Washimine Group

Washimine Group
Name	Washimine Group
Nihongo	鷲峰組
Information
Organized Crime Syndicate	Yakuza
Boss	Yukio Washimine
Former Boss	Tsugio Bandō Ryūzō Washimine
Members	Ginji Matsuzaki Yoshida Shigeru Itō Inoue Taka Kudō Takeshi Ogami Fujishima Nishikawa Taguchi Kamino
Former Members	Chaka (traitor)
Criminal Activities	Drug trafficking, prostitution, protection
Allies	Hotel Moscow (formerly)
Rivals	Kōsa Council
First Appearance
Manga	Chapter 22: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise Part 1
Anime	Episode 19: Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise

The Washimine Group (鷲峰組 Washimine-gumi) was a subset of yakuza based in Japan. They were initially friendly with the yakuza group known as the Kōsa Council, but over several years, relations between them deteriorated after the respective deaths of each crime syndicates' leaders. As a result of territorial bullying from the Kōsa Council, the Washimine Group sought out Hotel Moscow's help to weaken the rival yakuza so that the Kōsa Council would be coerced to coexist with them on equal terms.

Structure

The Washimine Group was part of several yakuza groups under the Kanto Peace Council, a group which mediated disputes between the various yakuza. The Washimine Group ranked lower on the yakuza hierarchy than the Kōsa Council, allowing the latter to make decisions first against the former. Within the Washimine Group, there were various enforcers spread throughout the Tokyo Metropolitan Region to carry out the protection and maintenance of front businesses, including clubs, a strip bar, and a lumber yard. Places within the Greater Tokyo Area where the Washimine Group is known to have territory include Kabukichō, Roppongi, and Sagamihara. Once Ryūzō Washimine, the Washimine Group's 13th head, had passed away, the Kōsa Council forced the Washimine Group to choose a blood relative to succeed as the next leader, and members of the group disdained the rule due to its unfairness.

History

For years, Ryūzō Washimine led the Washimine Group up to the early 1990s. Additionally, he and the at-the-time head of the Kōsa Council were sworn brothers, having an amicable alliance with one another. In the late 1970s, Ryūzō had one daughter, Yukio Washimine, and an unnamed wife who died in Yukio's teenage years. Under the reign of Ryūzō, Ginji Matsuzaki served as his deeply loyal and widely-feared protector and assassin, earning him the nickname "Manslayer Ginji" due to his reputation and skills with a white-sheathed katana. Around 1990-1991, five years before the "Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise" arc, the Kōsa Council's head died, so his younger brother Masami Kōsa became the head. Masami despised his older brother as well as the Council's relationship with the Washimine Group. Two years later after the Kōsa elder's death, Ryūzō himself died. Masami had his Council interfere in the Washimines' territory due to the Council's higher rank in the Kanto Peace Council.

Meanwhile, Tsugio Bandō, who was indebted to Ryūzō for taking him in from Osaka, volunteered to financially take care of Ryūzō's daughter Yukio. Masami assigned a replacement leader for the Washimine Group since the new pact between the Group and the Council required that unless the Group could not find a blood-related successor, then he could send in a replacement. Bandō then volunteered to take lead of the Washimine Group as the de facto leader, pushing out the hostile Kōsa elements by engaging in more unsavory fields like prostitution and drug dealing, reasoning that not having an occupation was a disgrace to the Washimine Group. After Ryūzō's death and the Washimine Group's entry into prostitution and drug trafficking, Ginji quit being an assassin for the group since he viewed such participation as dishonorable in contrast to his respect for Ryūzō's leadership.

Fujiyama Gangsta Paradise

As a result of the few years of having to deal with the Kōsa Council's bullying toward his group, Tsugio Bandō decided that he would resort to making an alliance with the brutal Russian crime syndicate Hotel Moscow in order to coerce the Kōsa Council to treat the Washimine Group as equals. Subsequently, Bandō contacted Vasili Laptev, the leader of Hotel Moscow's Japanese branch, and Laptev likewise summoned Balalaika to Japan and briefed her on Bandō's request.

