The INKFORUM

[NvrEnuff]

"Yakuza" written in katakana



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Presumed Origin: The Kabuki-mono
Creation : 17th century
Actual Number : 86,300 members
Principals clans:

1. Yamaguchi-gumi
2. Sumiyoshi-kai
3. Inagawa-kai
4. Toua Yuai Jigyo Kummiai

Activities : Blackmail, Illegal gambling, Casino, Prostitution, Smuggling

Yakuza (ヤクザ or やくざ , Yakuza?), also known as gokudō (極道, gokudō?), are members of traditional organized crime groups in Japan, and also known as the "violence group".

A Yak is a derogatory term that refers to the Yakuza. The term is used by Japanese young people and foreign persons familiar with Japanese culture.

Today, the Yakuza are among the largest crime organizations in the world. In Japan, as of 2005, there are some 86,300 known members.In Japanese legal terminology, yakuza organizations are referred to as bōryokudan, literally "violence groups", which Yakuza members consider an insult as it can be applied to any violent criminal.

Rituals

Yubitsume, or finger-cutting, is a form of penance or apology. Upon a first offense, the transgressor must cut off the tip of his left little finger and hand the severed portion to his boss. Sometimes an underboss may do this in penance to the oyabun if he wants to spare a member of his own gang from further retaliation.

Its origin stems from the traditional way of holding a Japanese sword. The bottom three fingers of each hand are used to grip the sword tightly, with the thumb and index fingers slightly loose. The removal of digits starting with the little finger moving up the hand to the index finger progressively weakens a person's sword grip.

The idea is that a person with a weak sword grip then has to rely more on the group for protection — reducing individual action. In recent years, prosthetic fingertips have been developed to disguise this distinctive appearance.

Many Yakuza have full-body tattoos. These tattoos, known as irezumi in Japan, are still often "hand-poked," that is, the ink is inserted beneath the skin using non-electrical, hand-made and hand held tools with needles of sharpened bamboo or steel. The procedure is expensive and painful and can take years to complete.

Yakuza in prison sometimes perform pearlings: for each year spent in prison one pearl is inserted under the skin of the penis.

When yakuza members play Oicho-Kabu cards with each other, they often remove their shirts or open them up and drape them around their waists. This allows them to display their full-body tattoos to each other. This is one of the few times that yakuza members display their tattoos to others, as they normally keep them concealed in public with long-sleeved and high-necked shirts.

Another prominent yakuza ritual is the sake-sharing ceremony. This is used to seal bonds of brotherhood between individual yakuza members, or between two yakuza groups. For example, in August 2005, the Godfathers Kenichi Shinoda and Kazuyoshi Kudo held a sake-sharing ceremony, sealing a new bond between their respective gangs, the Yamaguchi-gumi and the Kokusui-kai.