Yakuza (ヤクザ or やくざ) , also known as gokudo (極道 gokudo) , are members of rival traditional organized crime groups in Japan, and are also the general name for such groups. In Japanese legal terminology, the yakuza are called "bōryokudan" , which means "power group". The Yakuza themselves regard this name as offensive, since it can be applied to any type of crime. According to the Guinness Book of Records, today the Yakuza are the most significant criminal phenomenon in the world .
Yakuza structure.
During their creation, the yakuza adopted the traditional Japanese hierarchical structure of oyabun-kobun , where the kobun (子分, "foster child") is required to show loyalty to the oyabun (親分, "foster parent") . In a much later period, the "jingi" (仁義, code of "justice and duty") , which stated that loyalty and respect were a way of life. The oyabun-kobun relationship is cemented by the ceremonial exchange of a glass of sake. This ritual is not a feature of the yakuza world and is commonly found in a traditional Japanese Shinto wedding and may have been part of a twinning relationship. During World War II, the more traditional tekiya/bakuto declined as the entire population was mobilized to participate in the war effort, and society was under the watchful and strict eye of the military government.
However, after the war the Yakuza rose again. Supposedly, the yakuza have infiltrated every aspect of human life in Japan. The most romantic tales say that the Yakuza take in sons who have been abandoned or sent away by their parents. Many yakuza began their "professional" activities in middle or high school as street thugs or members of bōsōzoku gangs . Some Yakuza thugs are actually not very smart, if not mentally retarded, but they are accepted into clans because of their good physical fitness. Perhaps because they initially have a lower social status, yakuza often become burakumin and ethnic Koreans. Leaders of Yakuza clans are, as a rule, very cunning, tough and intelligent men, because... to rise to the top level of the yakuza hierarchy, one must be quite competitive and unscrupulous. Yakuza clans are headed by an oyabun or kumichō (組長, "head of the family") , who gives orders to his kobun subordinates. In this regard, the Yakuza organization is a peculiar variation of the traditional Japanese senpai-kohai . Yakuza gang members carry family relationships into clans in the sense that they treat each other like father or older/younger brothers.
In Yakuza clans, almost all members are men and there are very few women . However, if they do exist, they are usually called "o-nee-san" (お姉さん, "elder sister") . When the head of Yamaguchi-gumi in the late 90s. was killed, his wife, albeit for a short time, took over the reins of the family. The yakuza have a very complex structure: there is the most important boss of the syndicate - kumicho , immediately followed by saiko komon (最高顧問, “senior consultant”) , and after him so-honbucho (“so-honbucho”, “ chief of staff") .
At the next level of command is wakagashira , who controls several clans in the region, and the clan itself is controlled by shateigashira . The connections of each clan member are subordinated to a hierarchy (sakazuki): at the very top is the kumicho and controls the various saiko-komon, who in turn control their own subordinates in different districts or cities. The saiko-komon have their own subordinates, including junior bosses, consultants, accountants, etc. Those named by the oyabun are part of one large family and are ranked from younger to older brothers. At the same time, each kobun can act as an oyabun for a lower-ranking clan, which can also become the basis for the emergence of an even lower-ranking unit. The Yamaguchi-gumi, which controls approximately 2,500 firms and 500 yakuza clans, even has fifth-rank organizations.
Mayhem from Kudo-kai
In the Yakuza code, civilians have a special place. It is believed that deliberately killing or maiming them if it can be avoided is unworthy of a noble bandit. There used to be a proverb: “The police protect us at night, and the yakuza protect us during the day.” To be fair, there is also a rational calculation in this: any mold, such as hooligans, rapists or thieves, only attracts attention to the area and prevents the mafia from doing really serious things. So the Yakuza fought petty crime to the best of their ability - to improve their image and avert the eyes of the police.
Kudo-kai clan emblem
However, there are clans that deliberately cross this line and are ready to kill a civilian at the first need. They are so indifferent to any life outside the clan that they create for themselves the image of lawlessness.
For example, in 2013, the Kudo-kai clan became famous throughout the country for its murders, in which there was a place of evil irony. Trying to put pressure on a fishing cooperative in the coastal city of Fukuoka, the Yakuza first shot the 70-year-old head of the organization, and then, going into a frenzy, attacked his grandson and a cooperative worker with a knife. During the crime investigation, police checked similar cases in the area and found that a strikingly similar murder had occurred here in 1998. The same handwriting, motives and the same story, even the age of the head of the cooperative turned out to be the same. The more recent murder could not be solved, but four yakuza were accused of the twin case of 1998, which contained more evidence and clues.
