The Yakuza

Origin

YA-KU-ZA
The word yakuza means 8-9-3. Ya means 8, ku 9 and za 3. It comes from the Japanese card game Oicho-Kabu. Oicho-Kabu is similar to the western card game Black Jack.  The generally difference between the two games are that in Oicho- Kabu the best sum of the cards in the game  are 19, instead of 21, which is the best sum in Black Jack. If you add the numbers eight, nine and three you get the sum of 20. This has absolutely no worth I Oicho-Kabu. It’s from there the name yakuza comes from, they with no worth, for the society.

This don´t mean that they are for no use for the society, it means that the members are people that somehow not fits in to the society, societies misfits.

Kabuki-mono
Yakuzas origin can be followed far back as to the year 1612, when men known as kabuki-mono (the crazy ones), got known by the local authorities. Their odd clothing style, distinctive haircuts, bad behavior and carrying long sword did that they got everybody's attention, fast.

Kabuki-mono had a bad habit to harass and terrorize everyone in their surroundings. They could go as far as cutting down people for pure pleasure. Kabuki-mono was distinctive samurais that gave their band of robbers’ scary name and spoke in vigorous slang.

Something that was remarkable, though, was their loyalty to each other. They protected each other regardless against menace, even if it meant to go against their own family.

Kabuki-mono had been the shoguns samurais.  But, because of sometime of peace, they were forced into unemployment. They were known as master less samurais, aka ronins. They began to wander around in Japan as band of robbers, pillaging villages and smaller cities. 

Machi-yakko

The yakuza doesn’t sees them self’s as offspring’s from Kabuki-mono. Instead, they see machi-yakko (City servant) as their origin. These men are the people who took a stand against the Kabuki-mono and defended the cities. They were ordinary citizens with professions like storekeepers, tavern owners, homeless warriors, but also ronins.

Machi-yakko was also skillful hazard gamblers. This did that they got strong a bonding between each other and their leader, much like today’s yakuza.

The Machi-yakko soon became heroes. They were praised by the citizens for their help against the kabuki-mono. The Machi-yakko had inadequate equipment and wasn’t trained as well as the Kabuki- mono. This made them underdogs and loved by the people. It has been written many fairy-tales and plays about the Machi-yakko

The modern yakuza didn’t appear until the middle of the 17th century. Their members were bakuto (gamblers) and tekiya (street vendors).  These names of the members are still used today. It has however been added several categories of yakuza. This will be described further on.

Almost all yakuza members have the same type of background; poor, criminal,  misfits. The yakuza becomes their family. If they need help with any problem, their new family members will help them out. This gives them a degree of attention they lacked of while growing up and a feel of safety.