Kizunakai

Kizunakai represents the second major fracture in the modern Yamaguchi-gumi conflict.

The first split occurred in 2015, when senior leaders left Yamaguchi-gumi and formed Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.

The second came from inside that breakaway.

From Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi to a new group

In April 2017, a subgroup broke from Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi and announced a new organization.

The group was initially known under another name and later became Kizunakai.

Japanese police specifically highlighted the split because it created a new layer of conflict inside an already unstable organized-crime environment.

Yoshinori Oda

The principal figure associated with the organization is Yoshinori Oda.

Oda had been connected to the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi structure before leading the new breakaway.

His move illustrates a recurring pattern in yakuza politics: once one faction demonstrates that secession is possible, internal disagreements inside the new organization can produce further splits.

Violence after the second split

Police reports described the conflict involving the newly formed faction as serious and unpredictable.

In September 2017, a man guarding the group’s leader was shot and killed.

That episode demonstrated that the post-2015 conflict had evolved beyond a simple two-sided confrontation between Yamaguchi-gumi and Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.

Multiple descendant organizations were now operating in the same underworld ecosystem.

Why Kizunakai matters

Kizunakai is important less because of its size than because of what it represents.

It is evidence of cascading fragmentation.

The sequence becomes:

Yamaguchi-gumi → Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi → Kizunakai

That chain gives the archive a clear historical and relational structure.

the archive connections

Kizunakai should connect to Yoshinori Oda, Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, Kunio Inoue, Yamaguchi-gumi, Ikeda-gumi, and the 2015 Yamaguchi-gumi Split.

It should also be linked to any future event page documenting the 2017 internal conflict and shooting.

Sources

– [Japan National Police Agency — Police of Japan 2021, Fight against Organized Crimes](https://www.npa.go.jp/english/Police_of_Japan/police-of-japan2021/001/001.pdf) — Official NPA background on Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi, Kizunakai and ongoing conflict.