Editing Yakuza

{{Short description|Members of organized crime syndicates in Japan}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox criminal organization
| name = ''Yakuza''
| image = [[File:Yakuza-katakana.svg|frameless|class=skin-invert]]
| image_size =
| caption = The word yakuza in [[katakana]] ({{nihongo2|ヤクザ}})
| founded = 17th century<br/>(presumed to have originated from the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kabukimono]]}})
| ethnic makeup = Primarily [[Japanese people|Japanese]]; occasionally [[Koreans in Japan|Koreans]] and [[Japanese Americans]]
| membership = {{formatnum:9900}} members<ref name="npa">{{cite web|url=https://www.npa.go.jp/publications/statistics/kikakubunseki/r6jyousei.pdf|title=Organized Crime Trends in 2024|pages=18–19, 40|website=[[National Police Agency (Japan)|National Police Agency]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250403084126/https://www.npa.go.jp/publications/statistics/kikakubunseki/r6jyousei.pdf|accessdate=3 April 2025|archive-date=3 April 2025}}</ref><br>{{formatnum:8900}} quasi-members<ref name="npa"/>
| territory = Primarily Japan, particularly in [[Kantō]]/[[Tokyo]], [[Kansai]], [[Kyushu]]/[[Fukuoka]], and [[Chūbu]]; also internationally in South Korea, Australia,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://irp.fas.org/world/australia/docs/ncaaoc4.html | title=Japanese Organised Crime in Australia }}</ref> the [[Western United States]] ([[Hawaii]] and [[California]]), and [[Thailand]] ([[Phuket]])
| activities = Varied, including illegitimate businesses, an array of criminal and non-criminal activities.
| notable_members = Principal clans:
# [[Yamaguchi-gumi]]
# [[Sumiyoshi-kai]]
# [[Inagawa-kai]]
}}

{{Nihongo|2=ヤクザ|3='''Yakuza'''|4={{IPA|ja|jaꜜkɯdza|IPA}}; {{IPAc-en|lang|j|ə|'|k|uː|z|ə|,_|'|j|æ|k|uː|z|ə}}|lead=yes}}, also known as {{Nihongo|2=極道|3='''gokudō'''|4="the extreme path", {{IPA|ja|gokɯꜜdoː|IPA}}}}, are members of transnational [[organized crime|organized crime syndicates]] originating in [[Japan]]. The [[Japanese police]] and media (by request of the police) call them {{nihongo|2=暴力団|3='''bōryokudan'''|4="violent groups", {{IPA|ja|boːɾʲokɯꜜdaɴ|IPA}}}}, while the yakuza call themselves {{nihongo|2=任侠団体|3='''ninkyō dantai'''|4="chivalrous organizations", {{IPA|ja|ɲiŋkʲoː dantai|IPA}}}}. The English equivalent for the term ''yakuza'' is [[gangster]], meaning an individual involved in a [[Mafia]]-like criminal organization.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Britannica Academic |url=https://academic.eb.com/?target=%2Flevels%2Fcollegiate%2Farticle%2Fyakuza%2F77739 |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=academic.eb.com}}</ref>

The yakuza are known for their strict codes of conduct, their organized [[fief]]dom nature, and several unconventional ritual practices such as ''[[yubitsume]]'', or amputation of the left little finger.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bosmia |first1=Anand N. | last2=Griessenauer|first2=Christoph J.|last3=Tubbs|first3=R. Shane|title=Yubitsume: ritualistic self-amputation of proximal digits among the Yakuza|journal=Journal of Injury and Violence Research |year=2014 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=54–56 |doi=10.5249/jivr.v6i2.489 |pmid=24284812|pmc=4009169}}</ref> Members are often portrayed as males with heavily tattooed bodies and wearing ''[[fundoshi]]'', sometimes with a [[kimono]] or, in more recent years, a Western-style "sharp" suit covering them.<ref>{{cite magazine|id={{Gale|A194486438}}|title=Feeling the Heat; The Yakuza |magazine=[[The Economist]] |volume=390 |issue=8620 |date=28 February 2009}}</ref>
 	
At their height, the yakuza maintained a large presence in the [[Media of Japan|Japanese media]], and they also [[transnational crime|operated internationally]]. In 1963, the number of yakuza members and quasi-members reached a peak of 184,100.<ref name="npa99">[https://web.archive.org/web/20220806083304/https://www.npa.go.jp/hakusyo/h11/h110400.html 第4章 暴力団総合対策の推進]. National Police Agency. 1999.</ref> However, this number has drastically dropped, a decline attributed to changing market opportunities and [[Yakuza#Law enforcement and indirect enforcement|several legal and social developments]] in Japan that discourage the growth of yakuza membership.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hill|first1=Peter|title=The Changing Face of the Yakuza|journal=Global Crime|date=February 2004|volume=6|issue=1|pages= 97–116| doi=10.1080/1744057042000297007|s2cid=153495517}}</ref> In 1991, it had 63,800 members and 27,200 quasi-members, but by 2024 it had only 9,900 members and 8,900 quasi-members.<ref name="npa"/> The yakuza are aging because young people do not readily join, and their average age at the end of 2022 was 54.2 years: 5.4% in their 20s, 12.9% in their 30s, 26.3% in their 40s, 30.8% in their 50s, 12.5% in their 60s, and 11.6% in their 70s or older, with more than half of the members in their 50s or older.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230326230749/https://www.asahi.com/articles/DA3S15592618.html 暴力団勢力、2万2400人 18年連続減少 組員、平均年齢上昇]. ''[[The Asahi Shimbun]]''. 27 March 2023.</ref>

The yakuza still regularly engage in an array of criminal activities, and many Japanese citizens remain fearful of the threat these individuals pose to their safety.<ref name=Shikata2006>{{cite journal|last1=Shikata|first1=Ko|title=Yakuza – organized crime in Japan|journal=Journal of Money Laundering Control|date=October 2006|volume=9|issue=4|pages=416–421|id={{ProQuest|235850419}}|doi=10.1108/13685200610707653}}</ref> There remains no strict prohibition on yakuza membership in Japan today, although many pieces of legislation have been passed by the [[Japanese government]] aimed at impeding revenue and increasing liability for criminal activities.<ref name=Shikata2006/>

== Etymology ==
The name ''yakuza'' originates from the traditional Japanese card game ''[[Oicho-Kabu]]'', a game in which the goal is to draw three cards adding up to a score of 9. If the sum of the cards is 10 or more, the second digit is the score. So a sum of 13 is a score of 3, a sum of 14 is a score of 4, etc. A sum of 10 or 20 is a score of 0. If the three cards drawn are 8-9-3 (pronounced '''ya-ku-za''' in archaic Japanese), the sum is 20 and therefore the score is zero, making one of the worst possible hands that can be drawn.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Hessler |first1=Peter |title=All Due Respect |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/09/all-due-respect |access-date=19 April 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=2 January 2012|quote=The name refers to an unlucky hand at cards—yakuza means "eight-nine-three"—and bluffing has always been part of the image. Many gangsters are Korean-Japanese or members of other minority groups that traditionally have been scorned.}}</ref><ref>[http://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%82%84%E3%81%8F%E3%81%96 "Yakuza" definition]. Kotobank (in Japanese)</ref> In [[Japanese language|Japanese]], the word ''yakuza'' is commonly written in [[katakana]] (ヤクザ).

== Origins ==
[[File:Tattooed-Helper-Yakuza-Ukiyo-e-by-Suzuki-Kinsen-1900.png|thumb|A yakuza with a dragon tattoo is running to help his comrade, who is fighting against the police.]]
[[File:Portrait-Chogoro-Yamamoto-(Shimizu-Jirocho).png|thumb|upright|Yakuza boss [[Shimizu Jirocho]] (Chogoro Yamamoto)]]
Despite uncertainty about the single origin of yakuza organizations, most modern yakuza derive from two social classifications which emerged in the mid-[[Edo period]] (1603–1868): ''[[tekiya]]'', those who primarily peddled [[Illicit trade|illicit]], stolen or shoddy goods; and ''[[bakuto]]'', those who were involved in or participated in [[Gambling in Japan|gambling]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dubro|first1=A.|last2=Kaplan|first2=David E.|title=Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan's Criminal Underworld|date=1986|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=978-0-201-11151-4|pages=18–21}}</ref>

''Tekiya'' (peddlers) ranked as one of the [[Four occupations|lowest social groups]] during the Edo period. As they began to form organizations of their own, they took over some administrative duties relating to commerce, such as stall allocation and protection of their commercial activities.<ref>Joy, Alicia. "A Brief History of the Yakuza Organization". Culture Trip. Last modified 31 October 2016. https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-yakuza-organization/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001070204/https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/a-brief-history-of-the-yakuza-organization/ |date=1 October 2018 }}.</ref> During [[Shinto]] [[Japanese festivals|festivals]], these peddlers opened stalls and some members were hired to act as security. Each peddler paid rent in exchange for a stall assignment and [[Protection racket|protection]] during the fair.

The ''tekiya'' were a highly structured and hierarchical group with the ''oyabun'' (boss) at the top and ''kobun'' (gang members) at the bottom.<ref name="kyotojournal.org">Raz, Jacob. "Insider Outsider: The Way of the Yakuza." Kyoto Journal. Last modified 17 April 2011. https://kyotojournal.org/society/insider-outsider/.</ref> This hierarchy resembles a structure similar to the family – in traditional [[Culture of Japan|Japanese culture]], the ''oyabun'' was often regarded as a surrogate father, and the ''kobun'' as surrogate children.<ref name="kyotojournal.org"/> During the Edo period, the government formally recognized the ''tekiya''. At this time, within the ''tekiya'', the ''oyabun'' were appointed as supervisors and granted near-[[samurai]] status, meaning they were allowed the dignity of a surname and two swords.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dubro |first1=A. |last2=Kaplan |first2=David E. |title=Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan's Criminal Underworld |date=1986 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-201-11151-4 |page=22 }}</ref>

''Bakuto'' (gamblers) had a much lower social standing even than traders, as gambling was illegal. Many small gambling houses cropped up in abandoned temples or shrines at the edges of towns and villages all over Japan.  Most of these gambling houses ran [[Loan shark|loan-sharking]] businesses for clients, and they usually maintained their own security personnel. Society at large regarded the gambling houses themselves, as well as the ''bakuto'', with disdain. Much of the undesirable image of the yakuza originates from ''bakuto''; this includes the name ''yakuza'' itself.

