Shoichi Kanamaru was a Japanese politician who served as a municipal councillor in Hiroshima from the 1940s to 1950s.
Biography[]
Shoichi Kanamaru was born in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. Following the end of World War II, he was elected to the Hiroshima local council as a Japan Progressive Party member, and he came to lead the "Kanamaru faction" in the assembly, rivalling the Liberal Party of Japan's "Nakahara faction", led by Shigeto Nakahara. Kanamaru was the chief political ally of Doi-gumi boss Kiyoshi Doi, and, in 1949, both Kanamaru and Doi were incensed when the Yamamori-gumi boss Yoshio Yamamori, at the behest of Kenichi Okubo, rigged an important assembly vote against Kanamaru by kidnapping one of Kanamaru's chief allies. The kidnapping and the loss of the vote prevented Kanamaru from embezzling ¥50 billion worth of hoarded Imperial Japanese Navy goods for his own use, and led to Doi going to war with the Yamamori family. Doi was assassinated on 16 October 1949, and, by 1950, the Doi-gumi had been reduced to embers.
However, Kanamaru played a key role in convincing Yamamori's lieutenant Uichi Shinkai to attempt to refound the Doi-gumi and assassinate the most powerful lieutenant in the family, Tetsuya Sakai, who sought to curtail Yamamori's absolute power and sideline Shinkai. Kanamaru warned Shinkai that, if he did not act quickly and kill Sakai, he and his subordinate Toshio Arita would not stand a chance. He then "gifted" him the remnants of the Doi-gumi for use as muscle for the ensuing factional war.