Ueno Seiwa Hit

The Ueno Seiwa Hit (, Ueno Seiwa-kai no Shūgeki Keikaku) is a story event featured in Yakuza 4 and in flashbacks in Yakuza 0. It was an assassination carried out by Taiga Saejima, a member of the Sasai Family, against the Ueno Seiwa Clan.
== History ==
In 1985, 22-year-old Isao Katsuragi of the Ueno Seiwa Clan and 30-year-old Kazuo Shibata of the Tojo Clan aimed to reach the top of their respective organizations. Katsuragi, a low-ranking officer, aimed to become the captain of the Ueno Seiwa, whilst Shibata aimed to get his third-tier family, the Shibata Family, promoted. The two cooperated in secret to create a conflict that would benefit them both, ignoring others in their organizations.
Yoshiharu Ueno, the chairman of the Ueno Seiwa Clan, was to be released from prison soon after serving a two year sentence. He chose to eat at a ramen shop on the day of his release, accompanied by his own clan officers. Using information about the locale and the officers present with Ueno, Katsuragi devised a plan to eliminate the other officers, whilst ensuring Ueno's survival: with the use of non-lethal rubber bullets, the Ueno Seiwa members could be knocked out by a hitman, allowing Katsuragi to pick out the targets to real bullets. Katsuragi's oath brother, Junji Sugiuchi, was a police detective who agreed to writing a fake report on the hit afterwards. Having created his plan, all Katsuragi needed was someone to carry out the hit, which Shibata would provide.
Shibata had the goal of eliminating the rival Sasai Family and Hideki Sasai within the Tojo Clan. He decided to get a Sasai Family member to carry out the hit, which would give ample reason for the Ueno Seiwa Clan to retaliate against the Sasai Family. Using Katsuragi's insider info on Ueno's release date, Shibata anonymously gave the info to Sasai. Subsequently, Sasai convinced Tojo Clan officers to authorize carrying out the hit. The hit was approved as a part of the Dojima Family's plans, and Goro Majima was selected to carry it out. Eventually, the hit was given to the Sasai Family, and Taiga Saejima was chosen to carry out the hit, along with Majima.
On April 20, 1985, Majima procured six handguns through the Dojima Family, without the knowledge that the guns contained rubber bullets, and gave all six guns to Saejima.
On April 21, 1985, Ueno was released from prison. With nineteen of his officers, including Katsuragi, he headed to the ramen shop. Around this time, Sohei Dojima and Futoshi Shimano became suspicious of Sasai's knowledge of Ueno's location, and decided to cancel the hit. They ordered Shibata to prevent Majima's involvement with the hit, and Shibata called Majima to meet at an abandoned warehouse. Shibata then attempted to convince Majima to abandon the hit. Unable to convince the latter, Shibata called in his own family and had Majima attacked, who later lost his left eye there. With Majima out of the picture, Saejima was left to carry out the hit alone.
Saejima entered the ramen shop, and gunned down each Ueno Seiwa member, whilst sustaining a few real gunshots from Katsuragi. After eighteen members of the Ueno Seiwa had been knocked out, Katsuragi and Ueno were the only ones still conscious. Katsuragi attempted to "protect" Ueno, and both were shot. Saejima left the premise, and soon after, several Ueno Seiwa members, including Katsuragi, began to wake up. Katsuragi then proceeded to shoot all eighteen other officers in the head with his gun. After all eighteen officers had been shot, Sugiuchi entered the premise, and Katsuragi handed him the gun, looking to be shot in the shoulder as to avoid suspicion.
Later that day, at 6:05 PM, Saejima surrendered to the police.
Following the hit, Taigi Tanimura and Sugiuchi were assigned as the lead detectives on the case. Within a day's work, Sugiuchi fabricated a report on the Ueno Seiwa Hit, and brought it up to his superior, Seishiro Munakata. Munakata quickly realized the discrepancies within Sugiuchi's report, and pointed out how all eighteen deaths were perfect head shots. Munakata easily concluded that Katsuragi was the real perpetrator but made a deal with Sugiuchi: he would allow the report to stand as written on the condition that Sugiuchi introduce him to Katsuragi. Munakata would then proceed to blackmail the two, forcing them to follow his every command.
During this period, Taigi quickly discovered that Katsuragi and Shibata were the ones who orchestrated the hit and was also on the trail of discovering Sugiuchi and Munakata's corruption. On April 30, 1985, while headed to meet with Yasuko Saejima, Taigi was killed by Sugiuchi, and his body was retrieved out of the Arakawa River later that night.
A few months following the hit, 20-year-old Saejima was given the death penalty and immediately transferred to the Tokyo Penitentiary. Around this time, the Sasai Family had disbanded, and the Ueno Seiwa Clan attacked Sasai, leaving him left critically wounded. Sasai was rescued by Majima and brought to Purgatory, but he had gone catatonic as a result of the attacks.
Eventually, Katsuragi was promoted to captain of the Ueno Seiwa Clan and the Shibata Family began rising through the ranks of the Tojo Clan.
== Notes ==
== References ==