Headquarters of the Kudo-kai clan
However, this incident did not teach the Kudo-kai clan anything. Already in 2014, one of its leaders stabbed a nurse in a clinic who dared to contradict him, and in 2015, the Yakuza beat a dentist almost to death on the street. When the police found out who exactly this young man was, they probably grabbed their heads. It was the grandson of the murdered director of the cooperative. But not the one who was shot in 2013, but the one who died in 1998. Kudo-kai decided to frantically step on the same rake and repeat the same story again and again.
Yakuza rituals.
Yubitsume , or cutting off fingers: According to this tradition, after the first offense, the offender cuts off the tip of the little finger from his left hand and hands the cut part to his boss.
Sometimes a clan boss may perform this ritual and give the cut off part of a finger to the oyabun when, for example, he wants to save one of his clan members from further reprisals. The origin of this custom comes down to the Japanese manner of holding a sword. The bottom three fingers of each hand are used to hold the sword firmly, with the index finger and thumb slightly relaxed. Removing the phalanges of the fingers, starting with the little finger, gradually weakens the grip on the hilt of the sword and the idea of punishment is thus that a person with a weak grip is only capable of defense.
Recently, prosthetic fingertips have been introduced to hide this feature, and when the British cartoon Bob the Builder was imported into Japan, plans were even made to add an extra finger to the characters so as not to scare small children. Many yakuza have tattoos all over their bodies, which are known as irezumi . Irezumi are still often pricked by hand, where the dye is injected under the skin using bamboo or steel needles. Such a procedure is not only painful and takes a significant toll on your pocket, it can also take more than one year to reproduce the entire pattern. While serving time in prison, some yakuza are immortalized every year with one pearl... inserted under the skin of the penis. And when the yakuza play cards with each other (Oicho-Kabu) , they often open their shirts or tie them around their waists, thus showing each other their tattoos. This is one of the few times when the Yakuza show their tattoos “in public”, because... As a rule, patterns are carefully hidden by highly buttoned shirts with long sleeves.
Another well-known ceremonial among the Yakuza is drinking sake together - thus sealing the fraternal oath between individual Yakuza or entire mafia clans. For example, in August 2005, Kenichi Shinoda and Kazuyoshi Kudo held such a ceremony, cementing the twinning of their clans - Yamaguchi-gumi and Kokushu-kai.zy.
Civil War in the Doujin Gang
Doujin-kai Headquarters
Bandit redistributions and dirty showdowns are commonplace and routine in those times when there is no longer enough money for all the bandits, and someone has to make room. But the war between two large gangs in Kyushu, which began in 2006, is very revealing and exotic to the eyes of a Westerner. And it’s not just about shootouts in broad daylight and assassination attempts using grenades and knives.
It all started with the fact that the local Dojin-kai clan fell into a protracted crisis, and a new gang, Seido-kei, consisting of 500 people, spun off from it. Naturally, the Dojin-kai considered this a betrayal, as a result of which a real civil war began. Yesterday's gang brothers not only squeezed each other's profitable businesses, but also began to kill each other on the streets. Only 45 murders were officially registered. In the most massive massacre, 14 people were shot, which is simply unthinkable for Japan with its most stringent gun laws. For comparison, in the same year 2006, there were only two murders using firearms in the entire country.
Doujin-kai carried out assassination attempts using grenades
The war lasted seven years and ended only in 2013. But this is not the most remarkable thing in this story. When a truce was finally reached, spheres of influence were divided, and the yakuza lay low to lick their wounds, something completely Japanese in spirit happened. The leaders of both clans came together, almost arm in arm, to the police station, announced that the war was over and made an official apology to the townspeople for the accidental casualties among the population.
The history of the emergence and development of the Yakuza.
The first historical background for their appearance is attributed to the hatamoto-yakko or Kabuki-mono of the 17th century, which are derived classes from the lower rank "hatamoto" . Other theories, proposed by members of the yakuza themselves, argue for their origins in the machi-yakko , who defended villages from hatamoto-yakko who, despite the strength and training of the machi-yakko, tried to plunder them. Despite their shortcomings, the Machi-yakko were regarded as folk heroes on the level of Robin Hood. The theory that the yakuza are descended from the hatamoto-yakko is due to the strange hair styles they adopted and the outrageous clothing worn by Kabuki actors during performances during the Genroku era.
