Headquarters, and Tetsuo Nogami, deputy head of the Yamaguchigumi General Headquarters. The attackers were a group of four men. A total of seven bullets were shot into Takumi's head and chest, cruelly severing his life as he neared the seat of power.

The bullets did not reach Mr. Kishimoto, who was in attendance, but their impact signified the beginning of a dark cloud over the future of the organization. In addition, a civilian who happened to be there was also hit by a stray bullet and later died. This was the moment when the vortex of the gang war leaked out into the general public.

Behind this incident was the feud between Takumi and Nakano Taro, the chairman of the Nakano Kai, over the handling of the 1996 shooting incident, which deepened the conflict between the two and eventually led to their breakup. Immediately after Takumi's assassination, Nakano was excommunicated, and order within the Yamaguchigumi was severely shaken.

The gunshot that shattered the "silence" and "order" in an instant was more than just the death of a single person; it was a sound that would determine the fate of the organization.