Matsuba-kai
The Matsuba-kai, meaning "Pine Needle Society," is a yakuza organization based in Tokyo, Japan. The Matsuba-kai is a designated yakuza group with an estimated 280 active members as of 2024.
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 Sekine-gumi, a yakuza gang founded in Sumida, Tokyo 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 Supreme Commander of the [Allied Powers|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 Mainichi Shimbun 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”
, which described the beheading of the Imperial family with a guillotine.
In the 1980s the gang was caught smuggling 12 kilos of heroin into Canada.
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.