
Tetsuya Sakai (died 19 February 1956) was a Japanese yakuza crime boss and the patriarch of the Yamamori-gumi family of Hiroshima from 1954 to 1956, succeeding Yoshio Yamamori. He was formerly the family's captain, but he usurped the family following a gang war with Uichi Shinkai's rival faction in 1954, after which he forced Yamamori - who had plotted to kill the rebellious Sakai - to retire. Sakai founded his own investment company with Yamamori's money and consolidated his power, but his willingness to murder his sworn brothers and betray his boss cost him the respect of the surviving members of the family. While his sworn brother Shozo Hirono failed to assassinate Sakai at the latter's hotel room on 19 February 1956 (a day after Sakai had his sworn brother Shuji Yano murdered), Sakai was gunned down at a discount store later that day by hitmen sent by Masakichi Makihara.
Biography[]

Sakai in 1946
Tetsuya Sakai was born in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, and he served in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II before becoming an associate of the local Yamamori-gumi yakuza family during the Allied occupation period. In 1946, he helped his comrade Shozo Hirono track down a yakuza who had slashed one of their friends in the face with a sword, and Hirono ultimately shot the man, resulting in Hirono being given a 12-year prison sentence.

Sakai reporting on the kidnapping to Yamamori
On Hirono's release on Yamamori-gumi boss Yoshio Yamamori's bail not long after, Hirono, Sakai, and their friends from the war were all inducted into the Yamamori-gumi, and, over the next three years, they became influential figures within the family. In 1949, Sakai warned Yamamori against going to war with Kiyoshi Doi of the Doi-gumi over supporting the politician Shigeto Nakahara against Doi's political ally Shoichi Kanamaru, but Yamamori ultimately decided to help Nakahara and keep Doi in the dark, as he was promised unlimited financial support from the city's bank in exchange for his help. Sakai ultimately agreed to help Yamamori, and he oversaw the kidnapping of one of Kanamaru's key allies on the night before the assembly vote, leading to Nakahara's faction winning the vote. Yamamori then phoned Sakai and had him release the kidnapped politician, and Sakai told the man his name to convince him that he couldn't hurt him.
Rise to power[]

Sakai confronting Toshio Arita
Sakai went into hiding for a year, but he resurfaced in 1950 and became a high-ranking leader of the Yamamori-gumi amid its Korean War-era prosperity. He became rivals with Uichi Shinkai's subordinate Toshio Arita for pushing methamphetamine against the family's rules, and he later became the leader of a faction within the Yamamori-gumi which challenged Yoshio Yamamori's unreasonably high kickbacks. At a gathering of the clan's lieutenants, Sakai proposed that each lieutenant become self-sustaining and limit their kickbacks, and the motion passed, with every lieutenant bar Uichi Shinkai and Shuji Yano voting in favor. Shinkai decided to plot with the Doi-gumi to assassinate Sakai rather than risk him taking over the family, and, after it was discovered that Yamamori was secretly selling the same methamphetamine which he confiscated from his lieutenants, Sakai and Toru Ueda decided to launch a coup against him.
Gang war[]

Sakai at the launch of his company
Yamamori had Arita assassinate Ueda in a barber shop, triggering a gang war which saw Sakai and his faction wipe out the Shinkai-gumi and Doi-gumi. Arita was arrested after a police shootout and given a life sentence, while Shinkai was stabbed to death before he could board a train to flee the city. With the family at peace by November 1954, Sakai began a relationship with his late friend Shinichi Yamagata's widow and fathered a child with her. Sakai then forced Yamamori to retire and became the Yamamori-gumi's new patriarch, forming an investment company with Yamamori's money and negotiating with the Kaito-gumi, the only other major family in Hiroshima. Yano attempted to sabotage these negotiations, but Masakichi Makihara leaked this plot to Sakai, who had Yano assassinated on 18 February 1956.
Death[]

Sakai's body
However, Makihara secretly conspired with Yamamori against Sakai, and, a day later, they convinced Hirono to kill Sakai to avenge Sakai's murders of several sworn brothers and his betrayal of the yakuza code (even though Hirono was also alienated from Yamamori). Hirono came to Sakai's hotel room to shoot him, but he was tackled by Sakai's guards, and, after Hirono refused to join Sakai's planned "Sakai-gumi" organization, Sakai decided to let him go and kill him another day, with both men swearing to kill the other. Sakai then exited his car on a random sidewalk as he had Hirono chauffered away from him, but, as Sakai began to walk down the sidewalk, he realized he was being tailed by hitmen sent by Makihara. Sakai walked into a discount store in an attempt to lose his killers, and, in his last moments, he picked up and examined a doll. His killers ultimately caught up to him and shot him several times, and he fell to the floor at the front of the store, doll in hand, and quickly died of his wounds.