Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Police Tactics 1974

In the fall of 1963, a nationwide police crackdown targets yakuza activities as Japan braces for the 1964 Summer Olympics. Yet the brutal war between the Yamamori Family and the Shinwa Group continues to spill into every corner of the underworld, pulling in reinforcements from across the country. Noburo Uchimoto, [Takeshi Katô], Shozo Hirono, [Bunta Sugawara], and Shinichi Iwai, [Tatsuo Umemiya], throw in with two more high-placed leaders—Hidemitsu Kawada, [Shin’ichirô Mikami], and Tomoji Okajima, [Asao Koike]—to widen the fighting. On the other side, Akira Takeda, [Akira Kobayashi], captain of the Yamamori Family, keeps a fierce lid on his rivals as Yamamori himself flees toward Hiroshima City, while Makihara and his faction push the war forward. The tense balance of power is further complicated by the presence of Shoichi Fujita, [Hiroki Matsukata], a senior member of the Gisei Group who could become Okajima’s successor, and by the calculated moves of Akashi’s own circles, guided in part by Kenichi Okubo, [Asao Uchida], an adviser who is careful not to overstep his bounds.

As the authorities tighten their grip, the police begin squeezing the gangs’ money streams and press coverage paints yakuza violence as a public menace. The public outcry grows as a drunken civilian is killed by an Uchimoto associate, and sensational headlines fuel a sense of crisis. The force at Hirono’s office is relentless, a constant stakeout that bottlenecks his operations even though he remains technically on parole. Uchimoto refuses to retaliate in kind, while Akashi’s faction grapples with its own Tokyo troubles. The escalating pressure drives Hirono to a dangerous plan: he intends to confront Yamamori directly when Yamamori travels to Kobe, but the escort detail supporting him abandons the mission, leaving the target exposed. The Akashi camp chooses not to let Yamamori be struck on their turf, preferring to preserve appearances. Instead, Iwai devises a broader gambit—he and Hirono stage a large memorial service for a murdered officer as a pretext to summon hundreds of men and strike Hiroshima City.

The fragile truces begin to fracture when Uchimoto is abducted at gunpoint by Takeda and Yamamori, and he betrays his partners to save himself. Yamamori leaks information to the police about a past offense by Hirono, triggering his arrest at a critical moment and forcing the assault to be called off. Back in the mix, Takeda learns that Okajima’s girlfriend is being used as a spy, and he manipulates that information to force her reveal of Okajima’s whereabouts, which nearly leads to Okajima’s assassination and heightens Takeda’s vigilance.

Internal flames flare as Fujita retaliates by bombing the Hiroshima headquarters of Yamamori’s officer Shoichi Eda, and Uchimoto’s own loyalty frays—he betrays his men to curry favor with Takeda, hoping to save himself. The clash grows messier as the police sweep up participants from both sides, and the Gisei Group undergoes a rapid, makeshift rebuild in the wake of these upheavals. Iwai and Hirono exchange grim assessments from jail, while Makihara receives a three-year sentence, Eda five, Yamamori about a year and a half, and Uchimoto secures a deal to dissolve his faction and retire from the yakuza. In a final twist, Takeda and his Hiroshima network consolidate power in the resulting vacuum, setting the stage for a broader political maneuvering against their rivals.

In the end, as the cold, unheated room closes in around Hirono on parole, the men around him confront the consequences of violence, loyalty, and shifting alliances. Takeda, half-joking but all too serious, hints that his own faction might seek to morph into a political committee once he’s released, leaving Hirono to ponder the road ahead and the price of staying in the game.