Because of the economic situation during the mid-Edo period and the predominance of the merchant class, developing yakuza groups were composed of misfits and delinquents who had joined or formed the groups to extort customers in local markets by selling fake or shoddy goods.{{Clarify|What "mid-period"? How gone from privileged merchants with swords to misfits? How did tekiya and bakuto come together?|date= March 2016}}

[[Shimizu Jirocho]] (1820–1893) is Japan's most famous yakuza and folk hero.<ref>{{cite book |title=Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld |last1=Kaplan |first1=David E.|last2=Dubro |first2=Alec |year= 2012|publisher=the University of California Press |isbn= 978-0520215627|edition=25th Anniversary }}</ref> He was born Chogoro Yamamoto, but changed his name when he was adopted, a common Japanese practice.<ref name="jirocho">{{cite web |title=Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures |publisher= National Diet Library, Japan |date=22 May 2007 |url=https://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/278.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190722171934/https://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/278.html |archive-date=22 July 2019}}</ref> His life and exploits were featured in sixteen films between 1911 and 1940.

The roots of the yakuza survive today in [[initiation ceremony|initiation ceremonies]], which incorporate 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''.

===Kyushu===
[[File:Japan Kyushu Region large.png|thumb|right|[[Kyushu]], a well-known source of many yakuza members]]
The island of [[Kyushu]] (and particularly its northern prefecture [[Fukuoka Prefecture|Fukuoka]]) has a reputation for being a large source of yakuza members,<ref name="JapaneseJusticeJohnson2002">{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=David T. |title=The Japanese way of justice: prosecuting crime in Japan |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford [England] ; New York |isbn=9780195119862 }}</ref> including many renowned bosses in the [[Yamaguchi-gumi]].<ref name="Baradel 2021 pp. 74–91">{{cite journal | last=Baradel | first=Martina | title=Yakuza Grey: The Shrinking of the Il/legal Nexus and its Repercussions on Japanese Organised Crime | journal=Global Crime | volume=22 | issue=1 | date=2021-01-02 | issn=1744-0572 | doi=10.1080/17440572.2020.1813114 | pages=74–91}}</ref> Isokichi Yoshida (1867–1936) from the [[Kitakyushu]] area was considered by some scholars and political watchers as one of the first renowned modern yakuza.<ref name="Siniawer 2012 pp. 623–641">{{cite journal | last=Siniawer | first=E. M. | title=Befitting Bedfellows: Yakuza and the State in Modern Japan | journal=Journal of Social History | volume=45 | issue=3 | date=2012-03-01 | issn=0022-4529 | doi=10.1093/jsh/shr120 | pages=623–641}}</ref> Recently [[Shinobu Tsukasa]] and Kunio Inoue, the bosses of the two most powerful clans in the Yamaguchi-gumi, originate from Kyushu. [[Fukuoka Prefecture|Fukuoka]], the northernmost part of the island, has the largest number of [[#Designated bōryokudan|designated syndicates]] among all of the prefectures.<ref>{{cite news |last1=High concentration of |first1=Yakuza within Fukuoka |title=Fukuoka to offer financial help for gangsters trying to leave crime syndicates |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/02/20/national/crime-legal/fukuoka-offer-financial-help-gangsters-trying-leave-crime-syndicates/ |access-date=30 August 2022 |agency=www.japantimes.co.jp |date=20 February 2018}}</ref>

== Organization and activities ==
=== Structure ===
[[File:Typical hierarchie of Japanese yakuza family.svg|thumb|A simplified organizational chart of the Yakuza. At the top of the image is ''oyabun'' (''kumichō'', 組長), the pseudo-father of the organization; to the lower right of ''oyabun'' are ''oyabun'''s pseudo younger brothers ''shatei'' (舎弟), and directly below ''oyabun'' is ''wakagashira'' (若頭), oyabun's pseudo first son. Below ''wakagashira'' are ''kumiin'' (組員), pseudo younger brothers of ''wakagashira'' who are pseudo children of ''oyabun'', and they are called ''wakanaka'' or ''wakashū''. ''Kumiin'' can refer to any member of the organization, regardless of position.]]
[[File:Cascade structure of Japanese yakuza families.svg|thumb|Large yakuza organizations have a multi-layered structure, with executives and members running their own organizations.]]
During the formation of the yakuza, they adopted the traditional Japanese hierarchical structure of oyabun-kobun where ''kobun'' (子分; lit. foster child) owe their allegiance to the {{nihongo|''oyabun''|親分||lit. foster parent}}.  In a much later period, the code of {{nihongo|''jingi''|仁義||justice and duty}} was developed where loyalty and respect are a way of life. The oyabun-kobun relationship is formalized by ceremonial sharing of [[sake]] from a single cup. This ritual is not exclusive to the yakuza – it is also commonly performed in traditional Japanese [[Shinto]] weddings, and may have been a part of sworn brotherhood relationships.<ref name="trutv.com">{{cite web|last=Bruno|first=Anthony|title=The Yakuza – Oyabun-Kobun, Father-Child|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/2.html|publisher=[[truTV]]|access-date=28 February 2012}}</ref>

The structure of yakuza organizations is characterized by a multi-layered hierarchical structure. The {{nihongo3|pseudo child||kobun}} of an organization become {{nihongo3|family head and pseudo parent||oyabun}} and run their own subsidiary organizations, and the ''kobun'' of the subsidiary organizations also become ''oyabun'' and run their own subsidiary organizations. A large yakuza organization such as [[Yamaguchi-gumi]] is made up of five or six layered organizations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npa.go.jp/hakusyo/h01/h010102.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230708062115/https://www.npa.go.jp/hakusyo/h01/h010102.html|script-title=ja:第2節 暴力団の構造と活動|language=ja|publisher=National police Agency|date=|archive-date=8 July 2023|access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://president.jp/articles/-/9722?page=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026123712/https://president.jp/articles/-/9722?page=1|script-title=ja:開拓した会社がヤクザのフロント企業だったら|language=ja|publisher=President Online|date=19 June 2013|archive-date=26 October 2021|access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/251723?page=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240512123217/https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/251723?page=1|script-title=ja:駅に初詣、出所…山口組司忍組長ら暴力団が報道写真に納まるワケ|language=ja|publisher=[[kodansha]]|date=2 July 2022|archive-date=12 May 2024|access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref> In other words, the heads of subsidiary organizations are often executives of the parent organizations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npa.go.jp/hakusyo/h27/honbun/html/rf121000.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323145720/https://www.npa.go.jp/hakusyo/h27/honbun/html/rf121000.html|script-title=ja:第2節 暴力団の構造と活動|language=ja|publisher=National police Agency|date=|archive-date=23 March 2023|access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref>

The ''oyabun'' of the organization is generally called a {{nihongo3||組長|kumichō}} or {{nihongo3|chairman|会長|kaichō}}, the person corresponding to pseudo younger brother of the ''kumichō'' is called a {{nihongo3||舎弟|shatei}}, and the person corresponding to pseudo child of the ''kumichō'' (''kobun'') is called a {{nihongo3||若中|wakanaka}} or {{nihongo3||若衆|wakashū}}.<ref name="zak101015">{{cite web|url=https://www.zakzak.co.jp/society/domestic/news/20151010/dms1510101530002-n1.htm?view=pc|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240512133953/https://www.zakzak.co.jp/society/domestic/news/20151010/dms1510101530002-n1.htm?view=pc|script-title=ja:【続・山口組分裂の深層】ヤクザ組織を支える「直参制度」　若頭、舎弟が意味するものとは (1/2ページ)|language=ja|publisher=[[Sankei Shimbun]]|date=|archive-date=12 May 2024|access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref> {{nihongo3||舎弟|Shatei}} means younger brother, and its status varies greatly depending on whose brother it is. From the perspective of the organization as a whole, ''shatei'' generally refers to the younger brother of an ''oyabun'', and thus to a high-ranking person in the organization,<ref name="zak101015"/> but it is also possible for a lower-level member to refer to his pseudo younger brother as a ''shatei''.<ref name="matsue8">[https://web.archive.org/web/20240825174425/https://boutsui-matsue.jp/mini08.html 暴力団ミニ講座 8)兄弟盃] 松江地区建設業暴力追放対策協議会</ref>

Although positions in yakuza organizations vary from clan to clan, the three most important yakuza positions are ''kumichō'', {{nihongo3|second-in-command and pseudo eldest son of the ''kumichō''|若頭|wakagashira}}, and {{nihongo3|pseudo oldest younger brother of the ''kumichō''|舎弟頭|shateigashira}}. {{nihongo3|general manager|本部長|Honbuchō}}, {{nihongo3|deputy ''kumichō''|副組長|fuku-kumichō}}, and {{nihongo3|secretary general|事務局長|jimukyokuchō}}, are also important positions.<ref name="bungei280522">{{cite web|url=https://bunshun.jp/articles/-/41017?page=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528021022/https://bunshun.jp/articles/-/41017?page=4|script-title=ja:「やっぱり殺られてしもうたか…」　神戸山口組幹部・死へのカウントダウン|language=ja|publisher=[[Bungeishunju]]|date=27 October 2020|archive-date=28 May 2022|access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref><ref name="shogaku10424"/> In general, the {{nihongo3|executive office|執行部|shikkōbu}} of an organization is run by the ''wakagashira'', ''shateigashira'', and ''honbuchō''. Since the ''shatei'' are the pseudo-younger brothers of the ''kumichō'', they are generally older and have higher nominal positions but relatively little real authority.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://shokugyou.biz/page/63|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403042402/https://shokugyou.biz/page/63|script-title=ja:ヤクザの役職・階級一覧｜組織図や年収、序列を明解に解説|language=ja|publisher=Shokugyou datebase|date=|archive-date=3 April 2024|access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref> In the Yamaguchi-gumi pecking order as of 2024, the order is ''kumichō'', ''wakagashira'', ''shateigashira'', and ''honbuchō''.<ref name="shogaku10424">{{cite web|url=https://www.news-postseven.com/archives/20240110_1933317.html?DETAIL|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240411234646/https://www.news-postseven.com/archives/20240110_1933317.html?DETAIL|script-title=ja:【六代目山口組の餅つきに密着】参加者は「PCR検査必須」、会場はさながら高級ブランドのファッションショー、高山若頭は50万超のフランス製ダウンジャケット|language=ja|publisher=[[Shogakukan]]|date=|archive-date=11 April 2024|access-date=12 May 2024}}</ref>

