was a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese organized crime figure. He was the 4th head of the Kokusui-kai

Kokusui-kai

The Kokusui-kai , founded in 1958, is a Tokyo-based yakuza organization with an estimated 500 members. Despite its relatively low membership, it is widely viewed as a wealthy and successful gang, controlling Tokyo's fashionable Ginza district....

, a Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

-based yakuza

Yakuza

, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...

 gang. He was also the 7th socho of Kanamachi-ikka.

In August 2005, Kudo shocked the yakuza world when he became sworn brothers with new Yamaguchi-gumi

Yamaguchi-gumi

is Japan's largest and most infamous yakuza organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe pre-WWII....

 godfather Kenichi Shinoda

Kenichi Shinoda

, also known as , is a yakuza, the sixth and current kumicho of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's largest yakuza organization. He was released from prison on April 9, 2011, after serving a six-year sentence for firearms possession....

 in a sakazuki (sake-sharing) ceremony. As a result of the ritual, the Kokusui-kai became an affiliate of their former enemies, the Yamaguchi-gumi.

On February 15, 2007, he was found dead bleeding from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The suicide followed a rash of shootings and retaliations between Kokusui-kai and a rival gang, Sumiyoshi-kai

Sumiyoshi-kai

The , sometimes referred to as the , is the second-largest yakuza group in Japan with an estimated 20,000 members.The Sumiyoshi-kai is a confederation of smaller gangs. Its current sosai, or president, is Shigeo Nishiguchi. Structurally, the Sumiyoshi-kai differs from its main rival, the...

, over gang turf, including the shooting death of Sumiyoshi-kai's boss. The shootings ended with an agreement between the Kokusui-kai and Yamaguchi-gumi to stop fighting on February 8. http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/p20070215p2a00m0na026000c.htmlhttp://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/15/asia/AS-GEN-Japan-Gangster-Dead.php