The Yamaguchi-gumi has submitted to the police a letter pledging that the designated yakuza group will end turf battles, investigative sources said Monday.
According to the sources, the document — filed Monday by Yamaguchi-gumi executives with the Hyogo Prefectural Police headquarters in Kobe — also says the crime syndicate will not cause any trouble from now on.
Turf battles have intensified since more than a dozen gangs bolted from the Yamaguchi-gumi to form a new group — the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi — in 2015, with 150 incidents linked to their conflict occurring across Japan until last year.
Underscoring the importance of closely watching how Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi reacts to the Yamaguchi-gumi's move, a high-ranking Hyogo police officer expressed the need to increase vigilance.
Both groups have shrunk year after year since their turf war began, people familiar with the matter said.
The combined number of members and quasi-members of the Yamaguchi-gumi stood at some 6,900 at the end of 2024, down from around 14,100 at the end of 2015, while the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi's members and quasi-members have decreased more steeply to 320 or so, from about 6,100 previously.
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