The Shimano Family (嶋野組, Shimano-gumi) is a yakuza organization featured in Yakuza/Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza 0. It is a subsidiary of the Tojo Clan.
Contents
- 1 Background
- 1.1 Yakuza 0
- 1.2 Yakuza/Yakuza Kiwami
- 2 Members
Background[]
The Shimano Family was first established in 1985 as a subsidiary to the Dojima Family. In 1985, Shimano Family enforcer Goro Majima was tasked by the Dojima Patriarch, Sohei Dojima, with aiding his oath brother Taiga Saejima of the Sasai Family in assassinating Yoshiharu Ueno, Chairman of the rival Ueno Seiwa Clan. Due to a last minute change of plans by Kazuo Shibata, Majima was unable to participate in the assassination. His refusal to betray Saejima resulted in him being expelled from the Shimano Family for insubordination and held within their torture dungeon, dubbed "the Hole", for almost a year, before being exiled to Osaka, under the supervision of Shimano's oath brother from the Omi Alliance, Tsukasa Sagawa.
By 1987, the Shimano Family split off from the Dojima Family and became a direct subsidiary of the Tojo Clan.
Yakuza 0[]
In 1988, through Sagawa, Shimano orders Majima to execute Makoto Makimura, the owner of the Empty Lot that the Tojo Clan has been trying to acquire in the middle of Kamurocho. In exchange for this hit, Majima would be allowed to rejoin the Shimano Family and re-obtain his former rank.
Despite an early attempt on her life, Majima finds that he can't bring himself to kill his target and instead tries to protect her from Sagawa. When he discovers this, Sagawa makes an attempt on both of their lives, but he is foiled when Masaru Sera of the Nikkyo Consortium interrupts his attack, knocks both Sagawa and Majima unconscious, and kidnaps Makimura.
Majima and Sagawa later travel to Kamurocho in search of Makimura, who'd been taken there by Kazuma Kiryu and Jun Oda. Upon arrival, Shimano calls them both to a meeting, where he reveals that he knew Majima would not be able to kill Makimura and would instead protect her and gain her trust. Shimano could then leverage that trust to get her to sell the land to him, thus giving him the power to obtain the position of Third Chairman of the Tojo Clan. Shimano also revealed that he'd secretly made an agreement with the Omi Alliance: In exchange for their support in his pursuit of the Chairmanship, Shimano would turn the Tojo Clan into an Omi Alliance subsidiary.
Later on, after Sera obtained ownership of the Empty Lot and secured his position as the next Chairman of the Tojo Clan, Majima was tasked with killing Shimano for his attempt to sell out the Clan to the Omi Alliance. When Majima confronted Shimano about this, Shimano murdered the Omi Alliance envoy who'd arranged the alliance with him and offered Majima the Captain seat of the Shimano Family if he told Sera that he wasn't actually a traitor, to which Majima agreed.
Yakuza/Yakuza Kiwami[]
By 2005, the Shimano Family had become one of the Clan's three biggest organizations, rivaled only by the Nishikiyama Family and the Kazama Family, of which Shimano's long-time rival, Shintaro Kazama, was their patriarch.
After the theft of the Tojo's 10 billion yen cash reserve was exposed by Akira Nishikiyama and Third Chairman Sera was assassinated, Shimano began an aggressive campaign to recover those 10 billion yen in order to use them to become Fourth Chairman. To this end, the Shimano Family made a pact with the Snake Flower Triad and the Omi Alliance, requesting their support in exchange for a percentage of the recovered money.
Through his contacts in the police, Shimano discovered that Yumi Sawamura had been behind the theft of the 10 billion yen, so he had Majima kidnap her daughter, Haruka, in order to blackmail her for the money. Unfortunately for Shimano, Sawamura's childhood friend, Kazuma Kiryu, had been protecting Haruka at the time and he rescued her from Majima and his men. Later on, Shimano would try to kidnap the girl again, this time sending the Snake Flower's Lau Ka Long to carry out the kidnapping but, once again, Kiryu saved her by breaking into the Snake Flower's Yokohama headquarters and fighting Lau and his men.
In time, Shimano would realize that his contact with the Omi, Yukio Terada, had actually been working with Kazama against him he whole time. In response, Shimano had Terada followed, knowing he would eventually lead him to the place where Kazama had been hiding. After finding Kazama's hideout in a docked boat in Shibaura Wharf, the Shimano Family's forces mobilize to attack it and assassinate Kazama, thus taking out one of Shimano's biggest rivals in his pursuit of the Chairmanship.
At the Wharf, Shimano and his men attack the boat by throwing grenades into it in order to force Kazama and his men out into the open. Unfortunately for them, Kiryu and his allies hold off their attack long enough for Osamu Kashiwagi to show up with reinforcements from the Kazama Family. In the ensuing gang battle, Shimano's forces are routed, but Shimano nonetheless manages to kill Kazama with a grenade. Immediately afterwards, Shimano is in turn shot dead by Terada.
Following the death of it's patriarch, the remaining members are absorbed into the Nishikiyama Family under Koji Shindo's command.
Members[]
- Futoshi Shimano - Patriarch (1985-2005)
- Goro Majima - Captain (1989-2005)