Yakuza groups are headed by an ''oyabun'' (''kumichō'' or ''kaichō'') who gives orders to his subordinates, the ''kobun''. In this respect, the organization is a variation of the traditional Japanese [[senpai]]-[[kohai|kōhai]] (senior-junior) model. Members of yakuza cut their real family ties and transfer their loyalty to the ''oyabun''. They refer to each other as family members—{{nihongo3|fathers|親父|oyaji}}, {{nihongo3|uncles|叔父貴|ojiki}}, and {{nihongo3|elder and younger brothers|兄弟|kyōdai}}. Among brothers, it is common to refer to a person equal to oneself as ''kyōdai'', a younger brother as ''kyōdai'' or ''shatei'', and an older brother as {{nihongo3|older brother|兄貴|aniki}}.<ref name="matsue8"/> The yakuza is populated almost entirely by men and the very few women who are acknowledged are the wives of bosses, who are referred to by the title {{nihongo|''ane-san''|姐さん||older sister}}. When the 3rd Yamaguchi-gumi boss ([[Kazuo Taoka]]) died in the early 1980s, his wife (Fumiko) took over as boss of Yamaguchi-gumi, albeit for a short time.

During the [[World War II]] period in Japan, the more traditional tekiya/bakuto form of organization declined as the entire population was mobilised to participate in the war effort and society came under the control of the strict military government. However, after the war, the Yakuza adapted again.

==== Rituals ====
[[File:Beato, Felice (1834 – 1907) - Tattooed japanese men - ca. 1870.jpg|thumb|right|upright|An early example of [[irezumi]] tattoos, 1870s]]

[[Yubitsume]], also referred to as ''[[yubitsume|otoshimae]]'', or the cutting off 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 give 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. This practice has started to wane amongst the younger members, due to it being an easy identifier for police.<ref name="cnn.com">{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/15/asia/yakuza-yamaguchi-gumi-explainer/ | publisher=CNN | title=The Yakuza: Inside Japan's murky criminal underworld}}</ref>

Its origin stems from the traditional way of holding a [[Kenjutsu|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 and 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.<ref name="trutv.com"/>

Many yakuza have full-body tattoos (including their [[genitalia]]). 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 handheld tools with needles of sharpened bamboo or steel. The procedure is expensive and painful, and can take years to complete.<ref>''[[Japanorama]]'', [[BBC Three (former)|BBC Three]], Series 2, Episode 3, first aired 21 September 2006</ref>

When yakuza play [[Oicho-Kabu]] cards with each other, they often remove their shirts or open them up and drape them around their waists. This enables them to display their full-body tattoos to each other. This is one of the few times that yakuza 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 trousers as well and reveal any lower body tattoos.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

==Syndicates==
{{Further|List of Yakuza syndicates}}

=== Number of members and quasi-members ===
The total number of yakuza members and quasi-members peaked at 184,100 in 1963, and then continued to decline due to police crackdowns.<ref name="npa99"/> The number of regular members decreased with the implementation of the {{nihongo|Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members|[[:ja:暴力団員による不当な行為の防止等に関する法律|暴力団員による不当な行為の防止等に関する法律]]|}} in 1992,<ref name="genmika"/> and the total number of members and quasi-members began to decline rapidly with the implementation of the [[yakuza exclusion ordinances]] in all 47 prefectures around 2010. Between 1990 and 2020, the total number of members and quasi-members decreased by 70 percent.<ref name="nhk300622"/>

The National Police Agency reported that Japanese yakuza organizations had 9,900 members and 8,900 quasi-members in 2024.<ref name="npa"/>

=== Designated yakuza (''Shitei Bōryokudan'') ===
A {{nihongo|designated yakuza|指定暴力団|Shitei Bōryokudan}}<ref>[http://www.npa.go.jp/english/kokusai/20.pdf "Police of Japan 2011, Criminal Investigation : 2. Fight Against Organized Crime"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810212614/http://www.npa.go.jp/english/kokusai/20.pdf |date=10 August 2011 }}, December 2009, ''[[National Police Agency (Japan)|National Police Agency]]''</ref> is a "particularly harmful" yakuza group<ref>[http://www.fukuoka-boutui.or.jp/mob/index.html "Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119010309/http://www.fukuoka-boutui.or.jp/mob/index.html |date=19 January 2012 }}, ''[[Fukuoka Prefecture|The Fukuoka Prefectural Center for the Elimination of Boryokudan]]'' {{in lang|ja}}</ref> registered by the [[Japanese prefectures|Prefectural]] [[National Public Safety Commission (Japan)|Public Safety Commissions]] under the {{nihongo|Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members|暴力団対策法|Bōryokudan Taisaku Hō}} enacted in 1991.<ref>[http://www.police.pref.hokkaido.lg.jp/info/keiji/bouryoku_taisaku/jyousei/bouryoku-jyousei.html "Boryokudan Comprehensive Measures – The Condition of the Boryokudan"], December 2010, ''[[Hokkaido Prefecture|Hokkaido Prefectural]] [[Japanese Police|Police]]'' {{in lang|ja}}</ref> Groups are designated as {{nihongo3|designated yakuza||Shitei Bōryokudan}} if their members take advantage of the gang's influence to do business, are structured to have one leader, and have a large portion of their members hold criminal records.<ref name="openscholarship.wustl.edu"/> After the Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members was enacted, many yakuza syndicates made efforts to restructure to appear more professional and legitimate.<ref name="openscholarship.wustl.edu">{{cite journal|last1=Reilly|first1=Edward|title=Criminalizing Yakuza Membership: A Comparative Study of the Anti-Boryokudan Law|journal=Washington University Global Studies Law Review|date=1 January 2014|volume=13|issue=4|pages=801–829|id= {{Gale|A418089219}} |url=https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_globalstudies/vol13/iss4/9/}}</ref>

As of 2024, Under the Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members, the Prefectural Public Safety Commissions have registered 25 syndicates as the designated yakuza groups. Three of these organizations have more than 1,000 regular members, eight have more than 100, and 14 have less than 100. [[Fukuoka Prefecture]] has the largest number of designated yakuza groups among all of the prefectures, at 5; the [[Kudo-kai]], the [[Taishu-kai]], the [[Fukuhaku-kai]], the [[Dojin-kai]], and the [[Kyushu Seido-kai|Namikawa-kai]].<ref name="npa"/>

In August 2021, the Fukuoka District Court sentenced [[Satoru Nomura]], the fifth head of [[Kudo-kai]], to death for murder and attempted murder. This was the first death sentence handed down to a designated yakuza head. Kudo-kai is the only one of the designated yakuza to be designated as a {{nihongo|especially dangerous designated yakuza|特定危険指定暴力団|Tokutei Kiken Shitei Bōryokudan}}, a more dangerous type of yakuza.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220901014752/https://www.nhk.or.jp/gendai/articles/4590/ 工藤会と"91人の証言者" 暴力団トップ死刑判決の内幕.] [[NHK]]. 5 October 2021</ref>

===Three largest syndicates and six major syndicates===
As of 2024, the National Police Agency has designated [[Yamaguchi-gumi]], [[Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi]], [[Kizuna-kai]], [[Ikeda-gumi]] ([[:ja:池田組|ja]]), [[Sumiyoshi-kai]], and [[Inagawa-kai]] as {{nihongo3|major organizations|主要団体|Shuyō dantai}} among the designated yakuza. These six organizations have a total of 7,300 members and 6,100 quasi-members, for a total of 13,500 members, or 71.8 percent of the total 18,800 yakuza members and quasi-members in Japan.<ref name="npa"/>

Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi split off from Yamaguchi-gumi in August 2015, Kizuna-kai split off from Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi in April 2017, and Ikeda-gumi split off from Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi in July 2020. These Yamaguchi-gumi and the three organizations that split from them are fighting each other.<ref name="npa"/>

In recent years, the three major yakuza syndicates have formed a loose alliance, and in April 2023, [[Kiyoshi Takayama]], the ''wakagashira'' (second-in-command) of the [[Yamaguchi-gumi]], [[Shuji Ogawa]], the ''kaichō'' (chairman) of the [[Sumiyoshi-kai]], and [[Kazuya Uchibori]] ([[:ja:内堀和也|ja]]), the ''kaichō'' of the [[Inagawa-kai]], held a social gathering.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230413190640/https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/4c71daee00fcb74790d31282c0b1db1c85db69ba 六代目山口組髙山清司若頭、住吉会＆稲川会トップと"ヤクザサミット"開催　緊張感漂う内部写真公開.] Yahoo Japan News. 13 April 2023</ref>

{| class=wikitable
! Principal families
! Description
! [[Mon (crest)]]
|-----
| {{Nihongo|[[Yamaguchi-gumi]]|山口組}}
| The Yamaguchi-gumi is the largest yakuza family, accounting for 30% of all yakuza in Japan, with 3,300 members and 3,600 quasi-members as of 2024.<ref name="npa"/> From its headquarters in [[Kobe]], it directs criminal activities throughout Japan. It is also involved in operations in Asia and the United States. [[Kenichi Shinoda|Shinobu Tsukasa]], also known as Kenichi Shinoda, is the Yamaguchi-gumi's current oyabun. He follows an expansionist policy and has increased operations in [[Tokyo]] (which has not traditionally been the territory of the Yamaguchi-gumi.)

