As I have already mentioned in the previous blogs, Okinawa never really had a yakuza tradition or history. The biggest and the most powerful yakuza group in Japan, the Yamaguchi-gumi had business interests on Okinawa, but generally, as long as Okinawa was under U.S. administration with a U.S. High Commissioner in charge and USCAR doing the administration, the yakuza stayed out. They did not want to get involved anywhere with so much U.S. military control. The two major criminal elements on Okinawa, the Naha clan and the Koza clan were nothing but loosely organized bunch of thugs. They squabbled amongst each other, dividing their territories sharply between north and south. Basically, Futenma region was the demarcation line for the two gangs. Each clan had less than a hundred members and they were mostly involved in protection racket and dealing in black market and contraband goods. Much of the smuggled goods from Taiwan and Hong Kong were under their control, and most bars and pawn shops in Naha - Koza areas paid protection to them.
There are close to 100 different yakuza groups scattered all over Japan. Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza family in Japan (about 55,000 members) is from Kyushu, but headquartered in Osaka-Kobe region. Yamaguchi-gumi controls about 500 lesser yakuza groups and consists of 850 clans. The second largest yakuza family is the Sumiyoshi-kai with about 20,000 members consisting of 277 clans. Inagawai-kai is the third largest from Tokyo area with 15,000 members and 313 clans. But only the Yamaguchi-gumi made any incursions into Okinawa with ownership of various businesses through straw owners. The ownership of legitimate businesses is not something new, the yakuza had been doing this for years. For instance, Inagawa-kai is the majority stock holder of Japan Electric Railroad Company. Their ownership is perfectly legal as they acquired those stocks legally! So, Yamaguchi-gumi's ownership of businesses on Okinawa was not anything unusual and the Okinawan gangs were not in the habit of buying into large legitimate businesses, their ownership of businesses usually consisted of a string of bars in Koza or Naha, not mainstream businesses.
When reversion to Japan took place in 1972 and the administration of the island shifted from the U.S. High Commissioner and USCAR to Tokyo government, Yamaguchi-gumi decided to start moving in on Okinawa before another yakuza group decided to do so. Unfortunately for Yamaguchi-gumi, their timing was bad. Just prior to the reversion, in 1970, the two loosely organized gangs on Okinawa, the Naha and Koza clans decided to unite and form a single yakuza style organization which they called Okinawa Rengo Kyokuryu-kai. As a unified group, they were much more powerful, with a membership close to 1000 thugs. When Yamaguchi-gumi sent some of its "soldiers" to take over the island, they were rudely met by the Okinawans and thrown off the island. Naturally, this didn't sit well with Yamaguchi-gumi bosses back in Kobe! They sent more yakuza to Okinawa, and the "Yakuza War" was on!
The war essentially lasted from 1972 when Yamaguchi-gumi made their first exploratory incursion into Okinawa, until they finally gave up the idea and pulled out completely in 1984, a gang war that lasted a dozen years! It was a violent war, with killings, wild shoot outs, etc. The Japanese media reported on it heavily and called it the Fourth Okinawan War. The First Okinawan War took place in 1429 when the King of Okinawa, Sho Hashi, conquered all of the surrounding islands (Miyako, Yaeyama, etc.) and established the Okinawan Kingdom from Shuri. The Second Okinawan War was when the Satsuma Clan from Kyushu came and took over the island and in 1879 the Japanese sent the Okinawan King into exile in Tokyo. The Third Okinawan War was, of course, World War Two and the Battle of Okinawa, a truly devastating war. The Fourth Okinawan war was the "Yakuza War"!
It is really surprising that the American media did not report on this "Yakuza War" as extensively as the Japanese press. After all, Okinawa has a significant American population, both the uniformed military and their civilian dependents! Although as far as it is known, no American fell victim to the "Yakuza War," there were many innocent Okinawans killed in cross-fires, bombings, etc. The Japanese film industry made a number of movies that became cult films! In 1980, the head of Yamaguchi-gumi died and his widow Fumiko, an attractive woman, took over and continued the violent activity on Okinawa. The Japanese movie makers were quick to capitalize on that, a woman yakuza leader leading a bloody gang war! It couldn't have been more perfect material for a movie! Years later, Quentin Tarantino's violent, manga-like movie series Kill Bill, had Lucy Liu as a woman yakuza leader! I doubt if Tarantino realized that he took a page out of real life! I know he greatly admires Japanese movies and took that idea from one of the yakuza movies from the 1980s!
Around 1984 Yamaguchi-gumi decided to call it quits and pulled out of their attempt to take over Okinawa. In the meantime, the Okinawan gang had changed its name to simply Kyokuryu-kai and had become more like a true yakuza group. They had learned from their enemy! In 1990 a splinter group appeared and called itself Okinawa Kyokuryu-kai. Today the two Okinawan yakuza groups number a bit over 200 each and seem to be coexisting peacefully. They have become much more like the true yakuza from naichi, the main islands. There have even been cases of yubiotobasu, pinky finger cutting, a practice that was alien to Okinawans before.
How times change. Prior to reversion to Japan, there were no yakuza or the annoying, noisy bosozoku teenage gangs. But today, it seems, that once peaceful Okinawa, having become part of Japan, has adopted the worst of the mainland Japan!
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