Film / Nihon No Don

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Nihon No Don, aka Japanese Godfather (日本の首領, literally Japan's Don) is a Japanese trilogy of organized crime films released from 1977 to 1978. Very loosely based on the real-life exploits of Japan's biggest yakuza gangs, the series was adapted from a novel by journalist Koichi Iboshi and was produced by Toei, who earlier rewrote the rules of the yakuza genre with Kinji Fukasaku's Battles Without Honor and Humanity.^note Also worthy of note is that Iboshi also wrote the source novel for both series while the films share a screenwriter in the form of Koji Takada.

By 1977, attendances for Toei's yakuza films had gone down significantly, thanks in no small part to the advent of the television. In response, the studio decided to bring in veteran director Sadao Nakajima and assembled an All-Star Cast billed as "30 Years of Toei Men" with genre veterans Koji Tsutura, Bunta Sugawara, Hiroki Matsukata, Sonny Chiba, Mikio Narita, Nobuo Kaneko, and Tatsuo Umemiya alongside veteran actors Shin Saburi and Asao Uchida. Toshiro Mifune would later round out the cast for the two sequels, while Chiezo Kataoka replaced Uchida in the third movie.

The first film chronicles the exploits of yakuza godfather Issei Sakura (played by Shin Saburi and based off real-life yakuza boss Kazuo Taoka), boss of Japan's most powerful crime syndicate, the Osaka-based Nakajima Group. By now the wily Sakura has conquered most of the rackets in Central and Western Japan, leaving only Tokyo and the Kanto area untouched. After being called in to help the Abe Corporation deal with a blackmail problem, Sakura plans to move in to Tokyo. He assigns his Blood Knight Number Two Shuei Tatsumi (Koji Tsuruta) to lead the way with Tsukichi Sakoda (Sonny Chiba), Seiji Kataoka (Mikio Narita), and Shiro Matsueda (Hiroki Matsukata). However, rival Tokyo-based boss Eizo Iwami (Bunta Sugawara) stands in Sakura's way, aided in secret by powerful political power broker Kikuo Oyama (Asao Uchida). A massive Mob War erupts for control of the Tokyo rackets as loyalties are tested and both sides manipulate the political and business worlds to one-up each other.

The second film, Japanese Godfather: Ambition takes place two years after the first, where the Tokyo gangs, now headed by Sakura's rival Kozuke Oishi (Toshiro Mifune), are now united under an umbrella organization known as the Kanto Alliance. Sakura, having recovered after a long illness, plans to continue his Tokyo expansion plans. Matsueda and Kataoka are tasked with manipulating the Japanese stock market. In doing so, the Nakajimas run into a Kanto Alliance plot to facilitate a hostile takeover between two major shipping companies. The Alliance manages to force the merger, but the threat of the gang war resuming looms. And to raise the stakes, the corrupt dictator of the oil-producing Southeast Asian Republic of Garudanesos, President Speru Annanta (Youssef Omar),^note Inspired by Indonesian dictator Sukarno, who infamously consorted with the yakuza in Real Life. arrives in Japan with a lucrative oil deal that could mean billions of yen in profit. Both Sakura and Oishi scramble to earn Annanta's favor. The Nakajima Group in particular decide to exploit Annanta's attraction to Sakura's personal nurse by arranging a marriage between her and the president.

The third and final film, Japanese Godfather: Conclusion sees Kikuo Oyama (now played by Chiezo Kataoka) fall victim to a rare form of cancer. Naturally, with his position as Japan's most powerful gangster seemingly up for grabs, both Sakura and Oishi try to succeed him. While the Nakajimas manage to block another Kanto Alliance attempt at forcing a takeover of a major company, Oishi is also pursuing his dream project: turning Saipan into the the Las Vegas of the Pacific. To this end he manipulates political party leader and Corrupt Politician Shigenori Karita (Ko Nishimura) to act as a go-between in a bribery deal involving corrupt US Senator Thomas H. Gerald (Tony Diamond). However, things go south when armed men arrive, steal the money, and try to make a getaway before being chased and killed by the police, who also recover half the money. With a massive scandal on his hands, things get worse for Oishi when the bribery receipt disappears. The burning question remains as to who set up the robbery while both Sakura and Oyama plan to finish off Oishi - and of course, settle amongst themselves who will rule the Japanese underworld.