One of the best-known bosses of the Yamaguchi-gumi was [[Kazuo Taoka]], the "Godfather of all Godfathers", who was responsible for the syndicate's massive growth and success during the 20th century.<ref name="Taoka Kazuo, a Japanese organized crime boss">{{cite web |last1=Britannica |first1=Encyclopedia |title=Taoka Kazuo, Japanese crime boss |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Taoka-Kazuo |website=www.britannica.com |publisher=The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=4 May 2022}}</ref>
| [[File:Yamabishi.svg|120px]]
<!--"The meaning of the samurai sword is in the warrior and the sword as one it could be a dangerous opponent"-->
"Yamabishi" (山菱)
|-
| {{Nihongo|[[Sumiyoshi-kai]]|住吉会}}
| The Sumiyoshi-kai is the second-largest yakuza family, with an estimated 2,100 members and 1,100 quasi-members as of 2024.<ref name="npa"/> Sumiyoshi-kai is a confederation of smaller yakuza groups. Its current head (会長 kai-cho) is Shūji Ogawa. Structurally, Sumiyoshi-kai differs from its principal rival, the [[Yamaguchi-gumi]], in that it functions like a [[federation]]. The chain of command is more relaxed, and its leadership is distributed among several other members.
| [[File:Sumiyoshi-kai.svg|120px]]
|-
| {{Nihongo|[[Inagawa-kai]]|稲川会}}
| The Inagawa-kai is the third-largest yakuza family in Japan, with roughly 1,600 members and 1,100 quasi-members as of 2024.<ref name="npa"/> It is based in the Tokyo-Yokohama area and was one of the first yakuza families to expand its operations outside of Japan.
| [[File:稲川会代紋.svg|120px]]
|}

== Current activities ==
=== Japan ===
In the 2010s and 2020s, the yakuza's main source of funding is a fraud called {{nihongo3|special fraud|特殊詐欺|tokushu sagi}}, which mainly targets the elderly to cheat them out of large amounts of money. Their methods include calling the homes of elderly people to beg for money by pretending to be the elderly person's son, or visiting the homes of elderly people posing as employees of financial institutions to swindle them out of their money. In 2014, ''tokushu sagi'' accounted for 10.4 percent of all yakuza arrests, surpassing theft for the first time at 10.2 percent, and 34.6 percent of ''tokushu sagi'' perpetrators were yakuza and their associates. The total damage from ''tokushu sagi'' identified in 2019 exceeded 30 billion yen, and while yakuza accounted for just over 10 percent of the lowest level members of criminal groups, such as cash receivers who play the role of financial institution employees, yakuza accounted for nearly 40 percent of the main perpetrators leading fraud schemes.<ref name="nik120515">{{cite web|url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLASDG10H4N_S5A310C1CC0000/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315075415/https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLASDG10H4N_S5A310C1CC0000/|script-title=ja:暴力団、資金源を特殊詐欺にシフト　14年の摘発2337人と最多|language=ja|work=[[The Nikkei]]|date=12 March 2015|archive-date=15 March 2015|access-date=10 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2020/10180558/?all=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201020221712/https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2020/10180558/?all=1|script-title=ja:暴力団の主たる資金源「特殊詐欺」にオドロキ判決　背景に「警察」「民暴弁護士」の活躍|language=ja|publisher=[[Shinchosha]]|date=18 October 2020|archive-date=20 October 2020|access-date=10 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://mainichi.jp/articles/20190328/k00/00m/040/061000c|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328214629/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20190328/k00/00m/040/061000c|script-title=ja:特殊詐欺に暴力団関与　「主犯」の半数　組織の資金源か　警察庁まとめ|language=ja|publisher=[[Mainichi Shimbun]]|date=28 March 2019|archive-date=28 March 2019|access-date=10 May 2024}}</ref>

The yakuza and its affiliated gangs control drug trafficking in Japan, especially [[methamphetamine]].<ref>Vorobyov, Niko (2019) ''Dopeworld.'' Hodder, UK. p. 91–93</ref> While many yakuza syndicates, notably the [[Yamaguchi-gumi]], officially forbid their members from engaging in [[drug trafficking]], some other yakuza syndicates, like the [[Dojin-kai]], are heavily involved in it. The most common charge for yakuza and their associates arrested in 2014 was violation of the {{nihongo3|Stimulants Control Act|覚せい剤取締法|}}, which prohibits the import, export, sale, transfer, possession, and use of methamphetamine, accounting for 26.5 percent of arrests.<ref name="nik120515"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/ja/laws/view/2814/je|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214081252/https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/ja/laws/view/2814/je#je_ch3|script-title=ja:Stimulants Control Act|language=ja|publisher=[[Ministry of Justice, Japan]]|date=|archive-date=14 December 2023|access-date=10 May 2024}}</ref>

Some yakuza groups are known to deal extensively in [[human trafficking in Japan|human trafficking]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/japan|title=HumanTrafficking.org, "Human Trafficking in Japan"|access-date=10 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111115130632/http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/japan|archive-date=15 November 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the [[Philippines]] Yakuza trick girls from impoverished villages into coming to Japan by promising them respectable jobs with good wages. Instead, they are forced into becoming sex workers and strippers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/4.html|title=The Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia – The Crime Library – Crime Library on truTV.com}}</ref>

[[File:Kabukicho red gate and colorful neon street signs at night, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Kabukicho]] district of [[Shinjuku]] has historically been known as a popular yakuza hangout in Tokyo.]]
Yakuza frequently engaged in a unique form of Japanese [[extortion]] known as ''[[sōkaiya]]''. In essence, this is a specialized form of [[protection racket]]. Instead of harassing small businesses, the Yakuza harass a stockholders' meeting of a larger corporation. Yakuza operatives obtain the right to attend by making a small purchase of stock, and then at the meeting physically intimidate other stockholders. The number of {{Transliteration|ja|sōkaiya}} has decreased over the years, and in 2024 there were only about 130 {{Transliteration|ja|sōkaiya}}, of whom 20 worked in groups and 110 worked alone.<ref name="npa-7">{{cite web|url=https://www.npa.go.jp/publications/statistics/kikakubunseki/r6jyousei.pdf|title=Organized Crime Trend in 2024|page=21|website=[[National Police Agency (Japan)|National Police Agency]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250403084126/https://www.npa.go.jp/publications/statistics/kikakubunseki/r6jyousei.pdf|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=3 April 2025}}</ref>

Yakuza also had ties to the Japanese real estate market and banking sector through ''jiageya''. Jiageya specializes in inducing holders of small real estate to sell their property so that estate companies can carry out much larger development plans. The [[Japanese bubble economy]] of the 1980s is often blamed on real estate speculation by banking subsidiaries. After the collapse of the property bubble, a manager of a major bank in [[Nagoya]] was assassinated, prompting much speculation about the banking industry's indirect connection to the Japanese underworld.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.ft.com/content/57bcd6b2-9ecd-11e5-b45d-4812f209f861 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/57bcd6b2-9ecd-11e5-b45d-4812f209f861 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription | work=Financial Times | title=US clamps down on Japanese Yakuza mafia}}</ref>
[[File:Japan-Yakuza-Sanja Matsuri-01.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Yakuza often take part in local festivals such as [[Sanja Matsuri]], where they often ride the shrine through the streets proudly showing off their elaborate tattoos.]]

In 1989, Susumu Ishii, the [[Oyabun]] of the [[Inagawa-kai]] (a well-known yakuza group) bought [[United States dollar|US$]]255 million worth of [[Tokyo Kyuko Electric Railway]]'s stock.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kaplan |first1=David E. |last2=Dubro |first2=Alec |title=Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld |year=2012 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-27490-7 }}{{page needed|date=August 2020}}</ref> Japan's [[Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission]] has knowledge of more than 50 listed companies with ties to organized crime, and in March 2008, the [[Osaka Securities Exchange]] decided to review all listed companies and expel those with yakuza ties.<ref name=adelstein>Jake Adelstein. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050902544.html This Mob Is Big in Japan], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 11 May 2008</ref>

Yakuza involvement in politics functions similarly to that of a [[lobbyist|lobbying group]], with them backing those who share in their opinions or beliefs.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2012/12/13/the-yakuza-lobby/ | work=Foreign Policy | title=The Yakuza Lobby}}</ref>

====Yakuza's aid in earthquakes====
In the wake of the [[Great Hanshin earthquake|1995 Kobe earthquake]], the [[Yamaguchi-gumi]] yakuza group, who are based in the area, mobilized to provide disaster relief services (including the use of a helicopter). Media reports contrasted this rapid response with the much slower pace at which the Japanese government's official relief efforts took place.<ref>{{citation | work = The New York Times | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE2DF1E31F931A15752C0A963958260 | title = Quake in Japan: Gangsters; Gang in Kobe Organizes Aid for People in Quake | first=James | last=Sterngold | date=22 January 1995}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sawada |first1=Yasuyuki |last2=Shimizutani |first2=Satoshi |title=How Do People Cope with Natural Disasters? Evidence from the Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake in 1995 |journal=Journal of Money, Credit and Banking |date=March 2008 |volume=40 |issue=2–3 |pages=463–488 |doi=10.1111/j.1538-4616.2008.00122.x }}</ref>

Following the [[2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami|Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami]] on 11 March 2011, the yakuza sent hundreds of trucks filled with food, water, blankets, and sanitary accessories to aid the people in the affected areas of the natural disaster.<ref name= adelstein20110318>{{cite web |url= https://www.thedailybeast.com/japanese-yakuza-aid-earthquake-relief-efforts |title = Japanese Yakuza Aid Earthquake Relief Efforts |date=2011-03-18 |last=Adelstein |first=Jake |website= The Daily Beast |access-date= 2021-07-08}}</ref>
[[CNN en Español|CNN México]] said that although the yakuza operates through extortion and other violent methods, they "[moved] swiftly and quietly to provide aid to those most in need."<ref name=cnnmexico>{{cite news|title=La mafia japonesa de los 'yakuza' envía alimentos a las víctimas del sismo|url=http://mexico.cnn.com/mundo/2011/03/25/la-mafia-japonesa-de-los-yakuza-envia-alimentos-a-las-victimas-del-sismo|access-date=28 February 2012|newspaper=[[CNN en Español|CNN México]]|date=25 March 2011|language=es}}</ref>

