Kiyoshi Takayama

Takayama was held in Fuchū Prison from 2014 but was released in 2019.

In 2012, the Obama administration of the United States imposed sanctions on him as the second-in-command of the Yamaguchi-gumi. The sanctions also targeted Kenichi Shinoda as the leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi, along with several individuals linked to three other transnational organized crime groups, the Brothers' Circle of Russia, the Camorra of Italy, and the Los Zetas of Mexico.

Takayama was released on bail of 1.5 billion yen (US$19 million) in June 2012.

In November 2010, Takayama, as the "de facto leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi", was arrested on suspicion of extorting more than US$400,000 from a businessman in the construction industry. "If Takayama is successfully prosecuted it will be devastating for the Yamaguchi-gumi, and could even spark a war for control of the organisation," said Jake Adelstein. This arrest came shortly before the top, Shinobu Tsukasa, was due to be released from prison, and soon after this, in December, the number-three boss of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Tadashi Irie, was also arrested.

Meanwhile, in Nagoya, by late 2009, the Kodo-kai's membership had reached 4,000. Originally started with just 25 members, the clan grew to an exceedingly powerful, 4,000-member organization within only 26 years, as noted in the National Police Agency's anti-Yamaguchi strategy report distributed in 2009, and this rapid growth, as an "astounding success", was largely attributed to Takayama.

Also in 2008, it was noted that Takayama, as the Yamaguchi-gumi's wakagashira, attended the funeral of Hideo Mizoshita, the third president of the Kudo-kai. The Kudo-kai was a Kyushu-based independent syndicate known as the leading member of an anti-Yamaguchi federation, and he attended this historic funeral as the deputy leader of the Yamaguchi-gumi while the actual leader Tsukasa was in prison.

Takayama had rapidly been promoted in the headquarters of the Yamaguchi-gumi, and following Tsukasa's assumption of the leadership of the Yamaguchi-gumi, in 2005, he flew the number-two position (wakagashira) at the largest known yakuza syndicate only four months after his entrance into its headquarters. The wakagashira post had been vacant since 1997 when the fifth wakagashira, Masaru Takumi, was assassinated. In 2008, under his dominating influence, the headquarters purged a total of nine "big names" from the syndicate, including Tadamasa Goto as the head of the Goto-gumi, and forced two into temporary suspension, resulting in causing some serious controversies in the entire Yamaguchi-gumi community.

Shinobu Tsukasa formed the Kodo-kai as the successor to the Hirota-gumi in 1984 after the Hirota-gumi disbanded due to its boss' retirement. Following this, Takayama became the number-three (wakagashira-hosa) of the Kodo-kai, and after his achievements at the Yama-Ichi War, he became the number-two (wakagashira) in 1989, starting a radical reform of the Kodo-kai and forcing many "unwelcome" members including the senior managers into retirement. He succeeded Tsukasa as president (kaicho) of the Kodo-kai in March 2005 when Tsukasa was promoted to the Yamaguchi-gumi's provisional number-two (wakagashira), entering the Kobe headquarters of the Yamaguchi-gumi, as a senior manager (jikisan).

Takayama entered the underworld in his teenage years, and his career as a yakuza officially began at the age of 20 when he joined the Sasaki-gumi, a Yamaguchi-gumi affiliate based in Nagoya. The Sasaki-gumi was a sub organization of the Nagoya-based Hirota-gumi (later known as the Kodo-kai), and in 1969, four members of a Hirota-affiliated organization were murdered by a Kobe-based yakuza syndicate. Along with two other Hirota members (one being Shinobu Tsukasa), he was convicted of murdering the boss of a clan of the syndicate. After spending 4 years in prison, he was released in 1973, becoming the number-two boss (wakagashira) of the Sasaki-gumi in 1975. In 1976 when he was promoted to the managing director (rijicho) of the Sasaki-gumi, he founded his own organization, the Takayama-gumi.

Kiyoshi Takayama (髙山 清司, Takayama Kiyoshi, born September 5, 1947 in Tsushima, Aichi) is a yakuza best known as the second-in-command (wakagashira) of the 6th-generation Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest known yakuza syndicate in Japan, and the president of its ruling affiliate, Kodo-kai, based in Nagoya.