In exchange for helping the Washimine Group weaken their rival yakuza, Hotel Moscow wanted to expand their influence in Japan due to the Russians' dwindling power under Laptev's tenure. At their first meeting, Balalaika used Rock as an English-to-Japanese translator to talk with Tsugio Bandō, the then de facto leader of the Washimine Group. She clarified that Hotel Moscow's methods were much more fierce given their military background, even offering a demonstration of Hotel Moscow's power. Using her cellphone, she ordered her Vysotniki to blow up a nearby Kōsa Council club, literally shaking the meeting room. The Washimine henchmen, including Yoshida, were angered at Balalaika's overt actions, but Bandō appreciated her gesture and confirmed his desire to ally with her, much to her tranquil delight.

At a Japanese new year's festival, Ginji Matsuzaki and Yukio were watching over their stand when they saw Revy cussing out a street stall keeper. Ginji walked up to her and tried to deescalate the situation, but Revy only glared back at him. Yukio nervously interrupted to offer them a drink of tea and to talk, with Rock agreeing, so Yukio and Rock sat next to each other while Revy and Ginji reciprocated. While Rock talked to Yukio, Revy talked with Ginji, who saw Revy's eyes and remarked that he and her had the same vicious monster inside them. When Rock said that his job had some danger, Yukio was confused by his comment, annoying Revy since she overheard his mistake. Once they finished their tea, Yukio and Ginji left the festival with the former telling Rock her given name, and Revy left with Rock.

Elsewhere, the next morning, to aid his own leadership, Bandō met with Ginji and relayed to him that he had formed an alliance with the Russian mafia group known as Hotel Moscow, but Ginji remained silent. Reminding Ginji about the Kōsa Council's harassment of their group in the past few years, Bandō tried to convince him to once more take up his life as an assassin. Keeping his serious demeanor, Ginji refused on the basis of the Group's recent dishonorable manner of making money via prostitution and drug dealing. In response, Bandō clarified that he did not engage in such fields because he wanted to but because he focused on the Washimine Group's survival first and foremost. Ginji nonetheless thanked Bandō for volunteering to financially take care of Yukio after her father's death, and Bandō stood up and decided that he would leave. Before walking away, Ginji asked him what the Russians' interpreter looked like. When Bandō told him about the average-looking Japanese guy with a fiery female bodyguard, Ginji knew that Rock and Revy were the ones about whom he spoke.

At their second meeting at a strip bar at night, Bandō expressed his reluctance to Balalaika since she continued her murderous campaign despite the Kōsa Council being weakened. However, when Balalaika advocated to abduct the head of the Kōsa Council, Masami Kōsa, even Bandō became surprised, and he had had enough of her methods since her new plan could have easily grabbed the attention of the Japanese Metropolitan Police. To his shock, Balalaika asserted that her she had the final say in the decision because she was taking on the risks in the first place per his request. During their meeting, they were interrupted by Chaka's cellphone call from Rumi, with Yoshida telling Chaka to leave the room. Going to the back of the room, Chaka noticed Revy and asked Taka who she was. Annoyed, Taka reminded him that he was responsible for getting Fujishima arrested due to his previous mistakes, but Chaka promised that he meant no harm. When he told him that Revy was the interpreter's bodyguard from Roanapur, Chaka was impressed that she was a female gunslinger, but Taka quietly advised him to not mess with her since she was their guest. Chuckling, he replied that he understood and stated that any person would want to see her in action.

Once Chaka left the meeting room, Bandō apologized for Chaka's behavior and asked Balalaika to discuss his agreement with her later. As their meeting came to a close, Chaka found Revy in the hallway and tried to flirt with her, even speaking English to appeal to her, but she blew a cloud of cigarette smoke into his face and told him that his cologne stank. When Rock interrupted him to tell Revy that they needed to leave, Chaka became angered and punched Rock in the stomach, beginning to kick him on the ground to provoke Revy into using her Cutlass pistols. Bandō and Yoshida exited the meeting and saw the beating, so Yoshida restrained Chaka, with Bandō apologizing to Rock and assuring him that Chaka would be severely reprimanded.

