America has the mob, Japan has ninjas, right? WRONG. Once again I, Japan Fan, plan to inform you about the Japanese mafia, the yakuza.

The yakuza is the term used to describe the organized crime gangs. The Japanese people sometimes refer to them, literately, as “violence groups”. The yakuza take offense to this because it can be applied to any violent criminal. (Because you know…the yakuza aren’t violent or anything. Pft, yeah.) Today the yakuza is one of the largest crime organizations in the world.

Historians believe that the yakuza were first started back in the 17th century. There’s several theories about what group they come from. One of the theories is that they’re from the machi-yokko. Back then the machi-yokko were hailed as heros because they protected the villages from the hatamoto-yokko. (Other historians think that the yukaza were derived from the hatamoto-yokko. Soooo they were either good guys or bad guys in the beginning.)

The yakuza are hard to characterize. Generally the lower yakuza members will wear wind suits. (Weird? Yes. Lame? Yes. I don’t get where this rule came from, and I can’t find any web page that explains why.) A lot of yakuza/yankee activities can be seen in the Japanese movie, Kamikaze Girls. It’s a fabulous comedy that I highly recommend.

Some of the rituals (and I use that term loosely) of the yakuza are: Yubitsume (finger cutting, how traditional) Oyabun (when an underboss would take the punishment of one of his men.) Irezume (tattoos, but the yakuza take it to a whole new level and get full blown pictures injected into their back) and then there’s a sake sharing ritual which seals bonds between two yakuza men, or two yakuza groups.

Well there you go. Hopefully I’ve convinced you not to go run out and join the yakuza, but if you’re determined to join them you had better look good in a wind suit.

Aren’t they gorgeous??