Kenichi Shinoda (篠田 建市 Shinoda Ken'ichi, born January 26, 1942 in Ōita, Kyushu)[1], also known as Shinobu Tsukasa (司 忍 Tsukasa Shinobu), is a yakuza, the sixth and current kumicho (supreme Godfather) of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza organization. He was released from prison on April 9, 2011, after serving a six-year sentence for firearms possession.[2][3]
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 turf.
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.
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 1970s, Shinoda was convicted of murdering a rival gang boss with a katana, and spent 13 years in prison.[4] Also he, as the head of the Kodo-kai, was involved in the Yamaguchi-gumi's numerous historic yakuza wars. Notably his achievements at the Yama-Ichi War in the late 1980s was a major reason for his entrance into the Yamaguchi-gumi's Kobe headquarters.[5] Another notable one was the Yama-Michi War in the late 1980s, in which he, along with his right-hand man Kiyoshi Takayama, was reportedly kidnapped, horribly tortured and nearly murdered by the Dojin-kai.
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.[6] He was released just under eight months early on April 9, 2011.[7]
| Preceded by Takeshi Hirota (former Hirota-gumi) |
President of Kodo-kai 1984-2005 |
Succeeded by Kiyoshi Takayama |
| Preceded by Yoshinori Watanabe |
Kumicho of Yamaguchi-gumi 2005-present |
Succeeded by (incumbent) |