The next day at home, Bandō and Ginji cooked a meal as the former attempted in vain once more to convince the latter to help him rebuild the Washimine Group. While asking for ingredients, Ginji asked Bandō why he sought the Russians' help if he knew that Hotel Moscow was a vicious group in the first place. Bandō continued preparing the ingredients and remarked that the Kōsa Council lacked honor, with Ginji replying that the Hotel Moscow also lacked honor. The same day at a metro station, Rock and Yukio met again to each other's surprise. Hearing from the station loudspeaker that the subway was dealing with an inconvenience, they agreed to kill time by visiting a café to get to know each other even more.

Drinking her beverage, Yukio asked Rock if he planned on visiting his parents, to which he answered that he had no plans for it. To his surprise, Yukio told him that she was once like him wherein she used to dislike her family but then after her father's passing, she appreciated her family's help toward her livelihood. Rock deemed her words wise, to which Yukio remarked that her friends often said that she sounded like an old woman, making Rock apologize if that was how his comment came off. Smiling, Yukio assured him that she was joking, and Rock commented that he still felt differently since he could not let go but would not do anything either. Placing down her drink, the schoolgirl asked Rock if he had heard Jean-Paul Sartre's quote about people being like dice insofar as they commit themselves to paths of their choosing. Rock complimented her analysis as blunt when her cellphone suddenly rang, so she briefly excused herself. When Yukio answered the call and told Ginji that she was all right and would reconvene soon, Rock recognized Bandō's name when Yukio mentioned him. As Yukio left, she told Rock her last name, with the latter quietly surprised since he then knew for certain that she was related to the Washimine yakuza.

That night, Yukio returned home from school and put her things away, and she overheard Bandō and Ginji talking in the living room. Yukio asked Bandō what he just mentioned, so Bandō told her that the Kōsa Council started hounding the Washimine Group since the latter group did not have a successor prepared for them, adding that the qualification for a successor was to be blood-related. Since Yukio was the only blood relative but only a child, the Kōsa Council used her young age and school-occupied life to their advantage to deny the Washimine Group being recognized as equals following their blood succession rules, dwindling the Washimine Group's influence. To her surprise, Ginji informed Yukio that Rock was an interpreter for the Russian mafia, advising her to stay away from him. Afterward, Bandō bid Yukio good night and left her house, and he got a phone call from a concerned Yoshida about the Russians killing a Kōsa member with a car bomb while attempting to turn himself in.

The next day at sunset, Bandō prepared a tantō and concealed it under his overcoat. As he left, Yoshida found him and realized that Bandō was going to kill Balalaika for refusing to stop the massacres of Kōsa Council members. Yoshida pleaded again for him to reconsider, but Bandō tossed his gold watch to Yoshida and bid him goodbye, making Yoshida cry. In a parking garage, Bandō confronted Balalaika to tell her to stop, but she had no interest of course, so Bandō charged at her but was easily disarmed and stabbed with his own weapon. Angered, Balalaika told Rock to translate her words, and she snapped Bandō's neck, killing him. Consequently, Bandō's body was put into a suitcase and dropped off at a Washimine Group office. When the yakuza opened the suitcase, they saw a note written in Russian stuffed inside Bandō's mouth that read, "Yellow is the color of cowards." Hearing about Bandō's murder coupled with the knowledge about the Washimine Group's decline due to needing a blood successor, Yukio told Ginji at night that she could not just abandon all the men who had fought hard for their yakuza. Looking at the sky, Yukio commented that for the first time in her life, she viewed the night sky and the snow as beautiful things. As Ginji was surprised by her new sentiment, Yukio turned around and softly asked him if he would defend her as he once did with her father. Bowing before her, the unhesitating Ginji offered to become her protector and assassin as the wakagashira (underboss) of the Washimine Group.

