[4] Due to the fall of his adoptive family he became a bakuto (gambler) and thereafter the biggest yakuza boss of the Tōkaidō region.

[1] In the late 19th century, Jirochō dominated the port of Shimizu and two main routes; Tōkaidō and Nakasendō, which connected the two former capitals, Kyoto and Edo.

[2] He was the second son of boat owner and ferry captain Takagi Miuemon (高木 三右衛門), who worked along the Tomoe River.

There is a Japanese superstition that newborn babies on the first day of the lunar year will either become great geniuses or hopeless villains.

According to rumors, the real reason for Jirochō's escape to Edo was because he had killed a man who asked him to give back money he had borrowed, and then threw the body into a river.

He built up his following, extended his influence, and fought over territories relating to the Fuji River and maritime transport.

[1] Jirochō traveled to various countries, practiced, expanded, grew, and established a yakuza syndicate in Minato Shimizu.

[1] He gained many underlings such as Omasa (大政) (a former sumo wrestler from Nagoya), Komasa (小政) (from Hamamatsu), and Tsunekichi (from Gunma).

On September 16 of the same year, Kinpira Shimoda, Yoshibei, and others arrived in Shimizu Port from Numazu and attacked Jirocho.

In 1868, the warship Kanrin Maru of the old Edo Shogunate sailed with more than 3,000 Tokugawa army soldiers from Tokyo to Shimizu.

The warship Kanrin Maru broke off the coast of Boshu due to a storm and anchored at Shimizu Minato for repairs.

[4] After the battle, the bodies of the crew members who had died drifted in Suruga Bay and were left to rot, because no one tried to dispose them due to fear of being blamed by the new Meiji government.

Tesshū often resorted to the services of Jirocho when it was necessary to pacify the capital's poor, who were rising up against a half-starved existence, or peasants who were outraged by unfair extortions.

He had many powerful friends, such as Viscount Enomoto Takeaki (first governor of Shizuoka Prefecture) and Field Marshal Ōyama Iwao of the Imperial Japanese Army.

This included the reconstruction of Tesshuji Temple in Shizuoka, supporting local fire victims and displaced samurai from Tokyo, and arranging a first-class physician in Shimizu City.

- And the sword is an extension of the human hand, human flesh, and I can," the yakuza quote the saying of their progenitor, "convey the entire depth of hatred towards the enemy when the blade of my sword pierces his body, plunging the hand-sword into the body of the enemy - at this point in the retelling of the words of the yakuza, they usually roll their eyes in ecstasy - then there is no greater pleasure to say: "Shinde moraimasu", that is, "I ask you to die.

"In February 1871, Jirocho planned to clear the forest, which was the territory of the former Kunozan Toshogu Shrine, but he gave up due to the resistance of Otani Village.

[4] Jirocho opened a notable funayado (sailors' inn) called Suehiro in Shimizu Port near the former castle town of Sunpu.

On June 15, 1880, he collaborated with the Mikawa Hirai family's Tsuneyoshi Harada (原田常吉) and Ryukichi Unfu (雲風竜吉).

[9] By the end of the 19th century, Jirocho created a large yakuza clan and subjugated all the gambling dens along the main Routes from Edo to Kyoto.

On February 25, 1884, Jirocho was arrested during a crackdown by the Shizuoka Prefectural Police Headquarters under the "Gambling Criminal Disposition Regulations".

On April 7, 1884, he was sentenced to 7 years of punishment[1] and a fine of 400 yen, and was locked in Imiya Prison (Imiya-cho, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka City).

Due to Jirocho's powerful connections including the efforts of Shizuoka Prefectural Ordinance and the politician Takayoshi Sekiguchi (1836-1889), he was released on parole after 23 months[1] in 1885 without waiting for the expiration of his sentence.

Yamaoka Tesshu died on July 19, 1888, and the Shimizu family attended the funeral held at Yanaka Zenshoan.

[3] The successors of Jirocho tarnished his public image as an entrepreneur and robin hood figure who crushed the strong and helped the weak as a yakuza boss.

Tanabe wrote in his book "At the very least, I don't want to hand the (Shimizu 'family') crest over to a gangster organization that frightens decent people.

"[3] However, later Tanabe sold the Shimizu emblem for circa tens of millions of yen to Yasuo Takagi (head of the Goryo-kai and thereafter the Mio-gumi gang).

The Mio-gumi wanted the upscale Shimizu crest to recover from their billions of yen in loan-shark losses when Takagi was arrested in 2003.

[3][1] A bronze statue of Jirocho is located at Baiin-Zen-Ji temple (梅蔭禅寺) in (3-8 Minamiokamachi, Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka, 424–0932, Japan).

The temple also houses the tombs of Shimizu no Jirocho, his wife Ocho (お蝶), Omasa (大政) and Komasa (小政).