=== United States ===
The presence of individuals affiliated with the yakuza in the United States has increased tremendously since the 1960s, and although much of their activity is concentrated in [[Hawaii]], they have made their presence known in other parts of the country, especially in [[Los Angeles]] and the [[San Francisco Bay Area]], as well as [[Seattle]], [[Las Vegas metropolitan area|Las Vegas]], [[Arizona]], [[Virginia]], [[Chicago]], and [[New York City]].<ref name=crimelibrary>[http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/5.html Yakuza] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911231912/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/5.html |date=11 September 2008 }}, Crimelibrary.com</ref><ref name=yakuza03-america>{{cite book |last1=Kaplan |first1=David E. |last2=Dubro |first2=Alec |title=Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld |year=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-21562-7 }}{{page needed|date=August 2020}}</ref> The yakuza are said to use Hawaii as a midway station between Japan and mainland America, smuggling [[methamphetamine]] into the country and smuggling firearms back to Japan.  They easily fit into the local population, since many tourists from Japan and other Asian countries visit the islands on a regular basis, and there is a large population of residents who are of full or partial Japanese descent. They also work with local gangs, funneling Japanese tourists to gambling parlors and brothels.<ref name=crimelibrary/>

In California, the yakuza have made alliances with local Korean gangs as well as [[Triad (organized crime)|Chinese triads]] and Vietnamese gangs. The yakuza identified these gangs as useful partners due to the constant stream of Vietnamese cafe shoot-outs and home invasion burglaries throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. In New York City, they appear to collect finder's fees from Russian, Irish and Italian gang members and businessmen for guiding Japanese tourists to gambling establishments, both legal and illegal.<ref name=crimelibrary/>

[[Handgun]]s manufactured in the US account for a large share (33%) of handguns seized in Japan, followed by handguns manufactured in [[China]] (16%) and in the [[Philippines]] (10%).  In 1990, a [[Smith & Wesson]] [[.38 caliber]] [[revolver]] that cost $275 in the US could sell for up to $4,000 in Tokyo.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

In 2001, the FBI's representative in Tokyo arranged for [[Tadamasa Goto]], the head of the group [[Goto-gumi]], to receive a [[liver transplant]] at the [[UCLA Medical Center]] in the United States, in return for information of Yamaguchi-gumi operations in the US. This was done without prior consultation of the [[National Police Agency (Japan)|NPA]]. The journalist who uncovered the deal received threats from Goto and was given police protection in the US and in Japan.<ref name="adelstein"/>

The [[FBI]] suspects that the yakuza were using various operations to launder money in the US {{as of|2008|lc=y}}.<ref name=adelstein/>

=== Asia (outside Japan) ===
The yakuza have engaged in illegal activities in [[Southeast Asia]] since the 1960s; they are working there to develop sex tourism and drug trafficking.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bouissou |first1=Jean-Marie |title=Le marché des services criminels au Japon. Les yakuzas et l'État |trans-title=The criminal services market in Japan. The Yakuza and the State |language=fr |journal=Critique Internationale |year=1999 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=155–174 |doi=10.3406/criti.1999.1602 |url=https://hal-sciencespo.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01010801/file/ci03p155-174.pdf }}</ref> This is the area where they are still the most active today.

In addition to their presence in Southeast Asian countries such as [[Thailand]], the [[Philippines]], and [[Vietnam]], yakuza groups also operate in [[South Korea]], [[China]], [[Taiwan]], and in the [[Pacific Islands]] (mainly [[Hawaii]]).<ref name="page104" >Jean-François Gayraud, ''Le Monde des mafias'', édition 2008, p. 104</ref>

Yakuza groups also have a presence in North Korea; in 2009, yakuza Yoshiaki Sawada was released from a North Korean prison after spending five years there attempting to bribe a North Korean official and smuggle drugs.<ref>[http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090116a6.html Yakuza returns after five years in North Korea jail on drug charge] 2009-01-16 The Japan Times</ref>

==Constituent members==
Prospective yakuza come from all walks of life. The most romantic tales tell how yakuza accept sons who have been abandoned or exiled by their parents. Many yakuza start out in junior high school or high school as common street thugs or members of [[bōsōzoku]] gangs.  Perhaps because of its lower socio-economic status, numerous yakuza members come from burakumin and ethnic Korean backgrounds. Low-ranking youth may be referred to as ''chinpira'' or ''chimpira''.<ref name="Dore2015">{{cite book|author=Ronald Philip Dore|title=Aspects of Social Change in Modern Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rat9BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA308|date=8 March 2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7206-0|pages=308}}</ref><ref name="SJ2014">{{cite book|author=Luis Frois SJ|title=The First European Description of Japan, 1585: A Critical English-Language Edition of Striking Contrasts in the Customs of Europe and Japan by Luis Frois, S.J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8YTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36|date=14 March 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-91781-6|pages=36}}</ref>

According to a 2006 speech by Mitsuhiro Suganuma, a former officer of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, around 60 percent of yakuza members come from burakumin, the descendants of a feudal outcast class and approximately 30 percent of yakuza are Japanese-born Koreans, and only 10 percent are from non-burakumin Japanese and Chinese ethnic groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/1468|title=Mitsuhiro Suganuma, "Japan's Intelligence Services"|publisher=The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan|access-date=3 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330051608/http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/1468|archive-date=30 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Capital punishment – Japan's Yakuza Vie for Control of Tokyo |journal=Jane's Intelligence Review |date=December 2009 |url=http://www.kosuke.net/japanyakuza.pdf |page=4|quote=Around 60% of yakuza members come from burakumin, the descendants of a feudal outcast class, according to a 2006 speech by Mitsuhiro Suganuma, a former officer of the Public Security Intelligence Agency. He also said that approximately 30% of yakuza are Japanese-born Koreans, and only 10% are from non-burakumin Japanese and Chinese ethnic groups. }}</ref>

=== Burakumin ===
The [[burakumin]] is a group that Japanese society socially discriminates against, and its recorded history goes back to the [[Heian period]] in the 11th century. The burakumin are the [[Lineal descendant|descendants]] of outcast communities which originated in the pre-modern, especially the [[feudal Japan hierarchy|feudal era]], mainly those people with occupations which are considered tainted because they are associated with death or [[ritual impurity]], such as butchers, [[executioner]]s, [[undertaker]]s, or [[leather worker]]s. They traditionally lived in their own secluded [[hamlet (place)|hamlets]] and villages away from other groups.

According to [[David E. Kaplan (author)|David E. Kaplan]] and Alec Dubro, burakumin account for about 70% of the members of [[Yamaguchi-gumi]], the largest yakuza syndicate in Japan.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dubro |first1=A. |last2=Kaplan |first2=David E. |title=Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan's Criminal Underworld |date= 1986 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-201-11151-4 }}{{page needed|date=August 2020}}</ref>

=== Ethnic Koreans ===
While [[Koreans in Japan|ethnic Koreans]] make up only 0.5% of the Japanese population, they are a prominent part of yakuza because they suffer discrimination in Japanese society along with the ''[[burakumin]]''.<ref name=yakuza03-133>{{cite book |last1=Kaplan |first1=David E. |last2=Dubro |first2=Alec |title=Yakuza: Japan's Criminal Underworld |year=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-21562-7 |page=133 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kristof |first1=Nicholas D. |title=Japan's Invisible Minority: Better Off Than in Past, but StillOutcasts |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/30/world/japan-s-invisible-minority-better-off-than-in-past-but-stilloutcasts.html |work=The New York Times |date=30 November 1995}}</ref> In the early 1990s, 18 of 90 top bosses of ''[[Inagawa-kai]]'' were ethnic Koreans. The [[National Police Agency (Japan)|Japanese National Police Agency]] suggested Koreans composed 10% of the yakuza proper.<ref name=yakuza03-133 /> Some of the representatives of the [[Bōryokudan#Designated bōryokudan|designated Bōryokudan]] are also Koreans.<ref>{{in lang|ja}} [http://www.npa.go.jp/sosikihanzai/bouryokudan/boutai8/20070820.pdf "Boryokudan Situation in the Early 2007"], [[National Police Agency (Japan)|National Police Agency]], 2007, p. 22. See also [[Bōryokudan#Designated bōryokudan]].</ref> The Korean significance had been an untouchable taboo in Japan and one of the reasons that the Japanese version of Kaplan and Dubro's ''Yakuza'' (1986) had not been published until 1991 with the deletion of Korean-related descriptions of the ''Yamaguchi-gumi''.<ref>Kaplan and Dubro (2003) Preface to the new edition.</ref>

Japanese-born people of Korean ancestry who retain South Korean nationality are considered resident aliens and are embraced by the yakuza precisely because they fit the group's "outsider" image.<ref>Bruno, A. (2007). ''The Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia''. CrimeLibrary: Time Warner</ref><ref name="cnn.com"/>

Notable yakuza of Korean ancestry include [[Hisayuki Machii]], the founder of the [[Toa-kai|Tosei-kai]], [[Tokutaro Takayama]], the head of the 4th-generation [[Aizukotetsu-kai]], Jiro Kiyota, the head of the 5th-generation [[Inagawa-kai]], Shinichi Matsuyama, the head of the 5th-generation [[Kyokuto-kai]], and Hirofumi Hashimoto, the founder of the now-defunct Kyokushinrengo-kai.

