The Kokuryūkai (aka the Black Dragon Society) was founded in Japan in 1901 by Uchida Ryohei a descendant of the Genyōsha, a student of Jigaro Kano (founder of Judo) and follower of the criminal organization Genyōsha (founded by Mitsuru Toyama.). They derive their name from the Amur River, called Heilongjiang or “Black Dragon River” in Chinese (黑龍江), read as Kokuryū-kō in Japanese. Its stated public goal was to support efforts to drive the Russian Empire out of East Asia, south of the Amur River.

Uchida Ryohei

The Kokuryūkai initially appeared to distance itself from the criminal elements of its predecessor, the Genyōsha, given its membership included Cabinet Ministers and high-ranking military officers as well as professional secret agents. However, as time passed, it still made use of criminals and their activities to be a convenient ‘means to an end’ for many of its operations.

The Society published a journal and operated an espionage training school, from which it dispatched agents to gather intelligence on Russian activities in Russia, Manchuria, Korea and China. It also pressured Japanese politicians to adopt a strong foreign policy. The Kokuryukai also supported Pan-Asianism,and lent financial support to revolutionaries such as Sun Yat-sen, and Emilio Aguinaldo.

During the Russo-Japanese War, annexation of Korea and Siberian Intervention, the Imperial Japanese Army made use of the Kokuryūkai network for espionage, sabotage and assassination. They organized Manchurian guerrillas against the Russians from the Chinese warlords and bandit chieftains in the region, the most important being Marshal Chang Tso-lin. The Black Dragons waged a very successful psychological warfare campaign in conjunction with the Japanese military, spreading disinformation and propaganda throughout the region. They also acted as interpreters for the Japanese army.

The Kokuryūkai assisted the Japanese spy, Colonel Motojiro Akashi. Akashi, who was not directly a member of the Black Dragons, ran successful operations in China, Manchuria, Siberia and established contacts throughout the Muslim world. These contacts in Central Asia were maintained through World War II. The Black Dragons also formed close contact and even alliances with Buddhist sects throughout Asia.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Kokuryūkai evolved into more of a mainstream political organization, and publicly attacked liberal and leftist thought. Although it never had more than several dozen members at any one time during this period, the close ties of its membership to leading members of the government, military and powerful business leaders gave it a power and influence far greater than most other ultranationalist groups.

Initially directed only against Russia, in the 1930s, the Kokuryūkai expanded its activities around the world, and stationed agents in such diverse places as Ethiopia, Turkey, Morocco, throughout southeast Asia and South America, as well as Europe and the United States.

The Kokuryukai, Japanese Black Dragon Society murdered its way across the globe and established its 1st presence in Chicago and Los Angeles in the 1930’s. They viewed racial inequality and strife as a vulnerability they could exploit to benefit their intelligence and criminal organization loyal to imperial Japan. Thus, the Japanese Black Dragon Society began aligning themselves with the mafia and financially backed Muslim organizations as well as civil rights movement as the Black Dragon’s viewed their role as being the voice of lesser peoples “non-whites.” Secretly teaching Judo/Jujitsu to minorities after hours by explaining to a white society their students when seen entering and leaving buildings after working hours were there as janitors.

Like they did in Russia and Manchuria the Black Dragon Society sponsored Kumite mixed style matches and formed Judo clubs on military installations. This activity continued until the Kokuryukai plans were discovered and several members, jailed. On 27 March 1942, FBI agents arrested members of the Black Dragon Society in the San Joaquin Valley of California

One 1940’s arrestee is Chicago resident, Satokata Takahashi, who was a retired major of the Imperial Japanese Army and member of the Black Dragon Society. According to FBI reports he was the instigator behind the Pacific Movement of the Eastern World, working through Ashima Takis. (re: Ernest Allen Jr. (FALL 1995).

“Waiting for Tojo: The Pro-Japan Vigil of Black Missourians, 1932-1943).

The organization was mentioned as an influence on the black-nationalist organizations which were convicted of sedition in 1942, most notably Mittie Maud Lena Gordon’s Peace Movement for Ethiopia. The other two organizations said to be influenced were the Brotherhood of Liberty for the Black People of America and the Nation of Islam.

The Kokuryūkai was officially disbanded by order of the American Occupation authorities in 1946. According to Brian Daizen Victoria’s book, Zen War Stories, the Black Dragon Society was reconstituted in 1961 as the Black Dragon Club (Kokuryū-Kurabu.) The Club never had more than 150 members to succeed in the goals of the former Black Dragon Society.

The Black Dragon Society appeared as villains in two Sam Katzman 1942 Monogram Pictures releases Black Dragons and Let’s Get Tough! as well as a Republic Pictures film serial G-Men vs the Black Dragon that was turned into a Century 66 made for TV movie The Black Dragon of Manzanar. The Black Dragons also appeared as villains in 1942 American comic books.

In Max Brooks’ book The Zombie Survival Guide (published in 2003 by Three Rivers Press) the Black Dragons are portrayed as a unit of the WWII Japanese military. He asserts that this group was responsible for attempting to create zombie warriors in an operation known as Cherry Blossom. They also appear as henchmen to the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond novel You Only Live Twice. The Black Dragon Society appears in the Thomas Pynchon novel Against the Day. In the fictional Battletech universe the Black Dragon Society comes out as a Draconis Combine extremist group.