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In Japanese legal terminology, yakuza organizations are referred to as Boryokudan, literally "violence groups", or more traditionally "samurai heritage". Yakuza members consider this an insult as Boryokudan is a term which can be applied to any violent criminal. In the Western press they are frequently called the " Japanese mafia".
There is no single origin of Japanese yakuza. Rather, yakuza organizations developed from different elements of traditional Japanese society. In the later part of the Japanese feudal era, especially in the Edo period, the legal power of the feudal lords shifted away from direct ownership of land to a broader feudal tax system on land "products," mainly rice. Also, retained samurai began to be paid with rice, which they sold to markets for cash instead of being paid a direct salary. These samurai provided service as professional soldiers during warFor other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). War is conflict, between relatively large groups of people, which involves physical force inflicted by the use of weapons. Other terms for war include armed conflict hostilities and police action''. See Limtime and as professional bureaucrats or administrators during peacePeace is generally defined as a state of quiet or tranquillity, as an absence of disturbance or agitation (Latin derivation Pax Absentia Belli . Peacemakers (#) are people who have overcome entrenched violence and conflict through their leadership and vistime. During the Edo period, most samurai lost their connection to the land and started to live around the feudal castles. As a consequence, a large part of commerceThis article is about the business concept; Commerce is also the name of several places in the United States''. Commerce is the exchange of something of value between two entities. That "something" may be goods, services, information, money, or anything e began to take place outside of the feudal system.
Around the same time, the policing of the communityCommunity is a set of people (or agents in a more abstract sense) with some shared element. Also a community is a group of people or things that live in the same area. The substance of shared element varies widely, from a situation to interest to lives an became the responsibility of members of the community, rather than the daimyoThe daimyo were the most powerful feudal rulers from the 12th century to the 19th century in Japan. After the Meiji restoration in 1869 the daimyo merged with the kuge to form a single aristocratic group, the kazoku. The term daimyo literally means "great (lord). This was especially prevalent outside of the capital cities, as the Edo government allowed only one major castle in each feudal province.
Some yakuza trace their origins to the communal vigilante/police groups known as machi yakko ("Servants of the town") that arose to enforce order and protect the community from intruders. These groups varied in their level of organization and formality, often simply being comprised of labourers and other tough men of the community. Sometimes they also included one or more ronin (masterless samurai) as only samurai were officially allowed to carry swords. They often fought against bandits and gangs to protect their community and were even regarded as heroes. Some of these groups were known as kabukimono (raving ones). They adopted strange hair styles, dressed in an outrageous manner, spoke in vulgar and specialized slang, and harassed ordinary people. Their exploits are still a popular subject of Japanese jidaigeki dramas based on the feudal era).
In larger towns, several of these groups often existed simultaneously, and they often fought for territory, money and influence much like modern gangs, disregarding any civilians caught in the crossfire. Again, this is the origin of a popular theme of Japanese film and television, made famous in the West by an Akira Kurosawa film called " Yojimbo" where a ronin is hired to rescue a community from these bullies. Yakuza derived some practices from both machi-yakko and kabukimono. The protection racket can be seen as originating from machi-yakko, but their more colourful fashion and language are derived from the kabukimono tradition.
However, not all yakuza originated from these relatively honourable communal police forces. The origin of some yakuza organizations can be traced to two special groups known as tekiya (peddlers) and bakuto ( gamblers). Their origin can be seen in current yakuza initiation ceremonies, which incorporate either tekiya or bakuto rituals.
