The is the third largest of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...

groups, with approximately 1,600 members. It is based in the

Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...

, and was one of the first yakuza organizations to begin operating overseas.

History

The Inagawa-kai was founded in Atami, Shizuoka in 1949 as the by Kakuji Inagawa."1993 Police White Paper Chapter 1 : The Actual Condition of the Boryokudan"
1993, ''

National Police Agency National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries: *Afghanistan: Afghan National Police *Haiti: Haitian National Police *Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: National Revolut ...

'' Most of its members were drawn from the

bakuto ''Bakuto'' (博徒) were itinerant gamblers active in Japan from the 18th century to the mid-20th century. They were one of two forerunners (the other being ''tekiya'', or peddlers) to modern Japanese organized crime syndicates called ''yakuza'' ...

(traditional gamblers), and illegal gambling has long been the clan's main source of income. It has also expanded into such fields as drug trafficking,

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

, and

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

. The Inagawa-gumi was renamed the Inagawa-kai in 1972. After Kakuji Inagawa, the gang was led by Susumu Ishii, who led it to unprecedented financial prosperity during the 1980s Japanese bubble economy. At one point the clan's assets were estimated to be over $1.5 billion. After Ishii's death in 1990, Inagawa's son Toi Inagawa took over as ''kumicho'' and led the clan until his death in May 2005. Yoshio Tsunoda took up the mantle in 2006, heading the clan until his death in February 2010."Friendly fire - Inagawa-kai faces Yamaguchi-gumi takeover"
Janes.com. Apr 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-21. The Inagawa-kai quietly helped to provide relief in the wake of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

by sending supplies to affected areas. As a whole, the group shipped over 100 tons of supplies, including instant ramen, bean sprouts, paper diapers, batteries, flashlights, tea and drinking water, to the Tōhoku region.

Key persons

Inagawa-kai's renowned figures in the 20th century include Tatsuo Deguchi (known as the "Moroccan Tatsu" or "Tatsu of Morocco"), Kingo Yoshimizu, Kijin Inoue, Takamasa Ishii, Haruki Sho, and Kiichiro Hayashi.

Leadership

In April 2025, Jirō Kiyota, the former fifth ''kaichō'' (会長, chairman) and then-current ''sōsai'' (総裁, supreme advisor), died of illness. As a result, Kazuya Uchibori became the leader of the Inagawa-kai in both name and reality as its sixth ''kaichō''. * 1st ''kaicho'': Seijo Inagawa (real name: Kakuji Inagawa) * 2nd ''kaicho'': Takamasa Ishii (real name: Susumu Ishii) * 3rd ''kaicho'': Yūkō Inagawa (real name: Toi Inagawa) * 4th ''kaicho'': Yoshio Tsunoda * 5th ''kaicho'': Jiro Kiyota (Real name: Shin Byong-Kyu) * 6th ''kaicho'': Kazuya Uchibori (Real name: Kazuo Uchibori)

In popular culture

* In the 2010 movie ''

Predators Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

'', one of the main characters is a

enforcer known as Hanzo (played by Louis Ozawa Changchien) who is revealed to be a high-ranking member of Inagawa-kai. * In the popular

tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG or TRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a kind of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants d ...

Shadowrun ''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic in fiction, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy, and crime fiction, crime, wit ...

'', the kaicho (boss/head/oyabun) of Inagawa-kai in the ''Shadowrun'' universe is Michizane Oi, a notorious Japanese

elf An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...

and yakuza gangster and son of a powerful executive, Samba Oi, the

chairman of the board The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

of Mitsuhama Computer Technologies (or MCT), one of the largest ''

keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings that dominated the Japanese economy in the second half of the 20th century. In the legal sense, it is a type of business group that is in a loosely organized al ...

s'' in

. * In '' Hitman 2: Silent Assassin'', one of the characters, Tanaka Kusahana, is a high-ranking member of Inagawa-kai (''saiko-komon'' or senior advisor). * In the video game '' Terra Invicta'', Inagawa-kai is one of many organizations the player can recruit for their faction.

References

{{Designated Boryokudan 1949 establishments in Japan Yakuza groups