Although Battles Without Honor and Humanity is often called the Japanese answer to The Godfather, Toei commissioned the trilogy as a closer homage to the latter. The year after the first film, Toei would later try to cash in on Star Wars with Message from Space.

The trilogy contains examples of:

• Ambiguous Situation: In Ambition, did Kaoru Miura kill herself, or did the Kanto Alliance have someone murder her? Screenwriter Koji Takada admitted in a 2025 interview that he deliberately left it vague.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: After he kills her boyfriend (a Nakajima goon who got personal with her) Makiko Sakura attempts to seduce Shiro Matsueda into sleeping with her. He turns her down, even when she evokes a Wounded Gazelle Gambit and screams that Matsueda's trying to rape her.
• Arc Words: Most of Sakura's top lieutenants (who do remain loyal to him) always insist that they "won't stop until we make our boss Japan's don," or some variation thereof.
• Artistic License – History:
  • The first film was primarily inspired by the Yamaguchi-gumi's attempts at invading the Kanto area in the early 60s, the turf of the rival Inagawa-kai gang. In the movie and sequels, the Nakajimas' attempts are somewhat bloody and several mid-tier bosses on both sides up getting killed. In reality, the Yamaguchi's incursions did stir some trouble (and the attempted assassination of a boss allied with the Yamaguchi-gumi), but no full-scale gang war broke out. In fact, the Yamaguchi-gumi and Inagawa-kai instead joined forces in an alliance that saw both gangs collectively take control of most of the Japanese underworld.
  • The following two films reference President Sukarno's association with the yakuza and the Lockheed scandal, but the Yamaguchi-gumi was not involved in either incident.
• Artifact of Attraction:
  • Sakura has a set of Sengoku Period armor as one, representing his intent to rule Japan. It's most notably seen in the opening credits of all three films.
  • Oishi is also seen admiring an Aikido mask in Ambition.
  • In Conclusion, it's revealed that in contrast to Sakura's armor, Oishi has a set of Western medieval armor in one of his hideouts.
• Ambition Is Evil: Sakura, Oishi, and Oyama have no bones about leaving their loyal subordinates out to dry, using their own family members as pawns, or double-crossing their business partners just to become the don of the yakuza.
• Ascended Fanboy:
  • Played for tragedy in the first film. A chef's apprentice was promised membership into the gang if he could find a rival executive that the Nakajimas wanted. The rival executive ends up killing the apprentice, but the Nakajimas use that as an excuse to go after the executive and his boss.
  • Ditto in the third film. In that film, a young bartender is established as being oddly addicted to following top-class yakuza bosses, to the point he asks his colleague to get him their autographs. Unfortunately, it's his idolization of the bosses that ends up killing him. At the end, Dr. Ichinomiya shoots at Oishi, intending to die via Suicide by Cop. Oishi's bodyguards end up emptying their guns into the doctor. After that, the bartender rushes in at the last second to finish him off with a knife. Ichinomiya promptly kills him with a Last Breath Bullet.
• Bastard Understudy:
  • Becomes especially apparent with Oishi in Conclusion with relation to Kikuo Oyama. While the second film revealed that Oishi was Oyama's protege, the third film shows that Oishi has his own ambitions that don't necessarily align with Oyama's.
  • In the same film, it's hinted that Akira Kawanishi has similar plans vis-à-vis his relationship with Sakura. This is especially important since it's revealed he set up the robbery to expose the Kanto Alliance's bribery scheme. It comes to the point that Oyama even offers him a job as his new number two after the dust settles. That being said, Kawanishi ultimately stays loyal to the Nakajima Group, but dies after he tries to blackmail the Kanto Alliance with the bribery receipt.
• Batman Gambit: Oyama in the third movie plays both Sakura and Oishi against each other, while they too do this against each other and Oyama.
• Character Development:
  • Makiko Sakura shifts from a rebellious, bratty Mafia Princess in the first film to a Broken Bird in the second. Then her husband cheats on her, plus her father's willful neglect of her, ultimately leads to her committing suicide.