Despite some differences of opinion, most researchers agree that most of the events associated with the emergence of the yakuza date back to the Edo period. Since at that time the Toyotomi Hideyoshi clan no longer threatened the power of the Tokugawa, peace reigned in the country and a huge number of soldiers were no longer needed to maintain general order and they moved to the castles of their daimyo.
Due to Japan's isolation and restrictions on foreign trade, its own trade and agriculture improved significantly, which led to the accumulation of power within the merchant class, and made the samurai dependent on them - the samurai's "wages" were paid in the form of a natural product - rice, which was then sold in local markets. Subsequent natural disasters, famine and increased taxes led to destabilization of society, a decline in morale and public discontent with the government. Then personalities such as ronin , who played a significant role on the historical stage of Japan. It was the ronins who moved from simply stealing money and violence to protecting villages from bandits and other bad people in return for a certain fee, of course.
Modern yakuza , however, claim that they came from the ranks of the mati-yakko, refuting their origin from the ranks of the hatamoto-yakko, because, you see, they [hatamoto-yakko] are associated with theft, which honest modern yakuza cannot afford . In large cities, several such groups often existed simultaneously and, as a result, competed for territory, money and influence - just like many modern gangs - ignoring any civilians who, by pure chance, found themselves in the line of fire. Again, the pioneer of the popular yakuza theme in Japanese cinema and television was Akira Kurosawa’s famous film “Yojimbo,” also in the West, in which a wandering ronin pits two yakuza factions against each other and ultimately destroys them. In fact, the yakuza received a little bit of both Machi-yakko (for example, some defense techniques) and Kabuki-mono (for example, frilly fashion and language) .
Charity
1995 Kobe Earthquake
When the need arises, the Yakuza provide aid to those in need. So, in January 1995, an earthquake occurred in the city of Kobe - 6.5 thousand people died, 200 thousand houses were destroyed. Residents found themselves in a difficult situation, and for some reason the authorities were in no hurry to help them. Then help for the victims came from the Yakuza: water, food, money, medicine, work to restore buildings - all this was organized by members of the mafia.
During the New Year celebrations, the Yakuza congratulate the residents of the area that the group “supervises” and give them gifts.
Before some major events, the authorities sometimes turn to the yakuza for help, and they selflessly monitor public order in their areas during the celebration.
Of course, all this adds sympathy for the yakuza on the part of ordinary Japanese.
Original types of Yakuza.
While there is some certainty about the exact origins of the yakuza, most modern yakuza stem from two factions that emerged during the Edo period: the tekiya , who primarily peddled illegal, stolen, or shoddy goods; and "bakuto" who were involved or directly involved in gambling. Tekiya ("peddlers") were considered one of the lowest castes of the Edo period.
When they began to form their own organizations, they took on certain administrative responsibilities, such as trading only in certain areas (ie, each had their own area) or protecting their commercial activities. During Shinto festivals, tekiya set up stalls and some members of the group were hired as security. Each tekiya paid rent in exchange for a stall and protection during the festival. Finally, the Edo government officially recognized tekiya organizations and granted their "employees" ("oyabun") the right to bear a surname and a sword.
This was a huge step forward for traders, because... up to this point, only samurai and nobles could carry swords. Bakuto (“players”) stood much lower on the social ladder than merchants, because gambling was illegal (and, in general, continues to be so now - for money, in any case. But here, however, there are a certain number of tricks). Small-scale gambling dens proliferated in abandoned temples and shrines on the outskirts of towns and villages throughout Japan. Most of them were able to provide some loan to their clients and maintained their own security force. The Bakuto were despised by all sections of society in general and most of the negativity associated with the Yakuza stems from the "players" and their activities. Actually, the name “Yakuza” is the self-name of Bakuto.
Due to the economic situation in the mid-period and the dominance of the merchant class, the developing yakuza factions consisted of misfits who could not adapt to society and criminals who extorted in local markets and sold counterfeit or shoddy goods. The roots of the yakuza can still be found in the initiation rites of tekiya and bakuto. Despite the fact that modern yakuza are much more diverse in their areas of activity, many of them still identify themselves with one or another of the original groups. For example, yakuza whose primary source of income is illegal gambling may well consider themselves bakuto.
