{{Short description|Japanese mafia group}} {{Refimprove|date=March 2009}} {{Infobox criminal organization |name = Inagawa-kai |image = 稲川会代紋.svg |image_size = <!--(defaults to 220px)--> |caption = The daimon of Inagawa-kai |founded = 1949 |founder = Kakuji Inagawa |named_after = |founding_location = Shizuoka, Japan |years_active = 1949–present |territory = Tokyo |ethnicity = |membership = 1,600 members<ref name="npa">{{cite web|url=https://www.npa.go.jp/publications/statistics/kikakubunseki/r7jyousei_shuusei.pdf|title=Organized Crime Trends in 2025|pages=17–19, 35|website=National Police Agency|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260416142137/https://www.npa.go.jp/publications/statistics/kikakubunseki/r7jyousei_shuusei.pdf|accessdate=16 April 2026|archive-date=16 April 2026}}</ref><br />1,000 quasi-members<ref name="npa"/> |leaders = Kazuya Uchibori |activities = |allies = The Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi |rivals = Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi |notable_members = }}
The {{Nihongo|'''Inagawa-kai'''|稲川会}} is the third largest of Japan's yakuza groups, with approximately 1,600 members.<ref name="npa"/> It is based in the Kantō region, and was one of the first yakuza organizations to begin operating overseas.
==History== [[File:Tatsuo Deguchi.jpg|thumb|left|Tatsuo Deguchi (b. 1923 in Miyazaki – 1955), an important underboss in the early Inagawa history]]
The Inagawa-kai was founded in Atami, Shizuoka in 1949 as the {{nihongo|Inagawa-gumi|稲川組}} by Kakuji Inagawa.<ref name="npa_h05">[http://www.npa.go.jp/hakusyo/h05/h050101.html "1993 Police White Paper Chapter 1 : The Actual Condition of the Boryokudan"], 1993, ''National Police Agency'' {{in lang|ja}}</ref> Most of its members were drawn from the bakuto (traditional gamblers), and illegal gambling has long been the clan's main source of income. It has also expanded into such fields as drug trafficking, blackmail, extortion, and prostitution.
The Inagawa-gumi was renamed the Inagawa-kai in 1972.<ref name="npa_h05"/> After Kakuji Inagawa, the gang was led by Susumu Ishii, who led it to unprecedented financial prosperity during the 1980s Japanese bubble economy. At one point the clan's assets were estimated to be over $1.5 billion. After Ishii's death in 1990, Inagawa's son Toi Inagawa took over as ''kumicho'' and led the clan until his death in May 2005. Yoshio Tsunoda took up the mantle in 2006, heading the clan until his death in February 2010.<ref name="citation">[http://www.janes.com/news/security/jir/jir100421_1_n.shtml "Friendly fire - Inagawa-kai faces Yamaguchi-gumi takeover"], Janes.com. Apr 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-21.</ref>
The Inagawa-kai quietly helped to provide relief in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami by sending supplies to affected areas. As a whole, the group shipped over 100 tons of supplies, including instant ramen, bean sprouts, paper diapers, batteries, flashlights, tea and drinking water, to the Tōhoku region.<ref name='adelstein20110320'>{{cite news | first = Jake | last = Adelstein | title = Yakuza to the Rescue | date = 2011-03-20 | publisher = The Newsweek / Daily Beast Company LLC | url = http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-03-18/japanese-yakuza-aid-earthquake-relief-efforts/ | work = The Daily Beast | access-date = 2011-03-21}}</ref>
==Key persons== Inagawa-kai's renowned figures in the 20th century include Tatsuo Deguchi (known as the "Moroccan Tatsu" or "Tatsu of Morocco"), Kingo Yoshimizu, Kijin Inoue, Takamasa Ishii, Haruki Sho, and Kiichiro Hayashi.<ref>[http://www.takeshobo.co.jp/book_d/shohin/2617503 "Yukyo Yakuza-den, Inagawa-kai Grand President"], 13 April 2009, Eiji Oshita and Tadashi Ichinose, {{ISBN|978-4-8124-6941-5}} {{in lang|ja}}</ref>
==Leadership== In April 2025, Jirō Kiyota, the former fifth ''kaichō'' (会長, chairman) and then-current ''sōsai'' (総裁, supreme advisor), died of illness. As a result, Kazuya Uchibori became the leader of the Inagawa-kai in both name and reality as its sixth ''kaichō''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/67e9964a8d4a88e5ddc6d9a14003bd7f1d10bdfb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250422214720/https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/67e9964a8d4a88e5ddc6d9a14003bd7f1d10bdfb|script-title=ja:「企業で言えば相談役」死亡した稲川会総裁 3番目の規模の暴力団|language=ja|publisher=Yahoo Japan News|date=22 April 2025|archive-date=22 April 2025|access-date=24 April 2025}}</ref>
* 1st ''kaicho'': Seijo Inagawa (real name: Kakuji Inagawa) * 2nd ''kaicho'': Takamasa Ishii (real name: Susumu Ishii) * 3rd ''kaicho'': Yūkō Inagawa (real name: Toi Inagawa) * 4th ''kaicho'': Yoshio Tsunoda * 5th ''kaicho'': Jiro Kiyota (Real name: Shin Byong-Kyu) * 6th ''kaicho'': Kazuya Uchibori<ref name="uchibori">{{cite web|url=https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/42198|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527222435/https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/42198|script-title=ja:トップの交代で新時代到来か 稲川会六代目の就任式を潜入撮！|language=ja|publisher=Kodansha|date=21 April 2019|archive-date=27 May 2022|access-date=31 December 2022}}</ref> (Real name: Kazuo Uchibori)
==In popular culture== * In the 2010 movie ''Predators'', one of the main characters is a yakuza enforcer known as Hanzo (played by Louis Ozawa Changchien) who is revealed to be a high-ranking member of Inagawa-kai. * In the popular tabletop role-playing game ''Shadowrun'', the kaicho (boss/head/oyabun) of Inagawa-kai in the ''Shadowrun'' universe is Michizane Oi, a notorious Japanese elf and yakuza gangster and son of a powerful executive, Samba Oi, the chairman of the board of Mitsuhama Computer Technologies (or MCT), one of the largest ''keiretsus'' in Japan. * In ''Hitman 2: Silent Assassin'', one of the characters, Tanaka Kusahana, is a high-ranking member of Inagawa-kai (''saiko-komon'' or senior advisor). * In the video game ''Terra Invicta'', Inagawa-kai is one of many organizations the player can recruit for their faction.
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Designated Boryokudan}}
Category:1949 establishments in Japan Category:Yakuza groups