  • The first film has Sakura's son-in-law, Dr. Ichinomiya save the Nakajima group by killing Sotaro Tatsumi via drug overdose before he can further cripple the Nakajima Group. The second sees him actively involved in his father-in-law's attempts to appease President Annanta, to the point he lets Annanta marry one of his nurses (and in turn results in her with boyfriend's murder when said boyfriend refuses to give her up). By the third, he's so thoroughly disillusioned with the yakuza life that Sakura has to physically abuse and blackmail him to get Karita's bribery receipt to advance the Nakajima Group's aims. He's also forced to cheat on his own wife with Karita's ex-mistress to get said receipt, which causes their divorce. No wonder he let Oishi's bodyguards kill him by the end.
• Cool Car: Oishi's personal car is a Cadillac Fleetwood 60 Special Brougham, one of the company's highest-tier sedans.
• Corrupt Politician: Oyama, President Annanta, Diet Member Karita, Secretary-General Hirayama, and Senator Gerald, who all actively collude with Sakura and/or Oishi across the trilogy.
• Consummate Professional: Matsueda goes above and beyond to show his loyalty and efficiency as a member of the Nakajimas to Sakura, eventually getting promoted to second-in-command by the second film. He ends up proving his worth by committing suicide after his plan to marry President Annatta to a nurse falls through.
• Deadly Doctor:
  • Dr. Ichinomiya, though very reluctantly. By the end of the trilogy, he can claim to have killed two yakuza in Tatsumi and Oyama. Three, if you count the wannabe goon who tries to stab him, but said goon falls victim to the doctor's last bullet.
  • A less reluctant example with one of Dr. Ichinomiya's colleagues at the Toa Daichi Hospital in Conclusion. Oyama hints that the said doctor, being under Oishi's pay, could have arranged for several murders in that very hospital. Indeed, it's the corrupt doctor who ends up poisoning Chairman Karita not very long after Oyama's warning.
• Dented Iron: In Conclusion Sakura finally succumbs to a final heart attack after spending the last movie in poor health.
• The Don: Naturally, Issei Sakura tries to become this for all of Japan, though he competes with Gosuke Oishi in the second and third films.
• Downfall by Sex / Sex Signals Death: Implied in Ambition. Although they are clearly attracted to each other, Matsueda politely turns down offers from Naoko Anekoji to enter a relationship. This is mainly due to the fact that the Nakajima Group's rules prohibit him from doing so. However, after they think they've managed to successfully have Kaoru Miura marry President Ananta, they finally end up having a tryst. When they wake up the next morning, Kaoru is found dead, and not very long after Anekoji leaves town. Matsueda ends up killing himself as a result.
• Driven to Suicide:
  • In the first film, Sakoda does this after being jailed after a stray bullet of his kills an innocent bystander.
  • Several happen in the second movie. Sakura's second daughter Makiko (quite literally, as she causes a road accident) Nurse Miura after her Forced Marriage with President Annanta, and Matsueda, after her suicide. That being said, when Oishi asks one of his lackeys if he had Miura murdered, the lackey in question merely smiles.
  • A variant happens in the third: When Sakura dies, and Oishi claims victory, Ichinomiya depressed as his father figure is dead and his wife has left him following his dalliance with Karita's ex-mistress. After resigning from his position as doctor of a prestigious Tokyo hospital, he confronts Oishi and asks to be killed since he doesn't have the heart to do so. Oishi refuses, so Ichinomiya shoots him, misses, and is promptly shot to death by Oishi's bodyguards before being stabbed by a waiter trying to impress Oishi, whom he also kills.
• Epic Movie: Of the jitsuroku or "true-life" yakuza films that Toei put out.
• Expy:
  • The Nakajima Group in general serves as this to the Yamaguchi-gumi, which at the time of the film's release was the most powerful yakuza family in Japan. Sakura is, of course, based on the third Yamaguchi-gumi boss, Kazuo Taoka, who spearheaded the group's domination in the 50s and 60s.