Tekiya (peddlers) were considered one of the lowest of Edo castes. As they began to form organisations of their own, they took over some administrative duties relating to commerce, such as stall allocation and protection of their commercial activities. For example, during Shinto 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 during the fair. The Edo government eventually formally recognised such tekiya organisations and granted the oyabuns of tekiya a surname as well as permission to carry a sword. This was a major step forward for the traders, as formerly only samurai and noblemen were allowed to carry swords. Bakuto (gamblers) had a much lower social standing even than traders, as gambling was completely illegal. Many small gambling houses cropped up in abandoned temples or shrines at the edge of towns and villages all over Japan. Most of these gambling houses ran loan sharking businesses for clients, and they usually maintained their own security personnel. The places themselves, as well as the bakuto, were regarded with disdain by the society at large, and much of the undesirable image of the yakuza originates from bakuto. This includes the name "yakuza", which is said to derive from 8(ya)-9(ku)-3(za), the worst hand in a card game called hanafuda. Many bakuto had tattoos on their body, meant to be displayed when bakuto dealt cards or rolled dice half naked. At the time, it was common practice for day labourers and carpenters to carry tattoos also. In modern times, tattooing has become the exclusive practice of yakuza in Japan. Folklore states that the bakuto also originated the yakuza tradition of finger cutting ( yubitsume ) as a way of offering penance, because this would weaken the holding of the dice box which they used to deal in dice games. However, the more traditional Yakuza prefer to believe that the tradition of yubitsume comes from samurai, whose masters, upon disobedient or shameful actions, would remove joints from the pinky finger. This weakened the samurai's grip on his blade, as the smallest finger plays the largest role; therefore making him significantly less powerful and effective.When the Edo Shogunate ended with the Meiji restoration, the yakuza transformed into a form much closer to the modern organizations. The Meiji government instituted its own police forces, slowly eroding the legitimacy of the communal vigilante groups. Also, the new government took much stricter action against gambling houses in temples and shrines , driving bakuto further underground. During this time, there was also a large movement from the rural areas into the cities. As a result, yakuza moved to the cities and started to provide protection to certain urban districts or activities, such as commercial, entertainment or red light districts. This protection sometimes evolved into a racket, which often targeted rickshaw or construction businesses.
Also, as Japan began to industrialise and the urban movement really got underway, a third group of yakuza called gurentai began to emerge (though the name gurentai was not given until after WWII). Whether they fall into the traditional definition of yakuza is still open to debate, but they certainly gave birth to another kind of yakuza, the boryokudan (violence group). In short, a gurentai is a gang in a much more traditional sense, a group of young unruly thugs who peddle their violence for profit. They often engage in suppressing worker's organizations in factories and such activities brought them much closer to the conservative elements of Japanese power structure. During the militarisation of Japan, some of them became the militant wing of Japanese politics known as uyoku ( right wing), i.e. ultra-nationalists.
Unlike more traditional yakuza, uyoku did not own turf - they peddled their violence for political gain. The most famous group before WWII was the Kokuryu-kai (Black Dragon Society). Kokuryu-kai was a secret ultra-nationalist umbrella organization whose membership was comprised of government officials and military officers as well as many martial artists and members of the Japanese underworld who engaged in political terrorism and assassination. They also provided espionage services for the Japanese colonial government. Kokuryu-kai engaged in contraband operations including the Chinese opium trade, as well as prostitution and gambling overseas which provided them with funds as well as information.
During the post-war rationing the yakuza controlled the black market much in line with the tekiya operation. At the same time, they also moved into controlling major sea ports as well as the entertainment industry. The biggest yakuza umbrella group, ' Yamaguchi-gumi,' emerged in the Kansai region, which had a large entertainment industry in the city of Osaka as well as a major sea port in Kobe. American occupation forces fought against them in vain and conceded defeat in 1950. Yakuza also adapted to a more western style, including wearing clothing reminiscent of US gansters, and began to use firearms. At this point, tekiya and bakuto no longer confined themselves to their traditional activities and expanded into any venture they found profitable. At the same time gurentai began to adopt traditional roles of tekiya and bakuto. They also began to feud among themselves, jockeying for power and prestige.
In the 1960s, Yoshio Kodama, an ex- nationalist, began to negotiate treaties with various groups, first with the Yamaguchi-gumi of Kazuo Taoka and Tosei-kai of Hisayuki Machii and eventually with the Inagawa-kai. Fights between individual gangs, however, are ongoing.