A rift has emerged in Japan's largest 'yakuza' organised crime syndicate, the government has said, with police warning that the split could lead to a wave of gang violence.

Like the Italian Mafia and Chinese triads, the yakuza engage in everything from gambling, drugs and prostitution to loan sharking, protection rackets and white-collar crime.

But unlike their foreign counterparts, they are not illegal and each of the designated groups have their own headquarters.

A rift has emerged in Japan's largest 'yakuza' organised crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, with police warning that the split could lead to a wave of gang violence (pictured centre: Kenichi Shinoda, aka Shinobu Tsukasa, the gang's boss)

'The government is aware that some member factions of the Yamaguchi-gumi, regarded as Japan's biggest crime syndicate, are showing moves toward secession,' Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

'Police are working to collect information. We hope police will use this opportunity to take measures to weaken the organisation,' Suga said.

The syndicate boasts 23,000 members and associates.

Periodic crackdowns and police efforts to choke off Yamaguchi-gumi's sources of funding have gained momentum, while a poor public image and Japan's flaccid economy have made life difficult for the gangsters and made membership less attractive for potential recruits, experts say.

WHO ARE THE YAKUZA? The yakuza are Japan’s organized crime syndicates, like the triads in other parts of Asia or the mafia in the West. Yet the operations and social roles of the yakuza are very different to other criminal organizations. In fact, the yakuza are almost mainstream. They have office buildings and their gossip features in Japanese popular press. Yakuza adopt samurai-like rituals and often bear elaborate body tattoos. They engage in extortion, blackmail, smuggling, prostitution, drug trafficking, gambling, loan sharking, day-labour contracting, and other rackets and control many restaurants, bars, trucking companies, talent agencies, taxi fleets, factories, and other businesses in major Japanese cities. They are also involved in criminal activities worldwide Advertisement

Local reports said the Yamaguchi-gumi kicked out 13 leaders of its member factions and that 11 were moving to form a new group, which could ally with other mobsters to build a new syndicate, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said.

A further eight have effectively been suspended.

The 13 gangs were punished after their leaders expressed dissatisfaction with the management of Shinobu Tsukasa, the 73-year-old don of the Yamaguchi-gumi.

The Telegraph reports Mr Tsukasa, who took over the gang in 2005 and has served time for firearms possession, has been accused of imposing heavy-handed rules, favouring some factions over others and attempting to focus the organisation's business in western Japan instead of the more lucrative Tokyo market.

In a meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday, the National Police Agency warned local police forces to be on their guard against any outbreaks of violence as the different factions realign and seek to carve out their own areas of influence.

Police were on high alert expecting inter-gang conflict to turn violent, Kyodo News said.

The National Police Agency would hold an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss the development, the Nikkei newspaper said.

Police officials could not be reached for comment.