  • Shuei Tatsumi was based on Yukio Jido, Taoka's Number Two throughout most of the Yamaguchi-gumi's aforementioned expansion. Unlike Tatsumi, Jido was not murdered to avoid the fall of the Yamaguchi-gumi; he was summarily dismissed after attempting to falsely dissolve the gang.
  • Likewise, Tatsumi's subordinate, Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy Tsunekichi Sakoda was inspired by a Japanese-Korean yakuza named Jiro Yanagawa, a Yamaguchi-gumi executive who had karate experence and at one point was a member of the Kyokushin Kaikan dojo. He did not commit suicide in jail as seen in the film, but dissolved his gang. For that, Yanagawa was kicked out of the Yamaguchi-gumi. In the years following, Yanagawa changed his name and continued to pursue business ventures as a boxing commissioner.
  • According to Koji Takada, Shiro Matsueda was based on an associate of Kazuo Taoka who went to the prestigious Tokyo University. The said person never did join the Yamaguchi-gumi, but did work for Taoka on a more personal basis.
  • Kikuo Oyama for real-life kuromaku (powerbroker) Yoshio Kodama, who attempted to create an anti-communist army consisting of yakuza across the country known as the Kanto-kai, which was later dissolved. Taoka was offered a spot in this unified gang, but he turned this down. This is also referenced in the first film, with similar results.
  • Nobuo Kaneko's characters, Shoji Taguchi and Cabinet Secretary Hirayama, have two actual Japanese politicians involved in the infamous Lockheed scandal that brought down Yoshio Kodama: Shoji Tanaka and Prime Minister Kakukei Tanaka (no relation).
  • The Kinjo Clan, the gang run by Eizo Iwami, is inspired by the Inagawa-kai gang and Kakuji Inagawa, their boss at the time. As said above, the Inagawas went head-to-head with the Yamaguchi-gumi when they tried to mount a hostile takeover of the Yokohama area before brokering a peace treaty and an alliance. Inagawa was also Yosio Kodama's protege and headed the Kanto-kai prior to its disbanding.
  • President Annatta for Indonesian dictator Sukarno, who notably had yakuza for bodyguards and married a Japanese national during a trip to the country.
  • Kosuke Oishi has two potential ones, one of them being coincidental. Like Iwami before him, Oishi has shades of Kakuji Inagawa thanks to his close relationship with Oyama; but his plans to expand overseas and to Saipan in particular presage the efforts of Inagawa's successor, Susumu Ishii, who took great advantage of the Japanese economic growth in the 1980s by investing the gang's ill-gotten gains abroad.
  • Akira Kawanishi in Conclusion is an expy of Yamaguchi-gumi second-in-command Kenichi "Yamaken" Yamamoto, who replaced Yukio Junichi as Taoka's number two. He was responsible for saving the gang from self-destructing and ran a successful mob war that eliminated a rival gang that tried to kill Taoka. Naturally, these earmarked him to succeed Taoka, but he died in prison before he could become boss. His death was also a contributing factor to the bloody Yama-Ichi War.
• Gambit Pileup: The second movie consists of these in spades as enacted by Sakura and Oishi. The first half involves Sakura manipulating the Japanese stock market and discrediting a major shipping company under Oishi's control while the next involves Oishi and Sakura trying to appease the corrupt President Annanta.
• Gratuitous English:
  • In the first movie, there are several American soldiers and sailors who get a few lines.
  • Then second has the scenes involving Al Sanders, President Annatta and Colonel Darsono.
  • The third has the most notable one when Karita and Senator Gerald meet to exchange the bribe money. This is topped off with the bribery receipt reading: I have received 4 cigars.^note Truth in Television, apparently, since the yakuza and the corrupt US officials they dealt with frequently wrote their bribery receipts in code.
• Handicapped Badass:
  • Sakura hobbles around on a cane, battling heart disease while Oyama spends most of the third movie in the hospital, but even this doesn't stop them from trying to play Xanatos Speed Chess between themselves and Oishi.
  • Akira Kawanishi, despite being mostly wheelchair bound and being sexually impotent, still manages to pull off a lot of complex financial schemes for Sakura. He's also the mastermind behind the Saipan robbery, and even manages to linger for a bit after being thrown off a flight of stairs after being shot.
