This act can be done either voluntarily or involuntarily. Yubitsume, which translates to finger-shortening, is the act where a yakuza amputates a piece of his little finger as a way to atone for a mistake or misdeed. The godfather of godfathers, as Taoka was called, died in July 1981, at the age of 68. Taoka had an amazing gift for organization and he grew Yamaguchi-gumi to be the most dominant boryokudan in Japan. After the war, in 1946, Taoka (then 33-years-old) became the leader of Yamaguchi-gumi after the previous oyabun died from natural causes. He was released in 1943, and found Yamaguchi-gumi in shambles because of World War II. In 1936, Taoka went to jail for slashing a rival gang member to death. He got the nickname because he had a tendency to claw and gouge out his opponents’ eyes. During this time, he got the nickname that he’d keep for the rest of his life: Kubo, which means bear. In 1929, he started to hang out with members of the Yamaguchi-gumi and became a blood member in 1936. He was orphaned at a young age and sent to Kobe, where he worked in shipyards. Taoka was born in a small village on the island of Shikoku. The most infamous yakuza oyabun (chairman/boss) was Kazuo Taoka, who was the head of the Yamaguchi-gumi. They will be able to get “reformed” gang members into the casino, where they will be able to skim profits or blackmail people who lose big, which will generate huge revenue streams that will, in turn, allow the yakuza to employ more members. Adelstein thinks that this will create a lot of opportunities for the yakuza. That’s about how long it will take former yakuza members to get a clean record. In December 2016, Japan legalized gambling and in about five years, casinos are expected to start opening. Jake Adelstein, who is a reporter working in Japan and an expert on the yakuza, told the South China Morning Press that the drop in numbers is probably only temporary. However, this low membership number isn’t necessarily a good thing. In late 2016, their numbers were the lowest since the National Police Agency started keeping records, at about 39,100 members. That’s when the Japanese government enacted some new laws to combat the yakuza by restricting their revenue. In the 1990s, they saw a resurgence and there were about 80,000 members until 2011, when their numbers started to dramatically drop. By the early 1960s, there were 184,100 yakuza members, but that number dropped to around 60,000 for several decades. Yakuza membership exploded after World War II. The largest of these groups is Yamaguchi-gumi, who account for about a quarter of all yakuza members. It’s comprised of several gangs called boryokudan, which means “violence groups.” As of early 2017, there were 22 recognized groups, divided into separate clans.
The yakuza is also not one big group, either. Others think that they came from a group of grifters and gamblers dating back to Japan’s feudal era. It’s tough to determine what exactly is the foundation of the yakuza, but some experts think that their lineage can be traced back to gangs of ronin, which were samurai without masters. Also, since the tattoos have gone out of favor, there are not many tattoo artists who can do the technique. The yakuza also generally try to make an effort to blend in. In recent years, the yakuza has moved away from getting tattoos because of public backlash.
Secondly, since it’s so painful, it shows the man is tough for sitting through hours upon hours of the process. First, it’s expensive, so it shows that they have money. There are several reasons why the yakuza embraced irezumi. The tattoos can sometimes take years to be completed. The artist dips the needle in some ink and then repeatedly punctures the skin. They aren’t done with electric needles instead, it’s performed by hand with a needle made from steel or bamboo. The tattoo process is expensive, time consuming, and utterly painful. The tattoos are designed to be hidden under the clothes, and the stripe down their chest allows them to open their shirt collar or wear a robe without revealing them. Sometimes, it can even cover most of their bodies. Most of the time it covers their entire torso, except for a stripe down the middle of the chest. One of the most noticeable ways members of the yakuza can stick out are their extensive tattoos, called irezumi. These are 10 of the most terrifying facts about these notorious gangsters… 10. Yakuza can refer to the crime syndicates as a whole, or to an individual gang member, who are also called gyangu (“gangster”). In the game, getting the cards ya-ku-sa (“eight-nine-three”) is the worst possible hand you can get.
The yakuza is the Japanese mafia and their name essentially means “ good for nothing.” The name is believed to be drawn from the lowest hand in the Japanese card game baccara, which is similar to Blackjack.
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