A Nazi porn actor decides to become a kamikaze. The most ridiculous assassination attempt in the world
However, some of the nationalists became disillusioned with the yakuza's ties to politics and soybean imperial nationalism. One of them was the young and passionate about the theme of noble Japanese chivalry, Mitsuyasu Maeno. However, in addition to bushido and the ideas of extreme nationalism, he was also interested in filming porn. In total, Mitsuyasu Maeno starred in a couple of dozen more or less long films of varying degrees of hardcore. His triumphs in the porn industry were his roles in the Japanese adaptations of Deep Throat and Emmanuelle.
Apparently suffering from the inconsistency of his lifestyle with samurai ideals, Mitsuyasu Maeno decided that he could clear his good name by eradicating crime and defeating the main Japanese yakuza. Initially, the young man was a real fan of the same Yoshio Kodama, who in reality turned out to be not a benefactor of the nation, but a drug dealer and corrupt grabber.
The plan to punish yesterday's idol, strangely, was not carried out in a hot head. Mitsuyasu Maeno, who had a pilot's license, pulled off a real scam. He rented a small civil plane, a Piper PA-28 Cherokee, and convinced the owners that he needed it to film a film about a kamikaze. To be convincing, another similar plane flew next to it with an operator on board. It is obvious that the kamikaze, in any case, wanted to record his triumph for posterity: before the flight, he posed in front of the camera, and during the assassination attempt he broadcast on the radio what would now be called a “stream.”
Piper PA-28 Cherokee
Despite all the theatrical pathos of the operation, the attempt failed. Mitsuyasu Maeno shouting “Banzai!” and “For the Emperor!” crashed at full speed into Yoshio Kodama's house and died. However, the only thing he managed to do to annoy the Yakuza was to break the balcony on the second floor. Yesio himself was not harmed by the blow: he woke up, looked out indignantly to see what was happening there, gave his people the task of putting out the fire that had started, and slowly went to evacuate, just in case.
Gurentai: Yakuza after 1945.
As Japan entered the era of urbanization and industrialization, a third yakuza group emerged, called the "gurentai" (愚連隊) , a name that predates the outbreak of World War II. Whether the gurentai fall under the traditional concept of yakuza or not is still a matter of debate, but they undoubtedly gave rise to a of yakuza groups , which were called "bōryokudan" - "power groups" . In short, the Gurentai are a gang of undisciplined young thugs who stage power “shows” for money. Those. they fight for those who will pay the most. They often participated in the struggles of trade unions and other workers' organizations, which placed them much closer to the traditional Japanese underground power structures. As Japan militarized, some of them came to represent the militant wing of Japanese politics known as uyoku (右翼, "right wing") , or ultra-nationalists.
Unlike the more traditional yakuza, the uyoku did not establish their influence over any territory - they committed violence solely for political purposes. The most famous uyoku group before World War II was the Kokuryū-kai (黒龍会) - “Black Dragon Society” . The Kokuryu-kai was a secret ultra-nationalist umbrella organization (such an organization supports several other organizations working in a certain area; or such an organization is representative of an association (union) of these organizations and has its own name), whose members included many government officials and military officers, as well as many martial artists and members of the Japanese underground involved in political terrorism and assassination. Members of the Kokuryu-kai also provided espionage services for the Japanese authorities and engaged in smuggling activities, including the trade in Chinese opium, prostitution, and overseas gambling, all of which provided the Kokuryu-kai with both money and information. they began to control major seaports and the entertainment industry.
The largest Yakuza umbrella group was the Yamaguchi-gumi , which appeared in the Kansai region and owned a large entertainment industry in Osaka and equally large seaports in Kobe. The US occupation forces tried to fight the Yamaguchi-gumi and other groups, but in vain, eventually admitting defeat in 1950. Gradually, the Yakuza began to use firearms and began to look more and more like classic Western gangsters.
At this stage, both tekiya and bakuto were not limited to their traditional fields of activity and expanded into any area they found profitable. The Gurentai at the same time began to assume the traditional roles of tekiya and bakuto, which eventually led to a clash between all three major yakuza groups and a struggle for power and prestige. In the 1960s Yoshio Kodama, an ex-nationalist, began to negotiate with various factions, the first of which were the Yamaguchi-gumi led by Kazuo Taoka, the Tosei-kai led by Hisayuki Machii ) and ultimately with Inagawa-kai. Clashes between individual gangs, however, continued.
