Kenichi Shinoda
| Kenichi Shinoda 篠田建市 |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
January 25, 1942 Ōita, Ōita Prefecture, Japan |
| Other names | 司 忍 Shinobu Tsukasa |
Kenichi Shinoda (篠田 建市 Shinoda Ken'ichi?, born January 25, 1942), also known as Shinobu Tsukasa (司 忍 Tsukasa Shinobu?), is a yakuza, the sixth and current kumicho (supreme "Kingpin") of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza organization.
Shinoda was born in Ōita, Kyushu.
He began his yakuza career in 1962 when he joined the Hirota-gumi, a Nagoya-based Yamaguchi-gumi affiliate. Following the disbanding of the Hirota-gumi, he founded the Kodo-kai with Kiyoshi Takayama among others in 1984 as the successor to the Hirota-gumi.
Under Shinoda and his long-term partner Takayama, the Kodo-kai was a successful branch of the Yamaguchi-gumi, establishing branches in 18 prefectures—including expansion into the Kantō region, traditionally not Yamaguchi territory.
Shinoda took control of the 40,000-strong gang on July 29, 2005 after the retirement of previous don Yoshinori Watanabe. Under Shinoda, the Kobe-based Yamaguchi-gumi is expected to continue that expansion into Tokyo and Eastern Japan. According to both yakuza and police, this movement will inevitably create conflict between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Kanto-Hatsukakai, a federation of Tokyo-based yakuza groups including the Inagawa-kai and the Sumiyoshi-kai.
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