• Happily Adopted:
  • Both of Sakura's daughters, Yoshiko and Akiko, were adopted by Sakura. Yoshiko was a war orphan, while Akiko was brought to the Sakuras' doorstep by a drifter. This does come in handy when Yoshiko gets married. Her fiancé's parents don't approve of the fact that her father is a gang boss, so Sakura has Kambei Shimabara, a business associate of the gang, stand in for him at the wedding.
  • However, in Akiko's case, this doesn't last. She ends up sleeping with a low-level member of the gang, gets hooked on drugs, runs away from home, gets married on her own, and eventually kills herself after she is all but disowned by her father.
• Happily Married: Averted in several cases. While Tatsumi genuinely enjoys the company of his partner Kiyo, the former ends up sleeping with a geisha midway through the first film. Likewise, Oishi also seems to have a genuinely good relationship with his wife, but it's revealed that he also has a mistress in Kanazawa in Ambition. And of course, after getting married and enjoying a mostly stable relationship in the first two films, Toshiko ends up divorcing Dr. Ichinomiya in the third after the latter realizes he's had enough of associating with the Sakura family.
• Heel–Face Turn: Defied by Seiji Kataoka. In the first film, police pressure on the gang forces several Nakajima executives, including Kataoka, to retire and dissolve their gangs. Flashforward to the next movie and Kataoka's back to working for Sakura. Granted, Sakura does end up trusting Kataoka less because of his backsliding and ultimately passes him over for promotion as the gang's second-in-command. That also results in Kataoka feeding information to the Kanto Alliance, which also results in his death.
• I Have No Son!:
  • In the first movie, yakuza goon doesn't take it too well when he finds out his wife, a prostitute, had a half-black baby with a client. He tries to smother the infant, which leads to his wife leaving him.
  • When the police reveal to Sakura's wife that their younger daughter, Makiko, has been arrested for narcotics possession in an attempt to make her talk, Mrs. Sakura answers with, "I have no daughter!"
  • Sakura notably gives a cold shoulder to Makiko in the second movie and subjects Dr. Ichinomiya to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown (or at least the middle-aged equivalent of one, given his frail state and Ichinomiya's not resisting) in the third.
  • In a less literal sense, Sakura also passes over Seiji Kataoka when the Nakajima Group needs a new second-in-command in the second film. This is despite Kataoka's years of service and seniority. In contrast, Matsueda has less in the way of seniority. ^note In yakuza culture, both Kataoka and Matsueda would be considered a kobun, or adopted child of Sakura, the oyabun, or father. Granted, Kataoka did dissolve his gang in the last movie and came back to work for Sakura after the fact; so Sakura's suspicion is well-warranted.
• Instant Death Bullet: Averted, ala Battles Without Honor and Humanity. It usually takes a couple dozen pistol shots to kill anyone in the series.
• It's Personal: Why Kawanishi masterminded the Saipan robbery. While he has his own personal grudge against Oishi, Kanto Alliance thugs also shot up his sworn brother in a separate incident. And of course, just like Tatsumi and Matsueda before him, Kawanishi does want Sakura to become Japan's don.
• MacGuffin: The third movie has the bribery receipt Senator Gerald gives to Karita. It switches hands several times in the movie, before finally ending up with Sakura's son-in-law, Dr. Ichinomiya, who burns it before he tries to kill Oishi.
• MacGuffin Title: An unusual variation. The whole series is about elderly yakuza bosses warring for the title of "Japan's Don".
• Made of Iron: Sakura survives several major heart attacks across the series, while one of Sakura's lackeys points out Oyama's own willpower in the third movie:
  Nine toes in the grave and he's still kicking. Amazing.
• Mafia Princess: Sakura and Oishi's daughters, naturally, as is Tenbo's wife. Makiko Sakura leans towards the brattier side of this trope, however.
• The Man Behind the Man: Sakura is this to the Nakajima Group; Oishi to the Kanto Alliance. Oyama has also been this for every major politician and Oishi himself in the series.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: The bribery case in the third film opens up the floodgates to Oishi's illegal activities.
