The is a

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 ...

group headquartered in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka on the

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

island of Japan, with an estimated 200 active members. The Kudo-kai has been a purely independent syndicate ever since its foundation, and has caused numerous conflicts with the

Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan's largest ''yakuza'' organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for longshoreman, dockworkers in Kobe before World War II. It is one of the largest organized cr ...

(at least on eight separate occasions in 2000; at least one Yamaguchi-affiliate boss was shot to death by the Kudo-kai in 2000). The Kudo-kai is the largest yakuza group in the

Kitakyushu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuk ...

area, and like other yakuza groups based in the northern Kyushu region, it is noted for its extremely militant stance, by using the likes of machine guns and

hand grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

s in their activities. The Kudo-kai is regarded as the best example of

yakuza who strongly oppose the police, get angry easily, and "fight with pride". The

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 ...

's official report refers to the Kudo-kai as a "particularly nefarious group"."Boryokudan Situation in 2010"
April 2011, ''

'' One notable incident happened in March 1988, while feuding with a Chinese mafia syndicate attempting to enter the Kitakyushu area, the Kudo-kai attacked the Consulate General Fukuoka office of the People's Republic of China, which had nothing to do with the mafia, with

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

s and a

dump truck A dump truck, known also as a dumping truck, dump lorry or dumper lorry or a dumper for short, is used for transporting materials (such as dirt, gravel, or demolition waste) for construction as well as coal. A typical dump truck is equipped ...

. The Kudo-kai is a member of an anti-Yamaguchi fraternal federation, the Yonsha-kai, with three other northern-Kyushu based organizations, the Taishu-kai, Dojin-kai, and Kumamoto-kai.''The Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi Complete Databook 2008 Edition'' : "The funeral of the Fourth Kudo-kai Honorary Adviser Hideo Mizoshita" (p.192–197), 1 February 2009, Mediax, The Yonsha-kai had been known as the "Sansha-kai" until 2005 when the Kumamoto-kai joined it. The Kudo-kai is the principal member of this federation.

History

The Kudo-kai was founded before WWII as a bakuto organization named the "Kudo-gumi" in

Kokura is an ancient Jōkamachi, castle town and the center of modern Kitakyushu, Japan. Kokura is also the name of the Kokura Station, penultimate station on the southbound San'yō Shinkansen line, which is owned by JR West. Ferries connect Kokura ...

by the first president Genji Kudo. In 1987, the Kudo-kai annexed the Kusano-ikka, a Kitakyushu-based yakuza clan which had frequent violent conflicts with the Kudo-kai until then. The Kudo-kai was registered as a designated yakuza group under the Organized Crime Countermeasures Law in 1992. Hideo Mizoshita became the third president in January 2000,"Hideo Mizoshita profile"
'' Takarajima'' and he died on July 1, 2008, at the age of 61. His funeral was held on July 6 of that year, where the attendees included many yakuza magnates from all over the country, such as those from the Sumiyoshi-kai, Inagawa-kai, Soai-kai, Matsuba-kai, Kyokuto-kai, Aizukotetsu-kai, Sakaume-gumi, Azuma-gumi, Asano-gumi, Kyodo-kai, Goda-ikka, Shinwa-kai, Kyosei-kai, Kozakura-ikka, Kyokuryu-kai, Okinawa Kyokuryu-kai, and even Kiyoshi Takayama of the

, and possibly some Russian or Italian or Mexican yakuza magnates. In June 2011, following the fourth president Satoru Nomura's promotion to the Grand President (''sosai''), the fourth number-two (''rijicho''), Fumio Tanoue, became the president. In 2012, an RPG-26 was recovered by police in a warehouse owned by a Kudo-kai member. In September 2014, Nomura and Tanoue were arrested. Convicted of ordering four attacks on civilians, one of whom was killed, in 2021 Nomura became the first boss to be sentenced to death, which was later overturned, with Tanoue sentenced to life imprisonment.

Activities

The Kudo-kai's illegal activities have allegedly included protection racketeering, drug trafficking, unlawful involvement in

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

such as public construction projects, and in legitimate businesses such as commerce and trade, including in

nuclear power in Japan Nuclear power generated 5.55% of Japan's electricity in 2023. The country's nuclear power industry was heavily influenced by the Fukushima accident, caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Before 2011, Japan was generating up to 30% of ...

. According to a Wall Street Journal article appearing February 2, 2012: "Like many Japanese gangs, the Kudokai even maintains its own public headquarters, the Kudokai Hall — a four-story, fortress-like white building surrounded by tall walls, barbed wire and security cameras — that sits in the center of Kitakyushu, a city of one million residents."

Attacks on civilians

The Kudo-kai is notorious for not hesitating to attack ''katagi'' civilians, or ordinary civilians, notably, the Kudo-kai has attacked; the Kyushu Electric Power president's house and the Saibu Gas chairman's house located in

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

with grenades (alleged cases), a bar managed by an anti-organized crime campaign leader with a hand grenade, future Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

Shimonoseki file:141122 Shimonoseki City Hall Yamaguchi pref Japan01s3.jpg, 260px, Shimonoseki city hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 248,193 in 128,762 households and a pop ...

house and office with molotov cocktails on several occasions, among many others with grenades or firearms. The NHK Broadcasting Center received a threatening phone call from a man claiming himself to be a Kudo-kai insider after the

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

television network made a nationwide broadcast about the series of gun attacks on the office buildings of the Saibu Gas allegedly done by the Kudo-kai.

Territories

The Kudo-kai maintains its headquarters office in Kokura Kita,

and its known offices in two other

prefectures A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

."2010 Police White Paper Chapter 2 : Furtherance of Organized Crime Countermeasures"
2010, ''

'' The Kudo-kai's notable "territories" outside of Kitakyushu allegedly include

Harajuku is a district in Shibuya, Tokyo. Harajuku is the common name given to a geographic area spreading from Harajuku Station to Omotesandō, Tokyo, Omotesando, corresponding on official maps of Shibuya, Tokyo, Shibuya ward as Jingūmae 1 Japanese a ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, more specifically the Ura-Harajuku area known as "Ura-Hara". The origin of this "ownership" allegedly traces back to the early 1980s, when the Sumiyoshi-kai, the original "owner" of this area, yielded to the Dojin-kai in a conflict in which many of the Sumiyoshi-kai's traditional "territories" were seized by the Dojin-kai. The Kudo-kai was allegedly given this "territory" by the Dojin-kai, and that is the alleged key reason why it was in Kitakyushu where the leading Ura-Hara brand '' Good Enoughs first flag shop opened, and why many leading figures in the 1980s-1990s "Ura-Hara" movement frequently visited Kitakyushu and many of them were actually from Kitakyushu (Toru Iwai, a co-founder of ''Good Enough'', for one), and why the volume of distribution of drugs especially methamphetamines and relatively new drugs such as MDMA in Tokyo has rapidly increased since then. Kudo-kai is known to have sold high-quality, brand-name MDMA drugs made in the likes of the

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

region, Israel, or Indonesia, not gang-made impure ones.

Authority's view

The Kudo-kai is a designated yakuza group under the Organized Crime Countermeasures Law,"Police of Japan 2011, Criminal Investigation : 2. Fight Against Organized Crime"
, December 2009, ''

'' and has been referred to as a "grossly vicious group" in the

's official report.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kudo-Kai Yakuza groups based in Kyushu