Police said Monday they have arrested a senior figure in a yakuza gang for allegedly stabbing an 8-year-old boy in Tochigi Prefecture.
According to police, the suspect, who has been named as Akira Muronoi, 57, is one of the leading members of the Sumiyoshi-kai gang, the second-largest in Japan with an estimated 20,000 members. Muronoi is alleged to have inflicted a minor injury on the boy, the son of a female acquaintance, by stabbing him in the chest with a knife at her home on last Saturday, Fuji TV reported.
Police say they believe the incident may have been related to a disagreement between Muronoi and the boy's mother.
© Japan Today
50 Comments
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Yubaru
Woah, big man here, takes out his anger on an 8yr old boy.
A stab wound to the chest is a "minor" injury? I wonder what kind of knife he was using.
dialogtus
Yakuza man is WOW!!! Well done boy, great job! he was just 8 (eight) MORON!
Elbuda Mexicano
I hope this old scum bag yakuza loser rots in jail! Stabbing a little boy?? This guy needs to get stabbed for being too stupid!
torosushi
have you no pride as a senior yakuza member?
Mirai Hayashi
Tough guy has to pick on an 8 year old...What a pr!ck and a coward..
enkeldika
That's just pure MADNESS!!! SO SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
spudman
yeah, a gangster by any other name.
Ewan Huzarmy
'The son of a female acquaintance'
Poor little fellah, probably the son of a working girl. Let's see if this old Yak geezer survives a stab in the chest !
nath
These are the kinds of pieces of work that the JCops are protecting.....
Stab an 8 year old boy... Tough Guy!
KariHaruka
Woah tough guy. I wouldn't want to mess with him...
What a spineless coward stabbing a 8 year old.
nostromo
the bar to prove your worth in the yakuza has obviously been lowered if you have to take on an 8 year old....
tmarie
Throw the book at him - and then whatever his sentence is, have the same for any parent who stabs their kids int he future.
Elbuda Mexicano
It would be nice to send him to a nice prison but not here in Japan, say to Folsom etc..over in the USA, I am sure the good people and not so good ones in American prisons would love to play with this Japanese scum bag, and when they find out he had the COURAGE to stab an 8 year old little boy?? HAHAHAHA!! PARTY!!! Yakuza scum bastard!
gogogo
Where are the Yakuza are some of the nicests people you'll meet posters?
Resurfaced
These gangsters are so daring but yet are all cowards. Lets see what he does when he drops the soap in prison. His tattoos are no match Big Bubba.
Ms. Alexander
What a low life!!
wontond
I'm not at expert on the yakuza culture, but I'm sure the rest of the gang won't be pleased. How much more dishonour can you bring than by stabbing a small child. Cut his finger off and throw him in jail.
TSRnow
I wonder if the small child was involved to defend his mom. Maybe he was the bigger man here.
tmarie
Where are the Yakuza are some of the nicests people you'll meet posters?
I've met some nice yaks. They're like everyone else - good and bad. Just with a questionable job.
southsakai
Such a big man stabs an 8 years old child. A coward the least.
I hope his buddies deal with him and fix him up nice and hard street style for bringing shame to their clan and for such a cowardly act on a little child.
Clearly this guy has no control of his mental state!
tokyokawasaki
Just remember, the Yaks one-on-one with someone their own size would run or cry like a baby. 99% of the Yaks are cowards, who only feel safe in numbers..
smithinjapan
What a brave guy, stabbing an eight-year-old! Hope he gets his own in prison.
Disillusioned
Nice work Yak! I hope your brethren are just as disgusted and give you a good flogging in and out of jail!
nath
Worse happens around the world. It was probably an accident. I highly doubt on purpose.
If it was on purpose I hope he gets it in the rear for the rest of his life.
nath
I agree. I see Yakuza at coffee shops all the time and they seem to adore kids. They would probably beat the crap out of this dude
Christopher Smith
This world would be so much better without nefarious Yakuza trash.
nath
So, did the boy survive?
Fridaythe13th
He is a yakuza. Therefore, it is impossible that the was peeling an apple, and the kid slipped and fell on the knife. Or is it?
How did the boy survive a stab in the chest by a 57 year old yakuza? Probably because the wound was only several millimeters deep. I can imagine several ways that could happen, and none of them include a yakuza going into a murderous rage on an 8 year old. Reality check, because if he had, the 8 year old would be dead.
I think the worst case scenario here is that he threatened the boy with the knife and poked him rather lightly in the chest. And that is bad enough.