• Morality Pet:
  • Sakura has his wife and his daughters, Toshiko and Makiko. Sakura also seems to spoil Makiko in particular. Sakura does, however, disown Makiko in the second film due to her rebellious nature.
  • In Ambition, Matueda gets one in the form of Naoko Koji, a friend of Dr. Ichinomiya's he recruits to run a high-class club in Tokyo. There's a clear mutual attraction between both of them, but Matsueda being the consummate professional he is, decides not to follow through with it. At least until the end of the film.
  • In Conclusion Oishi is revealed to have a wife and a teenage daughter. However, the daughter disowns him after she assumes (correctly) that her father had her boyfriend killed.
• Mutual Kill: In the third movie's ending, Dr. Ichinomiya gets stabbed by a young bartender trying to impress Oishi, but the doctor kills him with his last bullet.
• Nebulous Evil Organisation: Invoked in Ambition. Sakura admits that the Nakajima Group will have to act less like The Syndicate and more like a corporation if it wants to survive.
• Number Two: Tatsumi is clearly this in the first film, followed by Matsueda in the next, under Sakura.
• Old Soldier: Oishi served with the kempeitai during the war.
• On the Rebound: Makiko Sakura seemed to be pretty close to her boyfriend Michio in the first film. Then, after Matueda killed him, she immidately tries to seduce Matsueda. Then she got married offscreen in the sequel, but her husband quickly starts cheating on her, which leads to her committing suicide.
• Passed-Over Promotion:
  • Matsueda, despite his young age, is promoted over the heads of his seniors to become the head of the gang's front company in the first film. This causes quite a bit of consternation amongst the older Nakajima executives, who have been in the gang longer than Matsueda has.
  • Happens again in Ambition. Matsueda sets up a new front company and is a favorite to become the gang's new second-in-command. After Sakura slips into a coma, he grants Matsueda the job. Meanwhile, Kataoka, despite having seniority over Matsueda, is livid when he finds out. Granted, Kataoka did leave the gang in the last movie and recently came back to try again.
• Politically Incorrect Villain:
  • A goon doesn't react well when his prostitute partner has a half-black baby in the first film.
  • Sakura isn't too welcoming of his daughter hooking up with American drifter Al Sanders in Ambition, and he goes so far to express disapproval of roulette while calling tehonbiki^note A game especially popular in yakuza-run illegal gambling dens, where bettors try to guess the value of a hidden card. a "real game" in Conclusion.
• Post-Victory Collapse: In Conclusion Sakura dies of a heart attack after Oyama's death, while Oishi is in jail for bribery charges.
• Punny Name: Ambition has an unusual example, given the spelling variations possible in kanji. The name for the Nakajima Group's front company in that film is called the "Sakura Company". However, gang member Genkichi Tauri points out that the kanji for "Sakura" in the company's name refers to the sakura blossoms, rather than Issei Sakura himself.
• Quick Draw: Oishi's Number Two Akimasa Onizawa outdraws Shinsuke Tenbo at the climax of the second film when he tries to kill their boss. Somehow, Tenbo survives.
• Red Baron: The title of "Godfather of Japan" is hotly contested by Sakura and Oishi.
• Rank Up: In the first film, Matsueda the Number Two to Sakura's Number Two, Tatsumi. By the second film, he's taken Tatsumi's place. By the third film, Shunshuke Tenbo's Expy, Akira Kawanishi, now serves in this capacity.
• Revenge Before Reason: Sort of. In the third film's climax, Dr. Ichinomiya decides to ask Oishi to kill him as a means of Suicide by Cop (or yakuza in this case). Oishi turns him down, so Ichinomiya shoots at and misses Oishi. The latter's bodyguards then shoot up the doctor before a yakuza-idolizing bartender finishes Ichinomiya off (although the doctor kills the bartender with a Last Breath Bullet).
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves:
  • Tatsumi and Kataoka both end up dead after trying to betray Sakura.
  • Matsueda executes Michio Hagure, a low-level Nakajima goon, or having slept with Makiko Sakura in the first film (which apparently goes against the gang's rules).
• The Rival: Oishi, to Sakura, starting with the second film. Originally, Eizo Iwami was set up to be this in the first film, but he doesn't appear again in the series.
