The Shimano-gumi was a subsidiary family of the Dojima-gumi crew of the Tojo-kai yakuza organization of Japan which was active from 1981 to 2006. It was founded in 1981 with veteran yakuza Futoshi Shimano serving as its chairman, and, in 1987, the Shimano-gumi separated from the Dojima-gumi and became an independent sub-crew of the Tojo-kai. By 2005, the Shimano-gumi had become one of the three largest crews of the Tojo-kai, rivalled only by the Nishikiyama-gumi and the Kazama-gumi. It competed with the other crews to become the top-earning Tojo-kai crew, allying with the Omi Alliance and Snake Flower Triad to this end. However, the Omi Alliance secretly worked with the Kazama-gumi against the Shimano-gumi, and Shimano and his rival Shintaro Kazama were killed in a massive wharf shootout. Goro Majima briefly took control of the Shimano-gumi, but tensions between the Tojo-kai's new chairman, Yukio Terada, led to Majima leaving the Tojo-kai to form his own criminal organization, taking half of the Shimano-gumi with him. The remaining leaderless half were merged into the Nishikiyama-gumi.