Washimine Group meeting

Later at her school library, several Washimine henchmen arrived there in cars to see Yukio at the entrance with her friend Maki, frightening the latter. Wondering what was going on, Maki froze as Yukio simply told her that she should repair her relationship with her mother, and Maki cried as Yukio entered the car and severed her connection to her school life, entering the criminal world. At the first gathering of members under Yukio's leadership, Yoshida vouched for the young woman, berating the other gangsters for their hesitation to continue working for the new and 14th head of the Washimine Group. Later in the backseat of a car as Yoshida drove her, Yukio wondered about Balalaika's whereabouts, prompting him to ask if he should have his men check the Narita and Haneda airports. Politely rejecting the idea, she advised him to have their men check the Azabu area and watch the Russian embassy since Hotel Moscow frequented the location. When she mentioned that Balalaika wanted to provoke a fight with them, Yukio began to cry a little bit, prompting Yoshida to politely wonder if she needed him to pull over. She politely declined and wiped her tears away, reminding herself that she needed to get accustomed to her new life. Continuing to drive them, Yoshida thanked Yukio for taking up the group's helm, stating that she truly had the honor of her father.

As soon as Yoshida parked near a curb, Ginji exited the car and promised Yukio that he would start taking care of the Russians. At a Russian-owned restaurant, a panicking Vasili Laptev griped with his men about Balalaika's campaign and wondered why their boss Slevinin would betray them. Suddenly, Washimine henchmen interrupted them by firing a barrage of bullets at the restaurant windows, forcing the Russians to take cover. As the gunfire ceased, Ginji appeared with his sword and mocked them, prompting Laptev to order his men to attack him. Dodging their bullets, Ginji killed the Russians inside with his katana, so Laptev tried to flee but was confronted by Ginji. As Laptev spoke Russian and could not translate his words to Japanese, Ginji realized that he had no use to him, so he used his katana on the Russian man, beheading him. Unknown to Ginji, Balalaika had planned on Laptev's death so that he could be replaced by someone more competent. That same night, when Yoshida escorted Yukio home, she thanked him for his vigorous defense. Entering her house, the two were met by various street thugs and Chaka, who decided to betray the Washimine Group and do things on his own terms. As Yoshida yelled at Chaka for his disloyalty, the latter pulled out his revolver and shot Yoshida, terrifying Yukio.

Yoshida told her to run as Chaka shot him several more times, but while running, Yukio tripped into Hanada, a street criminal who became angered and punched Yukio for bumping into him. Not wanting Yukio to die yet, Chaka smashed Hanada's head with a vase, ordering him not to be rough with the girl. While Chaka and his men took Yukio to a bowling alley and began a strip game using her clothing, Revy and Rock arrived at the Washimine residence to find the dead Yoshida, and Ginji arrived seconds later on foot, causing a quick standoff between him and Revy. Seeing that he could not smell gunpowder, Ginji realized that Revy was not the one who killed Yoshida, so he sheathed his weapon. Deducing that Chaka was behind Yukio's abduction, Ginji decided that he would hunt him down, but Rock offered his own help as well as Revy's, making Ginji ask why he wanted to help. Responding that he did not want to see Yukio be forced into the criminal world, Ginji agreed to his aid, so Revy hotwired a car and Rock drove them to the building complex to rescue the young girl.

Inside the bowling alley, Chaka and his men played a stripping game using Yukio's clothes as the reward for scoring in the game. When some of the men in Chaka's new gang plotted to leave since they had no concrete plan on what to do with Yukio, Chaka threw a bowling ball at one of them and threatened to kill anyone who attempted to flee the group. Looking at the bruised Yukio, who sat down and only had her school coat and underwear on, Chaka asked her why she looked so poise, grabbing her by her shirt and glaring at her. Maliciously smiling, he gleefully taunted that he could sell her to a violent, perverted man who would rape her and force her to perform sexual acts on camera. Soon, Revy and Ginji entered the alley and saw Yukio, who cried out for the latter. His expression turning into a furious rage, Ginji proclaimed to the men that he would "send them to paradise" by slaughtering them.