==Law enforcement and indirect enforcement==
===Operation Summit===
Between 1964 and 1965, the Japanese police carried out mass arrests of yakuza leaders and executives in what they called the {{nihongo3|First Operation Summit|第一次頂上作戦|Daiichiji chōjō sakusen}} in response to public demands for the yakuza to be banished from society. As a result, crime declined and the number of arrested yakuza fell from about 59,000 in 1964 to 38,000 in 1967. The number of yakuza organizations and members also declined, from 5,216 organizations and 184,091 members in 1963 to 3,500 organizations and 139,089 members in 1969.<ref name="moj89i">{{cite web|url=https://hakusyo1.moj.go.jp/jp/30/nfm/n_30_2_4_2_5_3.html|title=White Paper on Crime 1989 3 頂上作戦とその影響(昭和30年代末～40年代前半)|pages=|website=[[Ministry of Justice (Japan)]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731064258/https://hakusyo1.moj.go.jp/jp/30/nfm/n_30_2_4_2_5_3.html|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=31 July 2023}}</ref> As a result, 1963, the year before the First Operation Summit was launched, was the peak of yakuza power.<ref name="npa99"/>

From around 1970, yakuza leaders and executives who had been imprisoned began to be released from prison, and yakuza organizations that had been disbanded during the First Operation Summit were revived and reorganized, leading the police to conduct the Second Operation Summit in 1970 and the Third Operation Summit in 1975. These series of police crackdowns led to a decline in the number of yakuza organizations and members, from 2957 organizations with 123,044 members in 1972 to 2517 organizations with 106,754 members in 1979. As a result, small yakuza organizations were forced to dissolve, and the total number of members decreased, but some members transferred to large yakuza organizations, so the number of members of large organizations actually increased during this period. The three major organizations, Yamaguchi-gumi, Sumiyoshi-kai, and Inagawa-kai, expanded during this period. During this period, Japan was in a recession following the [[1970s energy crisis|energy crisis of the 1970s]], and it became difficult for the yakuza to acquire sufficient financial resources through traditional methods alone, so it was inevitable that they would consolidate into large yakuza organizations with diverse or legal sources of funding.<ref name="npa99"/><ref name="moj89ni">{{cite web|url=https://hakusyo1.moj.go.jp/jp/30/nfm/n_30_2_4_2_5_4.html|title=White Paper on Crime 1989 4 広域化・寡占化による再編の時代(昭和40年代後半～50年代前半)|pages=|website=[[Ministry of Justice (Japan)]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731194644/https://hakusyo1.moj.go.jp/jp/30/nfm/n_30_2_4_2_5_4.html|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=31 July 2023}}</ref>

===Anti-yakuza laws===
The {{nihongo|Act on Prevention of Unjust Acts by Organized Crime Group Members|[[:ja:暴力団員による不当な行為の防止等に関する法律|暴力団員による不当な行為の防止等に関する法律]]|}}, passed in 1991 and enacted in 1992, was a landmark piece of legislation that cracked down on the yakuza. The law prohibited 27 acts by yakuza, including demanding hush money or donations, collecting debts and conducting land grabbing activities in an unjustified manner. The law also made it illegal to demand and collect so-called {{nihongo3|protection racket|みかじめ料|mikajime-ryō}} from downtown restaurants and bars, which were the yakuza's main source of funding. Police could issue two cease-and-desist orders to offenders who demanded ''mikajime-ryō'', and could arrest offenders who still refused to comply. Until then, the yakuza had charged bouncer fees to restaurants and bars in their territory, especially those open at night, and made various threats, such as ramming dump trucks into businesses that refused, and business owners, fearing reprisals, had paid ''mikajime-ryō'', but the new law resulted in more businesses refusing ''mikajime-ryō'' and the yakuza's financial resources were lost. In 1991, the yakuza had 63,800 members, but by 1992, when the new law took effect, the number had dropped sharply to about 56,600, then to about 48,000 in 1994 and 43,100 in 2001.<ref name="genmika">{{cite web|url=https://gendai.media/articles/-/108038?page=2|title=「億単位のカネが簡単に集まった」暴対法から約30年…指定暴力団の幹部が明かす「バブル時代の暴力団のヤバすぎる実態」|pages=|website=[[Kodansha]]|date=30 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528091910/https://gendai.media/articles/-/108038?page=2|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=28 May 2023}}</ref><ref name="ncrco">{{cite web|url=https://www.zenboutsui.jp/jousei_taisaku/taisakuhou/27.html|title=暴力的要求行為の禁止内容|pages=|website=National Center for Removal of Criminal Organizations|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204034646/https://www.zenboutsui.jp/jousei_taisaku/taisakuhou/27.html|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=4 December 2023}}</ref>

Additional regulations can be found in a 2008 anti-yakuza amendment which allows prosecutors to place the blame on any yakuza-related crime on crime bosses. Specifically, the leader of the [[Yamaguchi-gumi]] has since been incarcerated and forced to pay upwards of 85 million yen in damages of several crimes committed by his gangsters, leading to the yakuza's dismissal of around 2,000 members per year; albeit, some analysts claim that these dismissals are part of the yakuza's collective attempt to regain a better reputation amongst the populace. Regardless, the yakuza's culture, too, has shifted towards a more secretive and far less public approach to crime, as many of their traditions have been reduced or erased to avoid being identified as yakuza.<ref name="apjjf.org"/>

Beginning in 2009, led by agency chief [[:ja:安藤隆春|Takaharu Ando]], Japanese police began to crack down on the gangs. Yamaguchi-gumi's number two and [[Kodo-kai]] chief [[Kiyoshi Takayama]] was arrested in late 2010. In December 2010, police arrested Yamaguchi-gumi's alleged number three leader, [[Tadashi Irie]].<ref name="afp260111">Zeller, Frank ([[Agence France-Presse|AFP]]-[[Jiji Press|Jiji]]), "Yakuza served notice days of looking the other way are over," ''[[Japan Times]]'', 26 January 2011, p. 3.</ref>

=== Yakuza exclusion ordinances ===
In addition to the anti-yakuza laws, the [[Yakuza exclusion ordinances]] enacted by each of Japan's 47 prefectures between 2009 and 2011 also contributed significantly to the decline of the yakuza.<ref name="asahi031223">{{cite web|url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP9Z5FP8P9SPTIL047.html|title=「早くやめておけば」あえぐ組員、強まる排除 「暴排」条例の10年|pages=|website=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]|date=30 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203220806/https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP9Z5FP8P9SPTIL047.html|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=3 December 2023}}</ref><ref name="nhk300622">{{cite web|url=https://www.nhk.jp/p/gendai/ts/R7Y6NGLJ6G/blog/bl/pkEldmVQ6R/bp/pMzwQVwkop/|title=30年で構成員7割減…令和時代 暴力団はいま|pages=|website=[[NHK]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630044232/https://www.nhk.jp/p/gendai/ts/R7Y6NGLJ6G/blog/bl/pkEldmVQ6R/bp/pMzwQVwkop/|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=30 June 2022}}</ref> Ordinances were enacted in Osaka and Tokyo in 2010 and 2011 to try to combat yakuza influence by making it illegal for any business to do business with the yakuza.<ref>Botting, Geoff, "[http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20111016bj.html Average Joe could be collateral damage in war against yakuza]", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 16 October 2011, p. 9.</ref><ref>Schreiber, Mark, "[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fd20120304bj.html Anti-Yakuza Laws are Taking their Toll]", ''[[Japan Times]]'', 4 March 2012, p. 9.</ref> While the anti-yakuza laws prohibited the yakuza from making unreasonable demands on businesses and citizens, these ordinances prohibited businesses and citizens from offering benefits to the yakuza. This made it increasingly difficult for the yakuza to raise funds, as fewer businesses and citizens succumbed to the yakuza's threats and offered benefits to the yakuza, such as contracting work or paying money to the yakuza.<ref name="asahi031223"/><ref name="nhk300622"/> According to the media, encouraged by tougher anti-yakuza laws and yakuza exclusion ordinances, local governments and construction companies have begun to shun or ban yakuza activities or involvement in their communities or construction projects.<ref name="afp260111"/>

In addition, these ordinances have made it difficult for yakuza members to lead normal civilian lives. The ordinances also require businesses and citizens to refuse to rent meeting rooms or parking spaces to the yakuza, or to print business cards with the name of yakuza organizations on them. Companies can now also refuse to open bank accounts, sign mobile phone contracts, credit card contracts, lease real estate, or process various loans for people identified as yakuza under the anti-yakuza laws, making it more difficult for yakuza to live in society.<ref name="asahi031223"/><ref name="soc250124">{{cite web|url=https://www.riskeyes.jp/hansha-check-column/72|title=元暴5年条項とは？定義や反社会的勢力排除に必要な理由を解説|pages=|website=Socialwire Co., Ltd|date=28 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125074407/https://www.riskeyes.jp/hansha-check-column/72|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=25 January 2024}}</ref><ref name="tok030723">{{cite web|url=https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/259624|title=暴力団から足を洗って5年以上なのに、どうして銀行口座つくれないの？ 元組員が「不合理な差別」と提訴|pages=|website=[[Tokyo Shimbun]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703142815/https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/259624|accessdate=30 March 2024|archive-date=3 July 2023}}</ref> Even companies that provide lifelines have become tough on the yakuza, with [[Osaka Gas]] terminating contracts if a contractor is discovered to be a yakuza. To prevent yakuza from nominally leaving the organization and signing contracts with companies, these ordinances allow companies to treat a person as a yakuza for five years even if he or she has nominally left the yakuza and become a civilian.<ref name="asahi031223"/><ref name="soc250124"/><ref name="tok030723"/>

Since 2011, regulations outlawing business with yakuza members, government-ordered audits of yakuza finances, and the enactment of [[yakuza exclusion ordinances]] have hastened a decline in yakuza membership. The number of yakuza members and quasi-members fell from 78,600 in 2010 to 25,900 in 2020.<ref name="asahi031223"/>

===Outside Japan===
Yakuza organizations also face pressure from the US government; in 2011, a federal executive order required financial institutions to freeze yakuza assets, and as of 2013, the [[United States Department of the Treasury|U.S. Treasury Department]] had frozen about US$55,000 of yakuza holdings, including two Japan-issued American Express cards.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-22/yazkuza-mobsters-whacked-by-regulators-freezing-amexs.html | work=Bloomberg | title=Yakuza Bosses Whacked by Regulators Freezing AmEx Cards}}</ref>

=== Current situation ===
The number of yakuza members and quasi-members fell by about 70 percent in the 30 years between 1990, before the anti-yakuza law, and 2020, after the anti-yakuza laws and the yakuza exclusion ordinances took effect.<ref name="nhk300622"/>

