Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War 1973

In September 1960, Fumio Sugihara, the temporary boss of the Muraoka Family, is assassinated while walking alongside Hirono Family patriarch Shozo Hirono [Bunta Sugawara] and Muraoka underboss Noboru Uchimoto [Takeshi Katô]. At Sugihara’s funeral, a guest vomits on the remains and hurries away, a crude sign of disrespect that signals a deeper grudge from a Kyushu-based yakuza. The act triggers a clash among the two families: Hirono and Muraoka officers, including Hiroshi Matsunaga [Mikio Narita] and Akira Takeda [Akira Kobayashi], ask Uchimoto to mete out punishment, but Uchimoto refuses, stoking anger and tension.

Hirono’s world tightens as a chain of personal loyalties and legal hurdles pull the brothers apart. After a rough confrontation with one of his own men, Hirono meets his adviser Kenichi Okubo [Asao Uchida], who explains the delicate politics of parole guarantors and the need to align with a powerful boss. Okubo outlines a path that would stabilize Hirono’s position by reconnecting with Yoshio Yamamori [Nobuo Kaneko], a former ally who has separated from Sugihara’s line. Although Hirono is wary—aware that Yamamori’s push is partly a strategic move to protect his own grip on power—he agrees to consider a partnership, even as he takes in a young delinquent named Takeshi Kuramoto [Tsunehiko Watase] into his family after Kuramoto injures a drunken yakuza associate.

That summer, key figures in the Muraoka camp—Soichi Eda [Shingo Yamashiro], Hirono, Uchimoto, Takeda, and Matsunaga—are drawn closer as Eda is released from prison, and the five men become sworn brothers. In June of the following year, with Hirono’s backing, Uchimoto’s bid to swear loyalty with Akashi Family boss Tetsuo Akashi brings an additional layer of alliance politics: Uchimoto aligns with Shigeo Aihara [Tetsuo End], a sworn brother of the Akashi hierarchy. The Akashi camp then presents a formidable rival to the Kobe-based Shinwa Group, kick-starting a nationwide struggle that stretches from Hiroshima to other fronts.

Aihara’s frank talk reveals a dangerous truth: Uchimoto is trying to cement loyalty to Akashi even though he already swore allegiance to Muraoka, a breach of yakuza code. That evening Hirono learns from Matsunaga and Takeda that Muraoka is transferring control to Yamamori, a decision that shocks Hirono and stirs his defiance. He is told Yamamori’s leadership will be temporary, but Uchimoto bursts in, furious, wrongly believing Hirono had betrayed him. The confrontation leaves Uchimoto disoriented and the broader alliance fraying as his ceremony for joining Akashi is delayed and his confidence collapses. Hirono’s blunt dismissal—calling Uchimoto a coward—drives a deeper rift between them.

Two months later, Yamamori formally succeeds Muraoka and consolidates the two families, igniting fresh tensions. Uchimoto is mocked at the after-party, and a litany of slights pushes him toward a more explosive posture. Convinced that Hirono may have conspired to destabilize him, Uchimoto confronts Hirono and threatens to tear down Yamamori’s position and to kill Hirono himself. He mobilizes his own faction, exploiting his mediator role in disputes between the Hamazaki and Komori Families of Iwakuni to wage a proxy war that would tilt the Yamamori leadership toward the Akashi alliance. Yamamori, meanwhile, ties his fortunes to the Shinwa Group, cementing a fragile but dangerous balance of power.

Hirono refuses to sit idle. After foiling an assassination ordered by Masakichi Makihara [Kunie Tanaka], Hirono pressures Takeda, Matsunaga, and Eda to reconcile with Uchimoto by leveraging Kenichi Okubo’s influence to threaten their standing in Hiroshima. Takeda uncovers the ruse, and Yamamori moves to expel Hirono’s faction to blunt the blow against his alliance with the Shinwa Group. The pressure yields a retreat for Matsunaga and Takeda, while Uchimoto is forced to sever his ties with Yamamori as a penalty for stepping out of line. The heat intensifies when Kuramoto [Tsunehiko Watase] attempts to shoot Makihara at a movie theater but is betrayed by Saijo, who Makihara has paid to turn against Hirono. Kuramoto is gunned down and his cremation ceremony is attacked, shattering the urn as Hirono clutches the broken remains and swears revenge.

Through these twists and betrayals, the deadly game of loyalties, retaliation, and strategic marriages of convenience reveals the precarious power calculus of postwar yakuza politics. The once-tight circle around Hirono and Uchimoto dissolves into competing factions, each move calibrated to tilt the balance of power between the Akashi and Shinwa groups, with Yamamori, Makihara, and their allies navigating a brutal landscape where survival depends on nerve, timing, and the ability to outmaneuver rivals who are only ever a step away from violence.