Yakuza: Encyclopedia II - Yakuza - Origin and history

Yakuza - Origin and history

The term "Yakuza" comes from a Japanese card game, Oicho-Kabu (played with hanafuda or kabufuda cards). The worst hand in the game is a set of eight, nine and three. In traditional Japanese forms of counting, these numbers are called Ya, Ku and Sa, thus the origin of the word "yakuza." The yakuza took this name because the Ya-Ku-Za hand requires the most skill (at judging opponents, etc.) and, obviously, the best luck in order to win. The name was also used because it signified bad fortune, presumably for anyone who went up against the group.

In modern Japanese counting, eight, nine and three could be pronounced "hachi-kyu-san," a name by which the yakuza are sometimes called in Japan today.

There is no single origin for all Japanese yakuza. Rather, yakuza organizations developed from different elements of traditional Japanese society. In the later part of the Japanese feudal era, especially in the Edo period (1603-1837), the legal power of the feudal lords shifted away from direct ownership of land to a broader feudal tax system on land "products", mainly rice. Also, retainers samurai began to be paid with rice, which they sold to markets for cash, instead of being paid a direct salary. The samurai provided service as professional soldiers during wartime and as professional bureaucrats or administrators during peacetime. During the Edo period, most samurai lost their connection to the land and started to live around the feudal castles.

Around the same time, the policing of the community became the responsibility of members of the community, rather than the daimyo (lord). This was especially prevalent outside of the capital cities, as the Edo government allowed only one major castle in each feudal province.

Although the yakuza often insist on their origins as Japanese "Robin Hoods" and protectors, some scholars trace their beginnings to the kabukimono (raving ones), also known as hatamoto yakko (servants of the shogun). These groups of ronin (masterless samurai) adopted strange hair styles, dressed in an outrageous manner, spoke in vulgar and specialized slang, carried unusually long swords and harassed ordinary people. Their exploits are still a popular subject of Japanese jidaigeki dramas based on the feudal era.

Some yakuza do, however, trace their origins to the communal vigilante/police groups known as machi yakko ("Servants of the town") that arose to enforce order and protect the community from intruders. These groups varied in their level of organization and formality, often simply being comprised of labourers and other "tough men" of the community. Sometimes they also included one or more ronin, as only samurai were officially allowed to carry swords. They often fought against bandits and gangs to protect their community and were even regarded as heroes.

In larger towns, several of these groups often existed simultaneously, and they often fought for territory, money and influence much like modern gangs, disregarding any civilians caught in the crossfire. Again, this is the origin of a popular theme of Japanese film and television, made famous in the West by an Akira Kurosawa film called Yojimbo where a ronin is hired to rescue a community from these bullies. Yakuza derived some practices from both machi-yakko and kabukimono. Their protection rackets can be seen as originating from machi-yakko, but their more colorful fashion and language are derived from the kabukimono tradition.

Yakuza - Tekiya and Bakuto

More directly, the origin of most modern yakuza organizations can be traced to two groups which emerged in 18th century Japan: tekiya (peddlers) and bakuto (gamblers). These roots can be seen in current yakuza initiation ceremonies, which incorporate either tekiya or bakuto rituals. Although the modern yakuza has diversified, some gangs still identify with one group or the other. For example, a gang whose primary source of income is illegal gambling may refer to themselves as bakuto.

Yakuza - Post-War Yakuza: Gurentai

As Japan began to industrialise and urbanization got underway, a third group of yakuza called gurentai began to emerge (though the name gurentai was not given until after WWII). Whether they fall into the traditional definition of yakuza is still open to debate, but they certainly gave birth to another kind of yakuza, the boryokudan (violence group). In short, a gurentai is a gang in a much more traditional sense, a group of young unruly thugs who peddle their violence for profit. They often engaged in the suppression of unions and other workers' organizations, and such activities brought them much closer to the conservative elements of the Japanese power structure. During the militarisation of Japan, some of them became the militant wing of Japanese politics known as uyoku (right wing), i.e. ultra-nationalists.

Unlike more traditional yakuza, uyoku did not maintain territories - they peddled their violence for political gain. The most famous group before WWII was the Kokuryu-kai（黒龍会）, or Black Dragon Society. The Kokuryu-kai was a secret ultra-nationalist umbrella organization whose membership was comprised of government officials and military officers as well as many martial artists and members of the Japanese underworld who engaged in political terrorism and assassination. They also provided espionage services for the Japanese colonial government. Kokuryu-kai engaged in contraband operations including the Chinese opium trade, as well as prostitution and gambling overseas which provided them with funds as well as information.

During the post-War rationing, the yakuza controlled the black market much in line with traditional tekiya operations. At the same time, they also moved into controlling major sea ports as well as the entertainment industry. The biggest yakuza umbrella group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, emerged in the Kansai region, which had a large entertainment industry in the city of Osaka as well as a major sea port in Kobe. American occupation forces fought against them in vain and conceded defeat in 1950. Yakuza also adapted to a more western style, including wearing clothing reminiscent of US gangsters, and began to use firearms. At this point, tekiya and bakuto no longer confined themselves to their traditional activities and expanded into any venture they found profitable. At the same time gurentai began to adopt traditional roles of tekiya and bakuto. They also began to feud among themselves, jockeying for power and prestige.

In the 1960s, Yoshio Kodama, an ex-nationalist, began to negotiate treaties with various groups, first with the Yamaguchi-gumi of Kazuo Taoka and Tosei-kai of Hisayuki Machii and eventually with the Inagawa-kai. Fights between individual gangs, however, are ongoing.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Origin and history", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki