Yakuza members show off their tattoos on the second day of the Sanja Matsuri Festival in Tokyo’s Asakusa district on May 14, 2016. Getty Images
Japan’s largest yakuza gang, the Yamaguchi-gumi, has announced it will end its long-running feud with a rival faction and stop causing trouble. This move comes as both gangs face increasing pressure from law enforcement and a decline in membership.
On Monday, three senior members of the Yamaguchi-gumi visited the Hyogo Prefectural police headquarters and handed over a letter. In the letter, they promised to end all internal conflicts and stop any actions that could lead to trouble. The letter was intended to show their commitment to stopping the violence and chaos that has marked their rivalry.
The Yamaguchi-gumi, one of the biggest and wealthiest crime organizations globally, has been involved in a violent war with the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi since 2015. That year, several factions split off from the Yamaguchi-gumi and formed the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi. Since then, the two groups have engaged in deadly violence, with gangsters being shot or stabbed in various incidents. The violence has mostly occurred in public areas, causing fear and putting pressure on the authorities to take stronger actions against the gangs.
The Yamaguchi-gumi and other yakuza groups are not officially banned in Japan, but they are heavily regulated. In 2020, the police officially classified both the Yamaguchi-gumi and Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi as rival gangs at war. This designation allowed authorities to increase surveillance and limit their activities. Police can now restrict these gangs from using their offices or raising funds.
The Yamaguchi-gumi has faced several challenges in recent years, including a sharp decline in membership. Police data from 2024 shows that the number of yakuza members has dropped significantly, with the total number of gang members in Japan falling to just 18,800, a historic low. This is the first time the number has dipped below 20,000.
In particular, the Yamaguchi-gumi has seen its membership nearly halved since 2014. The gang had 6,000 members in 2014, but that number had shrunk to only 3,300 by the end of 2023. Similarly, the rival Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, formed by the breakaway factions, had just 120 members last year.
As yakuza groups shrink, a new trend is emerging in Japan’s criminal world: the rise of “tokuryu” gangs. These are smaller, anonymous groups that do not belong to any specific yakuza family. They operate on their own or in temporary groups. In 2023, police investigated about 10,000 tokuryu gang members. These gangs are linked to violent robberies in Tokyo and scams that involve romance fraud and fake investment schemes online.
The Yamaguchi-gumi’s pledge to end its gang war is a significant shift for the group, but it remains to be seen whether the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi will agree to the truce. Authorities have said they will continue to closely monitor both gangs to ensure they keep their word.