With the addition of the employer liability clause in the 2008 amendment to the Anti-yakuza law, there have been a number of situations in which yakuza bosses have been held liable for crimes committed by members of the yakuza. For example, in a civil case, the [[Tokyo High Court]] held the head of [[Sumiyoshi-kai]] liable for a {{nihongo3|special fraud|特殊詐欺|[[#Current activities|tokushu sagi]]}} committed by members of Sumiyoshi-kai under the employer liability article of the Anti-yakuza law in 2021. As a result, Sumiyoshi-kai paid 652 million yen to the victims (approximately $6 million US dollars at the time), 35 million yen more than the amount of damages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP6M5DSMP6LUTIL07S.html|title=住吉会トップら6億円超支払う 詐欺被害上回る和解金|date=19 June 2021 |publisher=[[The Asahi Shimbun]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929230459/https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASP6M5DSMP6LUTIL07S.html|accessdate=11 May 2024|archive-date=29 September 2022}}</ref>

In criminal cases, [[Satoru Nomura|Nomura Satoru]] became the first {{nihongo|"designated yakuza"|指定暴力団|Shitei Bōryokudan}} boss to be [[Capital punishment in Japan|sentenced to death]] under the employer liability clause on 24 August 2021. Nomura was involved in one murder and assaults of three people. The presiding judge Adachi Ben of the Fukuoka District Court characterized the murders as extremely vicious attacks.<ref name="satoru">{{cite web |title=Yakuza boss is first ever to be sentenced to death in Japan |website=The Japan Story |url=http://live56today.com/yakuza-boss-is-first-ever-to-be-sentenced-to-in-japan/ |date=24 August 2021 |author=RJ Endra |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210825122106/http://live56today.com/yakuza-boss-is-first-ever-to-be-sentenced-to-in-japan/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sankei.com/article/20210824-X2XRJM7NVZPJ7DRJVS6L3ES7AQ/|title=捜査幹部「画期的な判決」 他の暴力団に影響も|language=ja|trans-title=Senior investigator: "Groundbreaking ruling" could have an impact on other gangs|date=24 August 2021 |publisher=[[Sankei Shimbun]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019175633/https://www.sankei.com/article/20210824-X2XRJM7NVZPJ7DRJVS6L3ES7AQ/|accessdate=11 May 2024|archive-date=19 October 2021}}</ref> On 12 March 2024, the Fukuoka High Court overturned Nomura's death sentence and downgraded it to life imprisonment. The High Court found him not guilty of murder.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Japanese high court overturns death sentence against yakuza gang leader |date=12 March 2024 |url=https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240312_11/ |access-date=12 March 2024 |publisher=NHK |language=en |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312061323/https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20240312_11/ |archivedate=12 March 2024}}</ref>

On top of the already staggering anti-yakuza legislation, Japan's younger generation may be less inclined to gang-related activity, as modern society has made it easier, especially for young men, to gain even semi-legitimate jobs such as ownership in bars and massage parlors and pornography that can be more profitable than gang affiliation - all while protecting themselves by abiding by the strict anti-yakuza laws.<ref name="apjjf.org">{{Cite web |title=21st-Century Yakuza: Recent Trends in Organized Crime in Japan ~Part 1 ２１ ―― |url=https://apjjf.org/2012/10/7/Andrew-Rankin/3688/article.html |access-date=2022-04-01 |website=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus}}</ref>

Citizens who take a stronger stance seem to also have taken action that does not lead to violent reactions from the yakuza. In Kyushu, although store owners initially were attacked by gang members, the region has reached stability after local business owners banned known yakuza and posted warnings against yakuza entering their premises.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Citizens battle Kudo-kai yakuza gang to take back their streets {{!}} The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis |url=https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14429666 |access-date=2022-04-01 |website=The Asahi Shimbun |language=en}}</ref>

==Legacy==
{{Multiple issues|section=yes|
{{more citations needed|section|date=October 2023}}
{{original research|section|date=October 2023}}}}

=== Yakuza in society ===
The yakuza have had mixed relations with [[Japanese society]]. Despite their pariah status, some of their actions may be perceived to have positive effects on society. For example, they stop other criminal organizations from acting in their areas of operation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Yakuza's Impact On Japanese Society {{!}} ipl.org |url=https://www.ipl.org/essay/How-Did-Yakuza-Impact-Japans-Society-P3GMYJCK6JED6 |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=www.ipl.org}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=May 2023}} They have been known to provide relief in times of disaster. These actions have at times painted yakuza in a fairly positive light within Japan. The yakuza also attract membership from  traditionally scorned minority groups, such as the [[Koreans in Japan|Korean-Japanese]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Alexander |date=30 November 1999 |title=5 Things to Know About Japan's Yakuza |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-263B-5922 |access-date=19 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gragert |first1=Lt. Bruce |date=25 August 2010 |title=Yakuza: The Warlords of Japanese Organized Crime |url=http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/annlsurvey/vol4/iss1/9 |journal=Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law |volume=4 |issue=1 |access-date=19 April 2022}}</ref> However, gang wars and the use of violence as a tool have caused their approval to fall with the general public.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/09/where-have-japan-s-yakuza-gone | work=Daily Beast | title=Where Have Japan's Yakuza Gone?}}</ref> According to Jake Adelstein, one study found that 1 in 10 adults under the age of 40 believed that the yakuza should be allowed to exist.{{r|adelstein20110318}}

=== Film ===
{{Main|Yakuza film}}
[[File:Yoidore tenshi poster.jpg|thumb|upright|Poster for the 1948 [[Akira Kurosawa]] film ''[[Drunken Angel]]'', a ''[[yakuza eiga]]''-genre film]]

The yakuza have been in media and culture in many different fashions. Creating its own [[yakuza film|genre]] of movies within Japan's film industry, the portrayal of the yakuza mainly manifests in one of two archetypes; they are portrayed as either honorable and respectable men or as criminals who use fear and violence as their means of operation.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://japantoday.com/category/features/opinions/yakuza-kind-hearted-criminals-or-monsters-in-suits | work=Japan Today | title=Yakuza: Kind-hearted criminals or monsters in suits? | date=10 October 2012 | access-date=18 January 2019 }}</ref> Movies like ''[[Battles Without Honor and Humanity (film)|Battles Without Honor and Humanity]]'' and ''[[Dead or Alive (1999 film)|Dead or Alive]]'' portray some of the members as violent criminals, with the focus being on the violence, while other movies focus more on the "business" side of the yakuza.

The 1992 film ''[[Minbo]]'', a satirical view of yakuza activities, resulted in retaliation against the director, as real-life yakuza gangsters attacked the director [[Juzo Itami]] shortly after the release of the film.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Reposted: The high price of writing about anti-social forces – and those who pay. 猪狩先生を弔う日々 : Japan Subculture Research Center|url = http://www.japansubculture.com/the-high-price-of-writing-about-the-yakuza-and-those-who-pay/|website = japansubculture.com |date = 9 January 2015| access-date = 2016-01-05}}</ref>

Yakuza films have also been popular in the Western market with films such as the 1975 film ''[[The Yakuza]]'', the 1989 films ''[[Black Rain (1989 American film)|Black Rain]]'' and ''[[The Punisher (1989 film)|The Punisher]]'', the 1995 film ''[[Johnny Mnemonic (film)|Johnny Mnemonic]]'', the 2005 film ''[[Into the Sun (2005 film)|Into the Sun]]'', 2013's ''[[The Wolverine (film)|The Wolverine]]'', 2018 film ''[[The Outsider (2018 film)|The Outsider]]'', and ''[[Snake Eyes (2021 film)|Snake Eyes]]'' in 2021.

===Television===
The yakuza feature prominently in the 2015 American dystopian series ''[[The Man in the High Castle (TV series)|The Man in the High Castle]]''. They are also the basis for the 2019 BBC TV Series ''[[Giri/Haji]]'', which features a character whose life is put in danger after he comes under suspicion for a murder tied to the yakuza. The 2022 [[HBO Max]] series [[Tokyo Vice (TV series)|''Tokyo Vice'']] explores the dealings of the yakuza from the perspective of an American reporter [[Jake Adelstein]]. The anime series ''[[Akiba Maid War]]'' is a [[black comedy|dark comedic parody]] in which [[maid cafés]] and yakuza culture are synonymous with one another.

=== Video games ===
The video game series ''[[Yakuza (franchise)|Like a Dragon]],'' formerly known as ''Yakuza'' outside of Japan, launched in 2005, portrays the actions of several different ranking members of the yakuza, as well as criminal associates such as dirty cops and loan sharks. The series addresses some of the same themes as the yakuza genre of film does, like violence, honor, politics of the syndicates, and the social status of the yakuza in Japan. The series has been successful, spawning sequels, spin-offs, [[Like a Dragon (film)|a live-action movie]] and a web TV series.

''[[Grand Theft Auto III]]'' features a yakuza clan that assists the [[Claude (Grand Theft Auto)|protagonist]] in the second and third act after they cut their ties with the [[American Mafia|Mafia]]. The yakuza derive most of their income from a casino, Kenji's, and are currently fighting to keep other gangs from peddling drugs in their territory while seeking to protect their activities from police interference. Towards the end of the third act, the player assassinates the leader of the clan, and the other members are later executed by Colombian gangsters. In ''Grand Theft Auto III''{{'s}} prequel, ''[[Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories]]'', the yakuza play a major role in the storyline. In ''[[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]]'', the yakuza are mentioned, presumably operating in Vice City.

''[[Hitman 2: Silent Assassin]]'' features a mission set in Japan that sees [[Agent 47]] assassinating the son of a wealthy arms dealer during his dinner meeting with a yakuza boss at his private estate. A mission in the 2016 game, ''[[Hitman (2016 video game)|Hitman]]'', set at a secluded mountaintop hospital, features a notorious yakuza lawyer and fixer as one of two targets to be assassinated.

