The , meaning "Pine Needle Society," is a yakuza organization based in

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. The Matsuba-kai is a designated yakuza group with an estimated 280 active members as of 2024."Matsuba-kai"
20 February 2008, ''Matsue Joho Center'' The Matsuba-kai is a member of a yakuza fraternal federation named the Kantō Hatsuka-kai, along with four other Kantō-based yakuza syndicates, the Sumiyoshi-kai, the Inagawa-kai, the Toa-kai, and the Soai-kai.

History

The precursor to the Matsuba-kai was the , a yakuza gang founded in

Sumida, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Sumida City. As of 1 April 2025, the ward has an estimated population of 287,766 and a population dens ...

in 1936 by a bakuto named Masaru Sekine. In 1946, they were involved in the Shibuya incident where they fought for control of the local black markets. The Sekine-gumi rapidly expanded, but in 1947 many members were arrested by US occupation authorities for firearms possession, resulting in the group's disbandment. Thereafter, remnants of the gang came together with the remnants of another gang, the Fujita-gumi, to found a new organization called the "Matsuba-kai" in March 1953. In April 1960, Matsuba-kai thugs ransacked the Tokyo headquarters of the ''

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'' newspaper in revenge for unfavorable coverage. In late 1960 and early 1961, members of the Matsuba-kai mounted protests outside the offices of the literary magazine ''Chūō Kōron'' in protest of magazine's publication of Shichirō Fukazawa's short story "The Tale of an Elegant Dream” (''Fūryū mutan''), which described the beheading of the Imperial family with a guillotine. In the 1980s the gang was caught smuggling 12 kilos of

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into

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The Matsuba-kai was registered as a designated yakuza group under the Organized Crime Countermeasures Law in 1994. In the early 2000s the Matsuba-kai was involved in a violent feud with the rival Kyokuto-kai, which led to a number of shootings."Midday shooting in Shinjuku hotel leaves gangster dead, cop injured"
20 March 2001, ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

References

{{Designated Boryokudan Organizations established in 1936 1936 establishments in Japan Yakuza groups