Spreading
The Japanese mafia has gone far beyond the borders of its country. The Yakuza delivers the "potion" and illegal migrants from Asian countries; stolen cars to Russia, and illegally caught seafood from our country; The Yakuza supply stolen cars to Europe, and “hell potion” to the USA. And, of course, they are engaged in racketeering of Japanese businessmen who have enterprises abroad.
The Yakuza invest huge amounts of money in foreign legal businesses (travel agencies, hotels, shops), which allows them to control it.
Burakumin and the Korean-Japanese Yakuza.
Although Koreans make up a tiny fraction (0.5%) of the total population in Japan, they are a very important component of the yakuza, perhaps because Koreans suffer severe discrimination along with the burakumin. Of the total Yakuza population, Koreans make up about 15%, and in the early 1990s. 18 of the 90 major leaders in the Inagawa-kai group were ethnic Koreans. The Japanese National Police Agency suggests that Koreans made up about 10% of the total burakumin in Yamaguchi-gumi. Koreans were also among the boryokudan.
The importance of Koreans was an untouchable taboo and one of the reasons that the Japanese version of "Yakuza" (1986) by Kaplan and Dubro was not published until 1991, plus descriptions were cut from it, for example, the Korean from Yamaguchi -gumi. Although ethnic Koreans born in Japan make up a significant portion of the Japanese population, they are still considered foreigners simply living in the country because of their ethnicity. But Koreans, who often avoid engaging in legitimate trade, are accepted into yakuza clans precisely because they fit the image of society's "outcasts."
The man who paved the way for Japanese-Koreans in Japanese society was the Japanese-Korean yakuza who founded the Tosei-kai - godfather of Hisayuki Machii. At birth in 1923, he was given the name Chong Gwon Yong and gradually became a major street gangster who saw many opportunities in Japan. As a result, Matiya managed to conquer this country, after which he began to establish contacts with the United States, in particular, he collaborated with their counterintelligence, which appreciated his strong anti-communist beliefs. While the Japanese yakuza were imprisoned or under close surveillance by the US occupation forces, the Korean yakuza felt quite free and gradually took over the most profitable black markets. But rather than compete with the Japanese yakuza, Machii formed an alliance with them and remained close to Kodama and Taoka throughout his underground career (see above).
In 1948, Machii created his own group, Tosei-kai (“Voice of Eastern Gan”) and soon took control of the Ginza region. The Tosei-kai became such a powerful group in Tokyo that it was even known as the “Ginza Police” and the all-powerful Taoka of the Yamaguchi-gumi had to negotiate with Machii to ensure that his group continued to operate within Tokyo. Matiya's vast empire included tourism, entertainment, bars and restaurants, prostitution and oil imports. He and Kodama, without any outside help, made a fortune investing in real estate. More importantly, Machii acted as an intermediary between the Korean government and the yakuza, which allowed Japanese criminals to do business (ie racketeering) in Korea, which had been terrorized by the Japanese for years. Thanks to Machii, Korea became a second home for the Japanese yakuza. To further suit his role as a glue between the underworlds of both countries, Machii was allowed to purchase the largest ferry service connecting Shimonoseki (Japan) and Busan (South Korea) and the shortest route between the two countries.
In the mid-1960s. pressure from the police forced Machii to officially disband the Tosei-kai. At that time, he even formed two supposedly legitimate organizations: Toa Sogo Kigyo (East Asian Business Association), which became a front for criminal activities. Machii is widely believed to have facilitated the kidnapping of Korean opposition leader Kim Dae Chun (Kim Dae Jung) from a hotel in Tokyo. Kim was supposed to be thrown into the sea, tied hand and foot, blindfolded and with a weight tied so that the body would never float. But suddenly the execution by drowning was canceled and Kim secretly taken to a hotel outside Seoul. American intervention is said to have saved his life. Further police investigation revealed that Matija's men were renting all the other rooms on that floor of the hotel. However, Machii's kidnapping was never reported Machii "retired" at the age of about 80 and was often seen vacationing in Hawaii since then, he passed away on September 14th, 2002.
In addition, Tokutaro Takayami was the “kaicho” of the fourth yakuza gang, Aizukotetsu. He was an ethnic Korean and came to power as the head of a Kyoto gang, which he ruled until his “retirement” in the late 1990s. Despite all of the above, in modern Japan, the exact origins of the yakuza are still a matter of debate.
