Shots and Shadows: Memories of the Hiroshima Proxy War, 1963

Shots and Shadows: Memories of the Hiroshima Proxy War, 1963

In 1963, the city of Hiroshima was silent and tense. On the surface, Hiroshima was just another regional city enjoying the benefits of rapid economic growth, but underground, a fierce struggle for control was raging between local gangs and outside forces. This is what is known as the "Hiroshima Proxy War. The essence of this war started when the Yamaguchigumi, a huge Osaka-based gang, began a full-scale invasion of the territory that had been built up over many years by local independent gangs, including the Yamamura clan led by Tatsuo Yamamura and the Uchikoshi-kai. This was the beginning of a full-scale invasion by the Yamaguchigumi, a huge Osaka-based gang.

At the time, Kazuo Taoka, the third head of the Yamaguchigumi, was planning to conquer the whole country, and he wanted to include Hiroshima as part of his plan. The local factions were vehemently opposed to this, and tensions rose between the advance faction, which could be said to be a pawn of outside forces, and the Josuikai, which received support from the Yamaguchigumi, and others. From the spring of 1963 to the summer of 1963, there was a series of incidents in Hiroshima City in which gunshots rang out, and a number of people were killed or wounded in attacks on top leaders and in fights. The battlefield spread to the streets at night, and anxiety and fear spread among the citizens.

At the center of this conflict were the local heroes, the Yamamura-gumi, and the Uchikoshi-kai, which was rapidly growing in power. The Yamamura-gumi was a long-established gang based in Hiroshima City, a hard-line faction that had survived the postwar turmoil. Its leader, Tatsuo Yamamura, was rooted in the city's interest structure and exerted influence over construction, real estate, and even the entertainment district. The Yamamura-gumi, strongly opposed to the Yamaguchigumi's expansion into Hiroshima, devoted all its energy to eliminating outside forces. The Uchikoshi-kai, on the other hand, was in close proximity to the Yamamura-gumi, but eventually became more independent under the leadership of its chairman, Masayuki Uchikoshi. In the process, they came to be discussed in relation to the Yamaguchigumi and transformed themselves into a "key" player in the proxy war.

Finally, the war plunged into a bloody chain of events. In 1963, in Nagarekawa-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima City - the center of today's entertainment district - members of the Uchikoshi-kai gang attacked a Yamamura-gumi leader. Guns were fired in broad daylight, and the sound of the gunfire instantly froze the bustle of the downtown area. The perpetrators escaped and were not pursued by the police, but the incident sent shockwaves through civil society. Retaliation followed in rapid succession, with members of the Yamamura-gumi firing a pistol near the Uchikoshi-kai side's office. One person was killed and a passerby was wounded by a stray bullet. In August 1963, at the north exit of Hiroshima Station, the two factions met by chance late at night and immediately began a gun battle. More than ten shots were fired, and it took several minutes for the police to subdue them. The local newspaper reported it as "urban warfare," and the fear of the citizens reached its peak.

In that year, there were more than 30 shooting incidents, resulting in more than 10 deaths and dozens of injuries. Restaurants, station fronts, shopping streets - everyday life was transformed into a battlefield. The Hiroshima Prefectural Police set up a special response and the National Police Agency dispatched officers to calm the situation, but the roots of the violence remained deep.

In parallel with the fighting, the police proceeded to uncover and seize weapons. In particular, after "Operation Summit" went into full swing, raids were intensively conducted on clan offices and related facilities. The seized weapons were mainly pistols. These included .38-caliber revolvers and small automatic pistols made in foreign countries, such as Berettas and Walthers. These were presumed to have been distributed through smuggling routes and illegal modifications after the war, and brought into Hiroshima via Kure Port and Osaka. Shotguns and hunting rifles were also used, and in the suburbs they were used for warning shots and night raids. In addition, imitation pistols, modified guns with gunpowder, homemade stun guns, knives, Japanese swords, and Wakizashi, an old-fashioned weapon, were also seized.

Finally, police also seized dozens of firearms, hundreds of rounds of live ammunition, bulletproof vests, and metal fragments believed to be grenade parts, revealing an unusually heavily armed state for a local city. The armaments were more than mere gang warfare; they were reminiscent of the existence of a private army in the city.

The Hiroshima Proxy War of 1963 was not just a local city war. It is a living testimony of how the "underworld" of gangs expanded their territory and created a private order. Blood was spilled behind the silence. The smell of it still lingers in the back streets of Hiroshima.