Yamaken-gumi
The Fourth Yamaken-gumi is a yakuza gang based in Kobe, Japan. It was the largest affiliate, followed by the Nagoya-based Kodo-kai, of the largest known yakuza syndicate in Japan, the Yamaguchi-gumi until 2015.
History
Yoshinori Watanabe was kumicho of the Yamaken-gumi from 1982 to 1989 before becoming kumicho of the Yamaguchi-gumi. Watanabe retired from that post in July 2005, but the Yamaken-gumi remains largely loyal to him. Many of its members were upset that the sixth Yamaguchi don was not chosen from their ranks, instead, the Nagoya-based Kenichi Shinoda was chosen.In 2015, the Yamaken-gumi, along with several other organisations, withdrew from the Yamaguchi-gumi and formed the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi. From 2015 to 2020, it was under the umbrella of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi. In August 2020, Koji Nakata, the head of the Yamaken-gumi, declared that the Yamaken-gumi had become independent of the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.
On 16 September 2021, the Yamaguchi-gumi announced that it will be welcoming back Yamaken-gumi members who had disunited from them in 2015. As a result, the Yamagken-gumi once again became the umbrella organisation of the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Before the split, the Yamaken-gumi was estimated to have between 3,000 and 7,000 members. Following the split the number dropped to around 800.
Leadership
- 1st kumicho : Kenichi Yamamoto who was a eldest son of the Third Yamaguchi-gumi. He was a former member of Yasuhara-kai.
- 2nd kumicho : Yoshinori Watanabe who was wakagashira of the Fourth Yamaguchi-gumi. He was 1st kaicho of the Kenryu-kai, and would later become kumicho of the Fifth Yamaguchi-gumi.
- 3rd kumicho : Kaneyoshi Kuwata who is a eldest son's assistant of the Fifth Yamaguchi-gumi. He was kaicho of the Second Kenryu-kai.
- 4th kumicho : Kunio Inoue who was a kambu of the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi. He was kaicho of the Fourth Kenryu-kai. He is an adopted son of Kuwata.
- 5th kumicho : Koji Nakata who is a kambu of the Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi. He was kaicho of the Fifth Kenryu-kai.