Hokuriku Proxy War 1977

Kawada Noboru [Hiroki Matsukata] is a peasant from Mikuni who becomes a yakuza in Fukui’s Tomiyasu Group. He starts with a promise from his boss, Mr. Yasuhara [Kō Nishimura], that he will gain control of the security business for the local speedboat racetrack if he kills Yamada. When Kawada is released from prison in 1968 and Yasuhara refuses to honor the deal, Kawada forces him to concede the rights by burying him up to the neck, a brutal move that unsettles everyone involved and signals Kawada’s ruthlessness.

At a branch office in Tsuruga, Yasuhara seeks help from the Kanai Group, a destructive yakuza organization based out of Osaka, operating under the Asada Group’s umbrella. Kanai Hachiro [Sonny Chiba] responds by sending a swarm of fifty would‑be assassins to eliminate Kawada, while Mantani [Hajime Hana] warns that this is part of Kanai’s plan to seize Fukui. Kawada retreats to the Shiranami House with his lover, Nakai Kiku [Yumiko Nogawa], where they try to hold on to what they have while the power plays rage around them. Mediating from Kyoto, Mr. Yoshitama arranges a meeting between Kawada and Mr. Kubo [Mikio Narita], who has been sent by Okano of the Asada Group to offer support, but Kawada stays wary and unreceptive.

A diner ambush nearly costs Kawada his life, but the arriving police save him, leaving him badly injured. Yasuhara appoints Mantani as underboss and charges him with Kawada’s protection, a move meant to keep Kawada in line while Mantani himself is seen as Kanai’s loyal ally—an obvious sign that Osaka’s influence is tightening its grip on Fukui.

To recover, Kawada hides with Nakai Kiku’s sister Nobuko [Sanae Nakahara] (also known as Nobu) and the Yanaka Group’s Takashi, who is in Kanazawa. They take Kawada to Wajima, where Nobuko’s brother Takashi’s boss, Oya, fears a Kanai invasion and orders Takashi to relocate Kawada. Mantani visits again, and Kiku agrees to be his mistress if he keeps Kawada’s location secret. Meanwhile, Kawada begins a new relationship with Nobuko, complicating loyalties even further.

Kawada’s assault on the Tomiyasu Group intensifies; he buries a member up to the neck to force a confession about Mantani, who is later found at a Kyoto gambling house run by the Yoshitane Group. Kawada infiltrates the place, severs Mantani’s hand, and dispatches a Kanai flunky who mocks him, signaling a turning point in the balance of power.

While serving time in Hamamatsu Prison for murder, Kawada is stabbed by Toshimoto of the Kanai Group in Gifu but is saved by Takii of the Yanaka Group, who informs him that Oya has been stabbed and that Takashi has become the head of the Kanai branch. Upon his release in 1973, Kawada faces a warning: Takashi’s superiors will hand Mikuni and Kanazawa over to him if he kills Kawada. Kawada outsmarts them, returns to his old office, and finds Nobuko waiting. Mantani confronts him with a cane, but Kawada presses on and confesses plans to marry Kiku.

The Asada Group grows worried that Kanai is going rogue, and they plot to back Kawada’s rise. Kiku arranges a secret meeting with Okano Nobuyasu [not linked here due to uncertain casting], who agrees to covertly aid Kawada. Kawada and Yanaka Group men raid a Kanai office, taking control of a safe and beginning a ruthless campaign of killings against Kanai members. Kawada also secures substantial firepower from Ryugasaki in Nagoya, signaling a major escalation. Mantani’s men call for reinforcements from Osaka as Yasuhara visits Kawada to enlist help in taking down Mantani, who has become a Kanai puppet.

A police raid in Osaka leads to Kanai Hachiro’s arrest for illegal weapons possession, and Kawada and Okano formally swear loyalty to one another as bonded brothers. Mantani counters by pressing Takashi to join him in the Asada Group, offering him a place if he eliminates Kawada. Takashi tortures Nobuko to locate Kawada, but Nobuko resists, and Kawada’s team eventually rescues her. Nobuko then fatally wounds Takashi and surrenders to the police.

Kiku leaves Mantani for Okano, prompting Kawada and Yasuhara to meet Mantani in a hospital, where Mantani agrees to ally with Kawada against Okano. Takii pays old Kanai members to destroy a bar where Kiku works, and Okano and Kiku suspect Mantani of involvement, leading to a tense confrontation in the hospital. Mantani finally concedes control of Fukui to Kawada, and the two men stage a brutal message: in a field, Kawada’s men bury Kanai Group members up to their necks, and a car crushes their heads as a final warning to Okano. Okano departs, and Kiku walks away into the snowy landscape, marking the end of one chapter and the uneasy balance that remains.