• Secretly Dying:
  • Tatsumi seems to be suffering from heart disease in the first movie. Dr. Ichinomiya eventually kills him to preserve the honor of his father-in-law after Tatsumi leads the gang into hot water.
  • Oyama has stomach cancer in the third film, while Sakura is battling heart disease across the trilogy. The latter eventually succumbs to it, while Oyama is killed off by Dr. Ichinomiya.
• Short-Lived Leadership: Sakura rules as "the Godfather of Japan" for about a few days before succumbing to a fatal heart attack.
• The Syndicate: Unlike the Kanto Alliance, the Nakajima Group has a very clear hierarchy, with Sakura at the top. The gang does have an executive council, but they effectively have to obey to Sakura and his second-in-command as a rule.
• Truth in Television:
  • In Ambition, the aftermath of the Nakajimas' failed attempt to invade the Kanto region in the first film have left them in severe need of reorganization. Indeed, the Yamaguchi-gumi were on the verge of being disassembled in the 1960s due to an increased police crackdown, but the gang managed to reconstitute itself thanks to Kazuo Taoka and his lieutenants.
  • Conclusion sees the Kanto Alliance attempt to expand their operations to Saipan with the intent of turning it into a gambling hub. Historically, the yakuza have indeed expanded to Saipan and other Pacific Islands, using them as drug-running fronts. In fact, one of the Kanto Alliance's real-life counterparts, the Inagawa-kai, were the first yakuza syndicate to go overseas, though in an odd case of Life Imitates Art, they only started to ramp this up long after the movies came out.
• Undying Loyalty: Sakura's lieutenants are this to him in general. Except for when they're forced by the police to dissolve their gangs or decide to defect to his rivals. The only one who remains loyal are Matsueda, who commits suicide after his plans fail, and Kawanishi, who flat out rejects a job offer from Kikuo Oyama.
• Unholy Matrimony: The Nakajima Group teams up with the Abe Company in the first film to dominate the Tokyo rackets, and is juxtaposed with the marriage of Sakura's daughter. It later goes downhill when Abe later starts working with the Kinjo Clan and then deny having enabled the Nakajimas to invade Tokyo under police questioning.
• The Vamp: Played with in regards to Naoko Koji from Ambition. She never does actively betray Sakura unlike her male associates, but she does leave Matsueda to commit suicide after their schemes fail.
• Victory by Endurance: Oishi outlives both Sakura and Oyama to be crowned as ruler of the yakuza world.
• Villain Protagonist: As expected since the cast is chock full of yakuza and their associates.
• Villains Out Shopping: Makiko in the first is seen buying dresses for herself; Matsueda and Naoko in Ambition are seen going out on dates in between their scheming.
• We Can Rule Together:
  • In the first film, Kikuo Oyama offers Sakura to join Eizo Iwami an all-yakuza alliance he's envisioned to fight communism, but Sakura turns him down.
  • Then in Conclusion, when Oishi comes under fire after the Saipan incident, Oyama offers ambitious Nakajima executive Akira Kawanishi the same offer after they finish off Sakura. This is because it was he who masterminded the Saipan robbery and was hinted to have higher ambitions of his own. However, Kawanishi ultimately turns Oyama's offer down and even threatens the Kanto Alliance with the bribery receipt. However, the Alliance has him killed before he can act on the information.
• Worthy Opponent: For all their bad blood against each other, both Sakura and Oishi both have a healthy dose of respect for each other and are likewise very civil when they meet face-to-face.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: The second film has Oishi and Sakura doing this to each other, with Oyama Batman Gambiting both all the way in the third. It's Oishi who ends up winning.
• Yakuza: Another Toei-produced yakuza film saga in the vein of Battles Without Honor and Humanity.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Sakura's wife, despite being a background character, has hints of this when she refuses to give her husband up under police interrogation in the first film.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Happens several times across the trilogy. Tatsumi, Sakoda, and even the entire Nakajima organization in the first, Kataoka and Matsueda in the second; Kawanishi, Karita, and his son in the third.
• You're Not My Father: Oishi's daughter, Atsuko, in the third movie, writes a letter condemning her father to the authorities after he had her boyfriend killed.