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Daisaku Kuze

Daisaku Kuze (born 1932) was a Japanese yakuza crime boss, a lieutenant of the Tokyo-based Dojima-gumi family of the Tojo-kai clan, and the boss of the Kenno-kai subsidiary of the Dojima-gumi. He was arrested in 1988 for his role in the violent "Empty Lot" dispute in the Kabukicho district of Tokyo.

Biography[]

Daisaku Kuze was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1932, and he had a successful boxing career before becoming involved with the yakuza criminal underworld. He became an enforcer for Sohei Dojima and the oath brother of Keiji Shibusawa and Hiroki Awano, and he tattooed Enma (the ruler of Hell) on his back, the Ox-Head guardian Gozu on his left upper arm, and the Horse-Face guardian Mezu on his upper right arm. As the Tojo-kai clan grew in size and Dojima became the head of the increasingly powerful Dojima-gumi, Dojima rewarded his lieutenants with their own crews, with Kuze becoming boss of the Kenno-kai.

Conspiracy against Kazama[]

Daisaku Kuze smoking

Kuze at his office, 1988

In 1988, the ambitious Kuze played a leading role in Dojima's plot to eliminate the Kazama-gumi head Shintaro Kazama after it had become clear that Kazama was actively undermining Dojima's near-unchecked power due to Dojima's utter cruelty. Kuze informed the police of Kazama's gambling operation, resulting in Kazama's imprisonment. Kuze then maneuvered to take control of Kazama's crew, which he was promised if he was able to obtain an empty lot in the Kabukicho district for Dojima. In order to facilitate the process, Dojima and Kuze conspired to have Kazama's pupil Kazuma Kiryu framed for murder, and, when Kiryu was summoned before Kuze, Shibusawa, and Awano following the reported murder of Taichi Kurihara, Kuze decided that Kiryu should turn himself in to the police and serve eight years in prison to make up for the trouble he caused the family by drawing attention to the empty lot. Kiryu refused, and he instead barged into the office of the loan shark Gennosuke Kawada, who had sent him to collect Kurihara's debt at the empty lot. Kawada confessed that he had been ordered to have Kiryu commit the debt collection at the empty lot, but, before he could reveal his paymaster, Kuze entered the room. Kuze offered to help Kiryu advance in the criminal underworld, as well as hand over the man who framed Kiryu, in exchange for Kiryu's help with spying on Kazama to discover key information pertaining to the empty lot, but Kiryu rejected Kuze's offer and left.

Empty Lot dispute[]

Kuze tattoos

Kuze in his dojo

Kiryu later came to the Tojo-kai headquarters with the objective of formally retiring from the yakuza in order to absolve Kazama - his yakuza patron - of responsibility for the steps he was about to take to catch the man who framed him. Kuze greeted Kiryu and told him that the boss, Sohei, was busy watching television, and made him a final offer to spy on Kazama in exchange for his life. Kiryu instead decided to announce his departure from the yakuza, and an enraged Kuze ordered his henchman Gengyo Yoneda to execute Kiryu before laving the room. Kiryu fought off Yoneda and his guards, and he eventually made his way to the headquarters' dojo, where he found Kuze waiting for him. Kuze took off his shirt, revealing his tattoos and muscles, and he then challenged Kiryu to a fight. Kiryu managed to beat down the feared lieutenant, and Dojima, Shibusawa, and Awano then entered the room. Dojima angrily berated Kuze for deciding that Kiryu could leave the yakuza without first consulting him, and Shibusawa and Awano backed up Dojima's allegations. Shibusawa had Kuze commit yubitsume (cutting off his pinky finger) before the three Dojima bosses, and Kuze stormed out of the room, resolving to destroy Kiryu.

Kiryu beating Kuze in the sewer

Kiryu beating Kuze in the sewer

Kuze later led a manhunt to find and kill Kiryu after he began to cause trouble for the Dojima-gumi as an ally of the real estate broker Tetsu Tachibana, and he rode a motorcycle into the sewers and engaged Kiryu in a subterranean battle. Kuze hit Kiryu with a pipe before dismounting the motorcycle and telling Kiryu of his commitment to fight him and his ilk as long as he was alive, and he revealed a disgust for ex-yakuza. However, Kiryu defeated Kuze a second time. Later, Kuze and his guards cornered Kiryu on the street, and Kiryu defeated Kuze's men before defeating Kuze himself, even though Kuze was wielding brass knuckles in the fistfight.

Kiryu punching Kuze in the face

Kiryu punching Kuze in the face

Kuze ultimately succeeded in capturing Kiryu's ally Tachibana, but, when Yoneda tortured Tachibana to death against Kuze's orders, Kuze angrily smashed Yoneda's skull against the ground, killing him for his insubordination. Kiryu then burst in, and he fought to avenge his deceased friend, defeating Kuze a third time. Kiryu then confronted Kuze with Tachibana's dying words that Sohei Dojima was responsible for double-crossing him, and Kuze said that he and Dojima were doing everything they could to prevent the Empty Lot from falling into the hands of the rival Omi Alliance. Kiryu then threatened to kill Kuze and the entire Dojima-gumi if anything happened to Tachibana's sister Makoto Makimura, and Kuze conceded that Kiryu had become a true yakuza.

A defeated Kuze talking to Kiryu

A defeated Kuze talking to Kiryu

Kuze would fight Kiryu one last time after Dojima sent him to attack the Kazama-gumi headquarters, with Kiryu interrupting Kuze and defeating him in a fistfight. Kuze then advised Kuze to remain persistent and assertive in life, and he and Shibusawa were then arrested for their roles in the violent Empty Lot dispute. Kuze would be in prison from 1989 to 1999, when he was released and allowed to return to the Tojo-kai by chairman Takashi Nihara in exchange for helping the Arakawa-gumi against Goryu-kai leader Ryuji Goda, and Kuze and Ichiban Kasuga travelled to Fukuoka, where they were unsuccessful in their effort to assassinate Goda.

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