Most of the problems could be solved by the townspeople refusing to give Masuraou benefits to anyone but the actual Masuraou. Stop letting "candidates" run up tabs, have free reign, etc. And if some of them are stealing or raping or whatever, jail them and void their ability to compete.
Also, how about acknowledging that for every candidate that took advantage, there were others who gave back along the way (e.g. Yamato, Naruse, Tora helping townspeople along the way).