Shuji Yano (died 18 February 1956) was a Japanese yakuza gangster and an underboss of the Yamamori-gumi family of Hiroshima Prefecture from the 1940s to 1950s. He was assassinated on the orders of Yamamori-gumi boss Tetsuya Sakai after Yano attempted to foil Sakai's negotiations with the Kaito-gumi.
Biography[]
Shuji Yano was born in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, and he served in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II and befriended fellow soldiers Tetsuya Sakai, Seiichi Kanbara, Uichi Shinkai, Masakichi Makihara, Shinichi Yamagata, and Shozo Hirono. In 1946, the former soldiers followed Hirono's lead in joining the Yamamori-gumi yakuza family, headed by Yoshio Yamamori, and they all rose to be underbosses by 1949. Yano would side with Uichi Shinkai's faction (which supported Yamamori's absolute power and methamphetamine trafficking) against that of Tetsuya Sakai and Toru Ueda (who opposed Yamamori's 70% commission on their profits, and opposed the meth trade) during the early 1950s, but he played no direct role in the 1954 gang war between the two factions which resulted in the deaths of Yamagata, Ueda, and Shinkai. However, after the war's end, Yano continued to be a thorn in Sakai's side, as he opposed Sakai's usurpation of the family from Yamamori.
Assassination[]
Yano's death
On 18 February 1956, Yano went to Hiroshima to meet with the patriarch of the Kaito-gumi family, hoping to forestall Sakai's negotiations with the Kaito-gumi family and limit Sakai's growing power. However, Sakai gave orders for Yano to be killed. As Sakai walked to the entrance of the Kaito-gumi headquarters, he was shouted at by a man in a car which had pulled up behind him. Yano turned to see who called his name, only for the man to pull out a pistol and shoot Yano several times. Yano died of his wounds, eliminating a major threat to Sakai's power.