Shōichi Sakurai

Kabukicho, Shinjuku. Shoichi Sakurai meets a man who goes to a mahjong parlor from 9am to 5pm and realizes that there is something missing in his mahjong. Next, a soba restaurant owner from Karuizawa who lost his land because of mahjong appears before Sakurai. Sakurai teaches him mahjong when he asks for his help, but...

The Kuronuma Group, a huge mahjong organization that controls the political and financial circles of Japan from behind the scenes, has been growing rapidly by taking in underground professionals one after another with the overwhelming strength of the second generation leader, Nishimura Hiromitsu. In the midst of all this, a young pinch-player, Matsuoka, who respects Sakurai Shoichi, faces off against a low-level member, which leads to a confrontation between Sakurai and Nishimura...

A young professional mahjong player, Sakurai Shoichi (Shimizu Kentaro), who graduated from university, was employed at a real estate company. While on a business trip with the company president (Hamada Akira) to a secluded hot spring town, he learns that an elderly couple who are the president's benefactors are in trouble. The old man was a former gambler who ran the town with honor and compassion, but his business was taken away by an emerging gangster (Hiura Tsutomu). When Sakurai Shoichi finds out that the emerging gangster is making a shady profit from mahjong, he offers to play as a substitute for the player without payment.

Sakurai Shoichi meets Nishi, a man who lost all his money in gambling. Attracted by Nishi's personality, Shoichi invites him along on a gambling trip to the Tokaido. Nishi wants to raise money for his son's college entrance fee, so he wants him to play mahjong and win. However, at an inn in Hakone where Nishi is friendly, Shoichi is tricked by the yakuza

Shoichi Sakurai meets his girlfriend's father, the legendary drug dealer Mo. This leads to the two of them repeatedly competing against each other, but Mo eventually passes away. Sakurai, who regrets having taken his life, receives news of the Japan Championship and decides to retire after this match. Thus, he faces his final match, but...

Shoichi Sakurai, who started his own trading company and is obsessed with business, is approached with a mineral resource deal. However, it is a trap set by a politician who wants Sakurai to play as a substitute. Falling right into the trap, Sakurai is forced to participate in an underground mahjong match held at a certain country's embassy...

The strongest professional mahjong syndicate in Kansai, backed by Western Japan's largest illegal organization, sets out to conquer Tokyo! Assigned this special mission, the “Dragon of Minami” uses his speed honed in buu mahjong and his teamwork with his wife, Ritsuko, to defeat one Kanto-based professional after another. Meanwhile, Shoichi Sakurai, visiting the grave of a mahjong player he killed in retaliation for an underground match, encounters former opponent Hiromitsu Nishimura. The Tokyo faction, now in total disarray, had even approached the retired Nishimura to act as their rep player. But, having sworn off mahjong as a promise to Sakurai, Nishimura agonizes. Win the match, die. Lose the match, die. Sensing Nishimura's predicament, Sakurai enters the high-stakes arena alone. The curtain rises on the East-West Mahjong Showdown, the greatest match in Japan!

In the 1970s, 80% of mahjong parlours in Kabukichō were "Buu Mahjong" establishments, where cash flowed freely in high stakes games. In this city that never sleeps, Shoichi Sakurai—known as the “Legendary Mahjong Demon”—enjoyed high stakes matchups with men who shared his love for the game. Shoichi Sakurai, who carried his winnings about without a care; a pickpocket who set his sights on that money; a self-proclaimed disciple of the “Mahjong Demon” begging for money; a man who only aimed for a “National Treasure” hand; a legendary hitman; a hitman for a rival yakuza gang, and more—the lives of gamblers living in Kabukichō intertwine.