=== Manga, anime and television dramas ===
* ''[[Stop!! Hibari-kun!]]'': [[manga]] (1981–1983), [[anime]] (1983–1984). The story focuses on Kōsaku Sakamoto, a high school student who goes to live with yakuza boss Ibari Ōzora and his four children—Tsugumi, Tsubame, Hibari and Suzume—after the death of his mother. Kōsaku is shocked to learn that Hibari, who looks and behaves as a girl, is male.
* ''[[Gokusen]]'': [[manga]] (2000), drama (2002, 2005 and 2008) and [[anime]] (2004). The heiress of a clan becomes a teacher in a difficult high school and is assigned a class of delinquents, the 3-D. She will teach them mathematics, while gradually getting involved in several other levels, going so far as to get her students out of a bad situation by sometimes using her skills as heir to the clan.
* ''[[My Boss My Hero]]'': [[Film stock]] (2001), drama (2002). A young gang leader, who seems to be too stupid to do his job, misses a big deal because he cannot count correctly, and on the other hand, is practically illiterate. In order to access the succession of the clan, his father then forces him to return to high school, to obtain his diploma. He must not reveal his membership in the yakuza, under penalty of being immediately excluded.
* ''[[Twittering Birds Never Fly]]'': manga of the [[shōnen-ai]] genre (2011–?). Yashiro, a totally depraved masochist, boss of a yakuza clan and the Shinsei finance company, hires Chikara Dômeki, a secretive and not very talkative man, as his bodyguard. While Yashiro would like to take advantage of Dômeki's body, the latter is helpless.<ref>{{cite web|title= Serie –Twittering birds never fly|url=http://www.taifu-comics.com/index.php/serie/Twittering-birds-never-fly|website=taifu-comics.com|access-date=2015-10-10}}</ref>
* ''Like the Beast'': [[manga]], [[yaoi]] (2008). Tomoharu Ueda, a police officer in a small local post, meets Aki Gotôda, son of the leader of a yakuza clan, in pursuit of an underwear thief. The next morning, Aki shows up at his house to thank him for his help and finds himself making a declaration of love for him. Taken aback, Ueda replies that it is better that they get to know each other, but that's without counting Aki's stubbornness, ready to do anything to achieve his ends.
* ''[[Odd Taxi]]'': [[anime]], [[manga]] (2021). A taxi driver becomes entangled in the rivalry of competing kobun and uses his position to undermine the local yakuza organization.

Several [[manga]] by [[Ryoichi Ikegami]] are located in the middle of the Japanese underworld:
* ''[[Sanctuary (manga)|Sanctuary]]'' (1990): Hôjô and Asami, childhood friends, have only one goal: to give the Japanese back a taste of life, and to shake up the country. For this, they decide to climb the ladder of power, one in the light, as a politician, the other in the shadows, as yakuza.
* ''[[Heat (manga)|Heat]]'' (1999): Tatsumi Karasawa is the owner of a club in Tokyo who plans to expand his business. He gives a hard time not only to the police but also to the yakuza, of which he manages, however, to rally a certain number at his side.
* ''[[Nisekoi]]'' (2014): Nisekoi follows high school students Raku Ichijo, the son of a leader in the yakuza faction Shuei-gumi, and Chitoge Kirisaki, the daughter of a boss in a rival gang known as Muchi-Konkai.

== Yakuza-related terminology ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!English
!Japanese Rōmaji
|-
|association/society
| ''-kai''
|-
|behind-the-scenes fixer, godfather, or power broker ({{lit|black curtain}})
|''kuromaku''
|-
|boss ({{lit|parent role}})
|''oyabun''
|-
|gambler
|''bakuto''
|-
|gang/company
| ''-gumi''
|-
|hoodlum/ruffian
|''gurentai''
|-
|loan sharks ({{lit|salary man financiers}})
|''sarakin''
|-
|motorcycle gang
|''bōsōzoku''
|-
|nightclubs, bars, restaurants, etc. ({{lit|water business}})
|''mizu shōbai''
|-
|outcasts (by birth)
|''burakumin''
|-
|peddlers, street stall operators
|''tekiya''
|-
|ritual cutting of the joint of the little finger to atone for a mistake
|''yubitsume''
|-
|ritual sharing of sake to form a binding relationship; rooted in Shinto tradition
|''sakazuki''
|-
|underling ({{lit|child role}})
|''kobun''
|-
|violence group
|''bōryokudan''
|}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Japan|Crime}}
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Bōsōzoku]]
* [[Camorra]]
* [[Crime in Japan]]
* [[Criminal tattoo]]
* [[Gopnik]]
* [[Irezumi]]
* [[Irish mob]]
* [[Kkangpae]]
* [[List of criminal enterprises, gangs and syndicates]]
* [[Mafia]]
* [[Ndrangheta]]
* [[Organized crime]]
* [[Punch perm]]
* [[Russian mafia]]
* [[Sicilian Mafia]]
* [[Triad (organized crime)|Triads]]
* [[Yakuza exclusion ordinances]]
* [[:en:Category:Yakuza members|Yakuza members]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin|2}}
* Bruno, A. (2007). ''The Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia''. CrimeLibrary: Time Warner.
* Blancke, Stephan, ed. (2015). ''East Asian Intelligence and Organised Crime: China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia''. Berlin: Verlag Dr. Köster. {{ISBN|978-3895748882}}.
* Kaplan, David; Dubro, Alec (1986). ''Yakuza''. Addison-Wesley. {{ISBN|0-201-11151-9}}.
** Kaplan, David; Dubro, Alec (2003). ''Yakuza: Expanded Edition''. University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-520-21562-1}}.
* Hill, Peter B. E. (2003). ''The Japanese Mafia: Yakuza, Law, and the State''. Oxford University Press {{ISBN|0-19-925752-3}}.
* Johnson, David T. (2001). ''The Japanese Way of Justice: Prosecuting Crime in Japan''. Oxford University Press {{ISBN|0-19-511986-X}}.
* {{Cite book |first=Manabu |last=Miyazaki |year=2005 |title=Toppamono: Outlaw. Radical. Suspect. My Life in Japan's Underworld |location=Tokyo |publisher=Kotan Publishing |ISBN=0970171625 |oclc=823709000}} By a member of a yakuza family.
* Saga, Junichi; Bester, John (1991). ''[[Confessions of a Yakuza|Confessions of a Yakuza: A Life in Japan's Underworld]]''. Kodansha America.
* Seymour, Christopher (1996). ''Yakuza Diary''. Atlantic Monthly Press. {{ISBN|0-87113-604-X}}.
* Schilling, Mark (2003). ''The Yakuza Movie Book''. Stone Bridge Press. {{ISBN|1-880656-76-0}}.
* Sterling, Claire (1994). ''Thieves' World''. Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|0-671-74997-8}}.
* Sho Fumimura (Writer), Ryoichi Ikegami (Artist) (1993–1997). ''Sanctuary''. Viz Communications.  A fiction [[manga]] about the rise of a young yakuza and a politician.
** Vol. 1: {{ISBN|0-929279-97-2}}; Vol. 2: {{ISBN|0-929279-99-9}}; Vol. 3: {{ISBN|1-56931-042-4}}; Vol. 4: {{ISBN|1-56931-039-4}}; Vol. 5: {{ISBN|1-56931-112-9}}; Vol. 6: {{ISBN|1-56931-199-4}}; Vol. 7: {{ISBN|1-56931-184-6}}; Vol. 8: {{ISBN|1-56931-207-9}}; Vol. 9: {{ISBN|1-56931-235-4}}.
* Tendo, Shoko (2007). [https://web.archive.org/web/20100405081529/http://www.kodansha-intl.com/books/html/en/9784770030429.htm ''Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter'']. Kodansha International. {{ISBN|978-4-7700-3042-9}}.
* ''Young Yakuza''. Dir. [[Jean-Pierre Limosin]]. [[Cinema Epoch]], 2007.
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last=Adelstein |first=Jake |author-link=Jake Adelstein |year=2009 |title=Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zhlK-43rInEC |publisher=Pantheon Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-307-37879-8 |oclc=699874898}}
* {{Cite book |last=Adelstein |first=Jake |author-mask=2 |year=2023 |title=The Last Yakuza: A Life in the Japanese Underworld |location=Minneapolis, Minn. |publisher=Scribe Publications |isbn=9780307908384 |oclc=1376495818}}
* {{Cite book |last=Adelstein |first=Jake |year=2024 |title=Tokyo Noir: In and Out of Japan's Underworld |url=https://scribepublications.com/books-authors/books/tokyo-noir-9781957363912 |url-access= |archive-url= |archive-date= |url-status= |edition= |location=Minneapolis, Minn. |publisher=Scribe |isbn=9781957363912 |oclc=1415747543 |access-date=}}
* {{Cite book |last=Whiting |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Whiting |year=1999 |title=Tokyo Underworld: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan |url=https://archive.org/details/tokyounderworldf0000whit |edition=First |location=New York |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=9780679419761 |oclc=45344213 |access-date=}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0816p3b/the-secret-lives-of-yakuza-women The Secret Lives of Yakuza Women]{{snd}}[[BBC Reel]] <small>(Video)</small>
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWrSqQ4lvjw&feature=g-user-u 101 East – Battling the Yakuza]{{snd}}[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] <small>(Video)</small>
* [https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/organized-crime#Asian-TOC FBI What We Investigate – Asian Transnational Organized Crime Groups]
* [http://xn--pcko0l.net/ Yakuza Portal site]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/27/books.japan Blood Ties: Yakuza Daughter Lifts Lid on Hidden Hell of Gangsters' families]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110807134543/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/gangsters_outlaws/gang/yakuza/1.html Crime Library: Yakuza]
* [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/japanese-mayor-shot-dead/ Japanese Mayor Shot Dead]; CBS News, 17 April 2007
* [http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/2020 Yakuza: The Japanese Mafia]
* [https://japantoday.com/category/features/opinions/yakuza-kind-hearted-criminals-or-monsters-in-suits Yakuza: Kind-Hearted Criminals or Monsters in Suits?]

{{Organized crime groups in Asia}}
{{Organized crime groups in America}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Yakuza| ]]
[[Category:17th-century establishments in Japan]]
[[Category:Anti-communist organizations in Japan]]
[[Category:Criminal subcultures]]
[[Category:Culture of Japan]]
[[Category:Gangs in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Gangs in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Gangs in New York City]]
[[Category:Gangs in San Francisco]]
[[Category:Japanese secret societies]]
[[Category:Japanese subcultures]]
[[Category:Organizations established in the 17th century]]
[[Category:Organized crime by ethnicity]]
[[Category:Organized crime groups in Japan]]
[[Category:Organized crime groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Secret societies related to organized crime]]
[[Category:Transnational organized crime]]