But hey, maybe the boy was littering beautiful Japan? I think many here support pulling a knife on litterbugs, judging by the other article!
TokyoGas
Throw his scrabbly a$$ under the jail. Stabbing a kid is totally uncalled for.
WilliB
What hero... stabbing an 8-year old. Sheesh.
w8aminute
Maybe he was going after her and he accidentally got the boy? Who knows what happened! I don't think it matters much and I do not think the yaks will go for this. People who molest, rape, or murder children are considered the bottom of the cesspool, even in prisons. This guy will not last long.
ludlt
I think his higher-up boss will have him apologized for this outrageous act by ordering him to cut off his pinky.
umioso
This guy's oyabun needs to stab HIM in his lower pinky.
nath
What everyone here seems NOT to understand is why he stabbed the kid. Yaks never do anything by chance, they get angry–it's either for show (I'm a big bad and can chop off your head) or for a reason such as "You owe me money and I'm going to kill your kids unless you pay up now!"
I'm not saying he's a nice guy, rather he's a nasty, calculating, conniving POS who would feed your wife, kids, pets and relatives to the fish after cutting them up slowly in front of you because you owe him 1,000 yen and haven't paid it up including interest promptly.
And FYI His oyabun probably told him "Cut up the kid if the b/itch doesn't pay!"
Balefire
I hope he's convicted of attempted murder and gets serious jail time, but I'm betting that he'll get a lesser charge and a risible sentence, instead.
nath
No shit sherlock
Yubaru
The article states "STABBED", which is a heck of a lot different. A poke in the chest would probably have been reported as such, but then yellow journalism gets readers attention.
Fridaythe13th
Yubaru wrote "A poke in the chest would probably have been reported as such"
A stab with a needle is still a stab. A 20 millimeter stab with a knife is still a stab, and not quite a cut. And just as you say, reader's attention is wanted, so no, I do not expect to receive a clear picture from journalists.
mrmalice
hm, the big no-no's ... don't touch the children .... don't go up against the legalised mafia (politics) in the open ... don't kill cops if it can be traced someone must have forgotten about that , just as well as : don't employ sociopaths unless you can keep their leash on until you need them...bad for business
gogogo
I cant believe posters are defending organised crime... you are as bad as this guy
Cary Layton
If his gang has 20,000 and is 2nd largest, how many does the largest gang have?
BurakuminDes
He will cop a suspended sentence. Even torturing a child to death here will only get you 7 years. I just hope the poor boy is OK. Time Japan starts doing something about these little inbred bullies that are the yakuza.
Lowly
I am surprised because, contrary to what some believe, they are not crazy psychopaths, nor stupid idiots, (at least) (especially) the higher ups. So, if he had dirty work to be done, someone would be doing it for him, or he would be protected by those around him and not taken in for this kind of simple crime.
If he had an emotional outburst or personal motive, it is conceivable that the gang would punish him, but if it was gang work, and/or he is really very high up, protecting him would more likely be what they do.
Fridayth13is on to something- if he wanted to kill or grievously injure an eight yr old, he could. Like he says it could only be a shallow wound. The article doesn't say what kind of injury/recovery so we can only imagine.
Also, first thing I thot of was, recently nation-wide there has been a big anti yak campaign, w/police and ave ppl. If he really is a high-up, he is being targeted by the police. Maybe a lower-dn guy was doing it and they are trying to pin it on him. Maybe it really was only an accident, he has good relations w/ the kid and mom, but the police found out and use the assault charge for intimidation or to try to squeeze info about bigger fish out of him.
Either way we don't know...
mtwildman
This bozo should spend time in Folsom...he might get a clue on who's the "tough guy"! Stabbing an 8 year old kid...what a punk!!!
mtwildman
@ Cary Layton...Yamaguchi Gumi has many more members...perhaps 3X's as many.
nath
Japanese adults have no respect for children these days. They all should have a once a year training how to care for the children.
guuzendesu
It says "a disagreement with the boy's mother." What I imagine happened was the boy tried to push him away, and the guy pulled a knife and said "watch who you're talking to," and punctuated with a tap on his chest. That, or as he was leaving, the yakuza may have said to the woman, "Remember, you wouldn't want anything to happen to this nice kid," and again punctuated with a tap. Later, the woman was probably convinced to press charges so that the guy would know she's going to fight back legally when threatened. Whether that helps her or not...hmm....
Fadamor
Regardless of what actually happened, I can't imagine the Sumiyoshi-kai gang is happy that they're now associated with having "senior members" who commit battery on children. Talk about a step down from organized crime!