Yakuza -- Japanese OrgCrime Standard Practices

I believe that I have read of ritual among the Yakuza, but I don't remember the details. Have you tried searching?

Hi!!! I'm so happy about your question because the story that I'm writing now, also has to do with the Yakuza.

So, after a lot of reading and searching about the organized crime in Japan I can tell you with absolute certainty that they don't have "rituals" in killing people but, in some occasions they have used a katana sword to kill their victims. (See the story of Kenichi Shinoda who killed a rival yakuza boss with his katana. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenichi_Shinoda ). The katana is a samurai sword that only the Yakuza uses it nowadays to kill people so I think that you can certainly use it for your story. If an investigator finds out that the murder has been committed with a katana sword I think that he will definitely suspect the Japanese organized crime.

Whatever you want feel free to send me a message and ask, I have done a wide research about the Yakuza and I can also suggest you some books and links

They do have rituals, for example the initiation ceremony and the Yubitsume that you mentioned, but they don't have such a thing for their killings. Something more concrete... I don't know. Any though of a witness that he sees men with specific tattoos killing the victim?? I can't remember any other detail now but surely if something comes to my mind I'll let you know.

IIRC... Japanese organized crime has a tradition or ritual of forcing members to show their loyalty by amputating a portion of their pinky finger. If a body was found and was missing a part of the pinky finger, that might show the detectives that the deceased had been involved with Japanese organized crime at some point.

JohnnyGottaKeyboard said:

I was wondering if anyone knew whether the Yakuza had, or even was rumored to have (this would work equally well for my story), any special "ritualistic" manner of dispatching a victim. What I need is for the type of death to "point" to Yakuza...In much the same was as on the East Coast of the US a man shot in the back of the head would "point" to organized crime.

Thanks.

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No, they really don't. They are fairly practical and adopt new ideas regularly. This is not to say that their aren't some oddities, but you'll likely only see them in Japan. The Mafia will never hold a news conference to apologize for the disruption to a neighborhood caused by a turf war, for example.

You could have someone be shot. Very few people in Japan have guns, and there have been a couple of cases where the yakuza has had someone shot. It's pretty rare, though, that the victim would be someone who wasn't also essentially gang affiliated.

What's the situation? Who is the person and why did the yakuza kill them? It's possible that what "points" to it is simply common knowledge that the person had a run in with the yakuza guys.

We had a fair yakuza population in the city I lived in. We all knew who the leader of the group was, the family, and it wasn't uncommon to come face-to-face with members. They were essentially allowed to do as they pleased within reason because they also kept out other crime groups.

It wasn't like that everywhere, but it could be a situation where everyone in town just knows the yakuza had the guy killed for whatever reason (or at least, that's the rumor).

Have you read Jake Adelstein's accounts of Yakuza society?

Anyway, they certainly have some traditions but afaik ritual murder isn't one of them.

Lately murder is really iffy, too. There has been a huge blowback against the yakuza in recent years, and their numbers are way down. The riskier the behavior they engage in, the more likely they are to get shut down.

However, I don't see why an investigator in America wouldn't believe that they would kill an American. I think having it in California actually makes it more plausible.

Your not going not make it a "Yakuza-style" hit, but you can point at them by other means. If the victim is a criminal competing with the Yakuza, they might suspect the Yakuza.

Also the name Yakuza meaning Japanese gangsters comes from "893" (yattsu, ku, san). This name originates from a card game called oichokabu, which is usually played with a deck of hanafuda "flower cards". A player's score in this game is decided by adding the scores on several cards and using only the smallest digit. So because 8 + 9 + 3 = 20 = 0 points, "8-9-3" means "no points". So the original meaning of yakuza (ya for yattsu, eight, ku for "nine" and za for san, "three" was "no points" or "useless". Later, this meaning changed to "useless people" or "gambling people."

So add the numbers "893" to the murder scene, subtly. While the Yakuza would never give themselves away like this, someone framing them might.

I was just reading about the hanafuda and the yakuza, and I knew there was a connection, but thanks for that explanation. Way to make what I was reading make more sense.

kaitie said:

I was just reading about the hanafuda and the yakuza, and I knew there was a connection, but thanks for that explanation. Way to make what I was reading make more sense.

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Kinda the point of this board.

NeuroGlide said:

Also the name Yakuza meaning Japanese gangsters comes from "893" (yattsu, ku, san). This name originates from a card game called oichokabu, which is usually played with a deck of hanafuda "flower cards". A player's score in this game is decided by adding the scores on several cards and using only the smallest digit. So because 8 + 9 + 3 = 20 = 0 points, "8-9-3" means "no points". So the original meaning of yakuza (ya for yattsu, eight, ku for "nine" and za for san, "three" was "no points" or "useless". Later, this meaning changed to "useless people" or "gambling people."

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Thought I remember reading this.

http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/yakuza.html

Please cite your sources next time.

So add the numbers "893" to the murder scene, subtly. While the Yakuza would never give themselves away like this, someone framing them might.

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It's just slang, it's not like it's actually withheld and used. I don't even think posers would do something like this.


Yakuza is just slang for gang (just like katana is just a single-edged sword), and the media is told to call them 暴力団, boryokudan, or something pertaining to a group of violence, and the real gangs call themselves 任侠団体, ninkyo dantai, or something like a honorable/chivalrous organization.
And then, these terms are just generals; there's three main gangs, and other smaller ones (that are being taken over by the larger ones) nowadays. It would be best to refer to them directly by name.


As far as I know, there's no ritualistic killing for Japanese gangs. There's ritualistic self-harming to show apologizes and personal wrong doing, and killing/sacrifice related to the general Japanese culture. If you're basing this in Japan, there's very distinct things that can lead a killing to a gang, like if a gun was used (gun laws are very strict). In the states or elsewhere they operate like any other large gang with big resources--there's very little different, unlike what most media tries to paint.

I suggest you just work in connections and typical setups; connection to/from victim, area of killing, witness/evidence.

Even if the Yakuza does not have any ritual in real life, you can create a fictional Yakuza family that does have a specific ritual of your own design and use that. It's the great thing about fiction.

JohnnyGottaKeyboard said:

I was wondering if anyone knew whether the Yakuza had, or even was rumored to have (this would work equally well for my story), any special "ritualistic" manner of dispatching a victim. What I need is for the type of death to "point" to Yakuza...In much the same was as on the East Coast of the US a man shot in the back of the head would "point" to organized crime.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I would have thought that there are few weapons that could strike someone's head off cleanly in a single stroke other than a katana. That might point to Yakusa.
Tiny metallic fragments in the cervical vertebrae at the point of section discovered by the forensic team might point to a Katana blade?
Just thinking that's all

It would help to know who the victim is and who actually killed him.

Since the method would need to be believable for both framer and framee.