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The Japanese Mafia: The Yakuza


Organized Crime
- Also known as gokudo
- Japanese Police call them "boryokudan" (violence group), while The Yakuza call themselves "ninkyo dantai" (chivalrous organizations)

Origination
- mid-Edo period: tekiya, those who primarily peddled illicit, stolen or shoddy goods; and bakuto, those who were involved in or participated in gambling
- The lowest social groups in Edo

Structure
- During the formation of the yakuza, they adopted the traditional Japanese hierarchical structure of oyabun-kobun where kobun (foster child) owe their allegiance to the oyabun (foster parent). In a much later period, the code of jingi (justice and duty) was developed where loyalty and respect are a way of life.

Rituals
- Yubitsume, or the cutting of one's finger, is a form of penance or apology. Upon a first offence, 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.
-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.
-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. When new members join, they are often required to remove their pants as well and reveal any lower body tattoos

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Greasers


About
- Greasers are a working class youth subculture that originated in the 1950s among young northeastern and southern United States street gangs, and then became popular among other types of people. In the 1950s and early 1960s, these youths were known as hoods.
- Their name came from their greased back hair, which involved combing back hair with wax, gel, creams, tonics or pomade. Other popular greases used were olive oil or petroleum jelly. The greaser style was imitated by many youths not associated with gangs, as an expression of rebellion.

Fashion
- Wore white or black t-shirts
- slicked back hair
- leather jackets
- black or brown trenchcoats
- motorcycle boots, cowboy boots, harness boots, engineer boots, ect.

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Contrast

The Yakuza
- Will cut off your finger of disobedience
- Much more deadly
- Aren't caught by the police because of how huge their organization is
- Started around 1992

Greasers
- Less deadly
- Don't have brutal rituals of disobedience
- Can be caught by the police, usually in small enough numbers that police could catch them
- Started around the 1950s

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Comparison
- Gangs
- Can be very deadly
- Started somewhere in the 1900s
- Were known gangs