Teaming up, Revy and Ginji coordinated their attacks despite their language barrier, flawlessly killing Chaka's street gang and outmatching the less-experienced street criminals. Seeing that it was not going well for him, Chaka grabbed Yukio and ran to another exit, taunting Ginji to try and stop him. As he took Yukio down an escalator, he slipped on some cleaning fluid, annoying him. Looking up in confusion, he saw the angry Rock, who immediately knocked him out with a bowling pin, taking Yukio to a locker room for safety as Revy and Ginji finished their slaughter of men like Hanada and Okazaki. Rock gave Yukio his jacket to cover her chest, but Yukio asked him why he was there. Rock answered that he wanted her to have a normal life, but Yukio clarified to Rock that she chose her path, declaring that Rock was her enemy. Rock responded that she did not have to be bound by an archaic yakuza code about succession by blood, but Yukio contested his claim, specifying that the Kōsa Council forced the blood rule onto her group.

Affirming that she could not just abandon the hundreds of men who fought for her father for so long, Yukio relayed to Rock the background behind the feud between the Washimine Group and the Kōsa Council, in addition to how the blood rule concerned her. Speaking about Hotel Moscow, Yukio proclaimed that Tsugio Bandō made a mistake in allying with them due to him not realizing the Russians' viciousness and "true evil." Upon realizing from Rock's expression that he was present with Balalaika when the latter killed Bandō, she claimed that Rock had no decision in his life whereas she had a choice but needed to follow her honor. In tears, Yukio yelled at Rock that he was in the twilight between the normal and criminal worlds and had no right to judge her since she was in one world then. She then continued crying and asked Rock how he could save someone if he had no choice. Feeling bad for her, Rock tried to console her but she harshly shrieked at him to back away, smilingly remarking that she envied Rock's freedom.

Meanwhile, Chaka was confronted by Revy, so he tried to challenge her to a duel, but Revy ran up to him and kicked him to the ground, saying that she would let Ginji finish him off. Insulted, the bruised Chaka angrily followed Revy into an adjacent room where Ginji stood next to a swimming pool. Angry and annoyed, Chaka fired a bullet at Ginji, but it was cut into two pieces by Ginji's katana. Consequently, the latter defeated Chaka by severing both his hands from his body and drowning him in the pool by pushing his head into the water with the katana's handle. After Ginji finished drowning Chaka, the awed Revy told Ginji that she wanted to see his bullet-slicing trick once more, but Ginji pushed the stock of his katana toward her hand, smirkingly warning her that he still owed her a favor for helping confront Chaka and that she would be unlucky if he drew his katana toward her. With dawn nearing, the bruised Yukio left with Ginji and thanked Rock but told him that she would kill him if they crossed paths again.

Because of Balalaika's newfound hatred for both yakuza instead of one, Balalaika began to kill both Kōsa Council and Washimine Group affiliates. That morning, Hotel Moscow succeeded in attacking the remaining bases of the Washimine Group, destroying the bases' security footage and assassinating the group's enforcers, including Kudō, Takeshi Ogami, and Shigeru Itō. Somewhere else, Yukio's driver Inoue stated that he could not get in touch with Taguchi, and his men could not get in contact with the other hideouts either. To Ginji's surprise, Yukio informed them that the police told her that Mr. Taguchi's men were dead and she would have to visit the police station the next day for questioning. Realizing that Balalaika's men were likely ex-military due to their swift attacks and addressing the Russian leader as "Kapitan," Yukio remarked that she made a mistake in underestimating them. In the anime only, Yukio requested that Inoue pull over, ordering him to send a message to any Washimine yakuza who were still alive about letting her do the fighting.

