Kenichi Okubo was a Japanese yakuza crime boss who served as the patriarch of the Okubo-gumi of Hiroshima Prefecture. In 1949, he instigated a gang war between his rival Kiyoshi Doi of the Doi-gumi and the Yamamori-gumi, resulting in the destruction of the Doi-gumi.
Biography[]
Kenichi Okubo was born in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, and he became a renowned yakuza boss by the end of World War II, controlling the Okubo-gumi. Okubo was a well-respected elder statesman of Japan's criminal underworld, and, in 1946, he presided over the induction of seven Kure men into the Yamamori-gumi in a ceremony also attended by Doi-gumi boss Kiyoshi Doi. However, Okubo privately harbored resentment against Doi for his rivalry with Okubo's distant relative Toru Ueda, and he conspired to destroy the Doi-gumi in 1949 with the help of his many connections. After Ueda got into a fight with Yamamori-gumi henchman Shozo Hirono (leading to Hirono committing yubitsume in recompense), Okubo arranged for Ueda to be welcomed into Yoshio Yamamori's organization. He then introduced Yamamori to the city councilman Shigeto Nakahara, who offered Yamamori unlimited bank loans in exchange for his help with rigging a council vote against the Doi-gumi's chief political ally, Shoichi Kanamaru. Yamamori agreed, ordering the kidnapping of one of Kanamaru's allies to ensure that the vote went in Nakahara's favor. This ultimately led to a war between the Yamamori and Doi families, resulting in Doi's assassination and the Yamamori-gumi's rise to power.