Kenichi Shinoda
Kenichi Shinoda (篠" 建市
Shinoda Ken'ichi), also known as
Shinobu Tsukasa (司 忍
Tsukasa Shinobu, born
January 25,
1942) is the sixth and current
kumicho (supreme Godfather) of the
Yamaguchi-gumi,
Japan's largest
yakuza organization. He is currently imprisoned for firearms possession.
Shinoda took control of the 40,000-strong gang on
July 29,
2005 after the retirement of previous don
Yoshinori Watanabe. Before assuming this role, Shinoda had headed a Yamaguchi-gumi affiliate based in
Nagoya, the
Kodo-kai. Under Shinoda, the Kodo-kai was a successful branch of the Yamaguchi-gumi, establishing branches in 18 prefectures -- including expansion into the
Kanto region, traditionally not Yamaguchi turf.
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.
Shinoda is the first Yamaguchi-gumi kumicho not to hail from the
Kansai region. He also eschews the "supreme Godfather" image, in public at least: after his appointment as
kumicho, he insisted on taking the
train to his induction ceremony instead of a chauffeured
limousine. (He also reportedly stopped in a street
ramen noodle restaurant on the way to the lavish yakuza banquet arranged in his honor.)
In the early 1970's, Shinoda was convicted of murdering a rival gang boss with a
katana, and spent 13 years in prison.
On
December 4,
2005, only four months after being named
kumicho, Shinoda began serving a six-year prison sentence for gun possession after the
Japanese Supreme Court finally rejected his appeal of a
1997 conviction. In the 1997 case, one of his bodyguards was caught with an illegal pistol, and Shinoda was convicted of "conspiring" with the bodyguard.
*
Guardian article*
Japan Times article
