Boryokudan
Bōryokudan (暴力団), literally "violence group", is the term used by the
Japanese police to describe the
organized crime groups commonly known in the English-speaking world as
yakuza. The term "
yakuza" is actually used in Japan to refer to individual members of these groups. They refer to themselves as "
ninkyō dantai" (任侠団" (or 仁侠団"), "chivalrous organizations").
The numbers which precede the names of boryokudan groups refer to the group's leadership. For example, Yoshinori Watanabe headed the
fifth Yamaguchi-gumi; on his retirement, Shinobu Tsukasa became head of the
sixth Yamaguchi-gumi, and "Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi" is the group's formal name.
*Sixth
Yamaguchi-gumi, led by
Shinobu Tsukasa (real name: Kenichi Shinoda), designated from June, 1992
**Fourth
Yamaken-gumi, led by
Kunio Inoue***Fifth
Kenryu-kai, led by
Koji Nakata**
Kishimoto-gumi, led by
Saizo Kishimoto**Second
Kodo-kai, led by
Kiyoshi Takayama**
Goto-gumi, led by
Tadamasa Goto**
Kokusui-kai, led by
Kazuyoshi Kudo, designated from May, 1994 to October, 2005
*
Inagawa-kai, founded by
Seijo Inagawa (real name: Kakuji Inagawa), designated from June, 1992
*
Sumiyoshi-kai, led by
Shigeo Nishiguchi and
Hareaki Fukuda, designated from June, 1992
**
Sumiyoshi-ikka, led by
Hareaki Fukuda***
Shinwa-kai, led by
Hideo Komatsuzawa*Fourth
Kudo-kai, led by
Satoru Nomura, designated from June, 1992
*Third
Kyokuryu-kai, led by
Yoshihiro Onaga, designated from June, 1992
*
Okinawa Kyokuryu-kai, led by
Kiyoshi Tominaga, designated from June, 1992
*Fifth
Aizukotetsu-kai, led by
Toshitsugu Zukoshi, designated from July, 1992
*Fifth
Kyosei-kai, led by
Atsumu Moriya, designated from July, 1992
*Sixth
Goda-ikka, led by
Kanji Nukui, designated from July, 1992
*Fourth
Kozakura-ikka, led by
Kiei Hiraoka, designated from July, 1992
*Third
Asano-gumi, led by
Yoshiaki Kushita, designated from December, 1992
*Second
Dojin-kai, led by
Seijiro Matsuo, designated from December, 1992
*
Shinwa-kai, led by
Katsuhiko Hosotani (real name: Kunihiko Hosotani) and
Hirofumi Kira, designated from December, 1992
*
Soai-kai, led by
Akira Takamura (real name: Sin Myong U), designated from December, 1992
*Third
Yamano-kai, designated from December, 1992 to November, 2001
*
Ishikawa-ikka, designated from February, 1993 to October, 1995
*Third
Kyodo-kai, led by
Nozomu Ikezawa, designated from March, 1993
*
Taishu-kai, led by
Hiroshi Hidaka, designated from March, 1993
*Seventh
Sakaume-gumi, led by
Kozaburo Kanayama (real name: Zaikaku Kin), designated from May, 1993
*
Kyokuto-SakuraiSoke-Rengokai, led by
Kazuo Shimura, designated from July, 1993 to May, 2005
*
Kyokuto-kai, led by
Shinichi Matsuyama (real name: Cho Kyu Hwa), designated from July, 1993
*
Azuma-gumi, led by
Kiyoshi Azuma (real name: Kiyoshi Kishida), designated from August, 1993
*
Matsuba-kai, led by
Kuniyasu Makino (real name: I Chun Song), designated from February, 1994
*Second
Dainippon-Heiwa-kai, designated from April, 1994 to April, 1997
*
Nakano-kai, led by
Taro Nakano, designated from July, 1999
*Second
Fukuhaku-kai, led by
Shoshiro Wada (real name: Makio Wada), designated from February, 2000
*
Kanto-kai, founded by
Yoshio Kodama*
Ichiwa-kai, led by
Hiromu Yamamoto, formed after breaking away from the Yamaguchi-gumi following the death of Yamaguchi-gumi
kumicho Kazuo Taoka. They fought the
Yama-Ichi War against the main Yamaguchi-gumi boryokudan.
*Second
Honda-kaiDavid P. Flores (US) infiltrated the Boryokudan group in 1992 at age 21. He was both the first American to do so and the youngest foreigner to be inducted into a Japanese Yakuza crime organization. He was dismissed after being discovered working for two families at once. He is now 31, a working artist and lives in California under US Federal government protection from the yakuza. His original point of entry into the Boryukodan remains a mystery.
*
yakuza