Since Hotel Moscow continued their campaign against both the Washimine Group and the Kōsa Council, Yukio met with Masami Kōsa to discuss an action of alliance. Masami stated that he would not allow Yukio to succeed as the head of the Washimine Group, but he nonetheless heard her out on her plan to stop the Russians' interference in yakuza affairs. When Yukio reminded him that she met their blood descendant requirement which the Kōsa Council had forced upon them in the first place, Morozumi yelled at her until Masami advised him to calm down. Sure of herself, Yukio responded that her clan was doing everything in their power to rebuff the Russians, but Masami demanded to know what she would do to compensate for the Russians' killings of his men since he knew that Bandō was responsible for the alliance between his group and Hotel Moscow.

Yukio agreed that there was a problem but she emphasized that she had the power to bring their case to the Kanto Peace Council, angering Morozumi enough to slam his hands onto the table and launching food everywhere, but Ginji shielded Yukio from the food. After Masami continued to doubt her, she and Ginji left. Another day, Yukio saw the lively Japanese festival and wondered if she could check it out. Although Ginji warned her that they might not be able to show their faces, Yukio exited the car anyway, so he followed her hesitatingly. Walking past the street stalls, Yukio apologized to Ginji for suddenly changing course, and she asked him if he would reopen a stand after their fight was over. Speaking seriously about their situation, Ginji informed her that four of their offices were raided in the past three days with eight dead and twenty in the hospital, stating that the Washimine Group was dwindled down to a third of what it used to be. Thinking silently, Yukio then proclaimed that she wished the festival could go on forever, apologizing for dreaming instead of focusing on their group.

Planning to take on Hotel Moscow by themselves, in the anime only, Yukio and Ginji even committed a bank robbery and successfully framed it on Hotel Moscow by mimicking the logo on the electric company vans that the Vysotniki used. Afterward, Ginji showed Yukio a Stechkin pistol, which she began to carry on her in the anime. When she refused to cease the fight against Hotel Moscow despite knowing that the Washimine Group was outmatched and down to a third of their original membership, Yukio still wanted to kill Balalaika with Ginji's help in order to avenge Bandō. After Balalaika had a meeting with the Kōsa Council and killed Masami and Morozumi, the Russian leader decided that she would cease her attacks on the Washimine Group if Yukio left the Tokyo territory by the end of that day. In the anime, Yukio also wanted to run away to Roanapur and start anew, planning to rebuild the Washimine Group in Thailand once they assassinated Balalaika.

Additionally, in the anime, Ginji and Yukio used a semi-truck to kidnap Rock and use him as a hostage after Balalaika killed Masami and intended on leaving Japan, but Rock replied that he would be no good as a hostage. To his fortune, he was then saved by Revy, who crashed into their car and confronted them at the seaport. In the manga, Yukio as the Washimine Group's leader requested Rock over the phone to meet her and Ginji at a shrine. While Rock waited at the top with Revy, Yukio was in her house for the last time and lamented that she would no longer get to see the festivals. Feeling her pain, Ginji expressed open disagreement at her plan to continue the fight, but Yukio turned around and smiled, proclaiming that she had and would always stand by him. At the shrine, Yukio and Ginji went up the stairs dressed in kimonos, and Rock iterated that Hotel Moscow would cease their attacks if they left the city by sundown. Yukio rejected his words, saying that a promise from Balalaika was an empty one and that she was adamant to kill Tsugio Bandō's murderer, Balalaika, for true closure. At that point, she signaled to Ginji that he could engage in combat with Revy.

During the gun-sword duel between Revy and Ginji, when Rock relayed to Yukio that he could genuinely see correctly in the twilight, Yukio remarked that she was fighting to survive. Remembering Yukio's lament about not being able to run a festival stall again, Ginji briefly froze in shock, giving Revy the opportunity to shoot him dead despite the stab wound in her knee. Immediately after Ginji's death, Yukio was heartbroken by his death as well as the deaths she claimed that she had caused as head of the Washimine Group. Putting Ginji's katana to her throat, Yukio requested Rock to tell Balalaika that she would see her later in the underworld. Although Revy warned him not to look, Rock witnessed Yukio stab herself in the throat, dying next to Ginji and leaving the Washimine Group without leaders.