Toru Ueda (died 29 October 1954) was a Japanese yakuza gangster and an underboss of the Yamamori-gumi of Hiroshima during the 1940s. Originally an affiliate of his distant relative Kenichi Okubo's Okubo-gumi, he joined the Yamamori-gumi in 1949 at the behest of Okubo, and he rose to be a major leader within the family. However, he was assassinated at a barbershop by gunmen sent by Yoshio Yamamori in 1954 after he decided to side with fellow underboss Tetsuya Sakai in rebelling against Yamamori's authority.
Biography[]
Toru Ueda was born in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, a distant relative of Okubo-gumi boss Kenichi Okubo. Ueda was known to be a troublesome gambler during his youth, and his arrogance led to him forming a rivalry with Doi-gumi boss Kiyoshi Doi. In 1949, he also formed a rivalry with Yamamori-gumi gangster Shozo Hirono after picking a fight with Hirono and his friends in a gambling den, and Hirono was forced to pay the price for beating up Okubo's distant relative by cutting off his pinky finger. In an effort to make peace, Okubo decided to have Ueda join the Yamamori-gumi, but he also attempted to manipulate Yamamori-gumi boss Yoshio Yamamori into going to war with Kiyoshi Doi of the Doi-gumi.
Rise and fall[]
Toru Ueda's death
Ueda rose to be a major lieutenant within the Yamamori-gumi over the following years, and, in 1950, he sided with Tetsuya Sakai during the splintering of the Yamamori-gumi between Sakai's faction (which opposed Toshio Arita's meth operation and advocated for more devolution of power to the lieutenants) and Uichi Shinkai's faction (which supported Arita's meth operation and steadfastly supported Yamamori's supreme power and 70% cut of the family's income). This led to much bitterness between the two factions, as well as with Yamamori himself. When Sakai and Ueda discovered that Yamamori sold the same methamphetamine which he had confiscated from his lieutenants, they demanded that Yamamori step down from power, effectively launching a coup which triggered a factional war. Yamamori had Ueda assassinated at a barber shop on 29 October 1954, making him the second casualty of the war, after Shinichi Yamagata.