The Yakuza | Secret Societies 5 | Japanese History | Extra History

Yokohama 1809 the dealer passes out the cards in the corner a man smokes an 18inch pipe the game is ukabu three cards per hand if their total is 12 a player scores two if it's 19 a player scores nine but if it's 20 the dreaded 893 hand the player scores zero one Gambler looks at his cards and raises you are bluffing yosida says the dealer you Yoshida stammers you're spoiling the game you're bluffing just like you bluffed that you needed a loan to ship rice to Kyoto you gambled that money away at our Rivals establishment

what no Yoshida protests I I the other players suddenly grab Yoshida pushing his face to the table stop I'll I'll pay I'll pay yes the dealer says leaning close to his ear you certainly will the man in the corner gets up and casually Knocks The Tobacco out of his iron pipe he slaps his palm with the heavy Bowl quack yoshida's bloody cards spill onto the table it's a bad hand eight nine and three or spoken aloud [Music] Yakuza thanks so much to factor for being the secret that keeps us extra historians wellfed fast welcome Helios

to your final initiation of knowledge into the oo exray Historia today we will be exploring the origins of the Yakuza Japan's secret Brotherhood of gangsters and know that should you make it through these trials you will be made a master of history please note that isn't a masters in history because we are not an accredited secred Society thank you for nothing Department of Education still let the final trial commence Zoe ring the bell of achievement Ally beat the drum of discipline Rob blow breath into the solemn slide whistle of [Music] wisdom ah the Sweet Sweet

Sound of knowledge because we're traveling back to Japan's Edo period and the origin of the Yakuza in the 18th century well 18th century is see there's some debate over when the Yakuza began there's no founding date for the organization or it might be better to say for this type of organization because the Yakuza is not one Society but a group of criminal syndicates that organized themselves in a similar Manner and these groups weren't started so much as they grew up organically traditionally there are two lines of descent for Yakuza both of which stemming from the

lower rungs of Japan's shogunate era cast system the first are the DEA the pedlers or traders who were considered the lowest class in the shogunate below even Farmers because they lacked land and given their status they quickly realized that they needed a means of organizing and protecting themselves especially during the Shinto festivals where they frequently set up stalls certain members would provide security for a fee While others organized ized the allocation of the Stalls locations of course eventually it was standard that the more you paid the organizer the better location you received this evolved into

a protection Racket and inevitably brought different groups of pedlers into conflict due to overlapping territory the results were brawls targeted beatings and intimidation tactics the Yakuza would become known for the other strain were the bakuto or keepers of gambling establishments technically they ranked even lower than the pedalers since gambling was illegal despite it being widely practiced but these gamblers had a thing that was frequently lacking at a local level in Edo Japan particularly as the Shogun it rule squeezed the country economically cash and this made them valuable and prominent citizens who might maintain temples fund

infrastructure provide relief for the poor and Aid after natural disasters in a country without a banking system these Proto Yakuza would also offer financial services such as loans though they were often enforced with violence they protected communities from Bandits but also clashed with rival gambling houses for influence and territory using violence and murder to expand their miniature Empires and Ronin wandering Samurai naturally gravitated toward their employ the word Yakuza comes from this tradition being one of the worst hands in their chosen game of UK kabu not only did this hint at their origins in gambling

houses but it also suggested that the Yakuza was a way to improve your lot if you got a bad hand in life then at some point these two strains merged into a subculture with its own hierarchies and traditions the result of which was a Yakuza organization that saw itself as a family with a head who is a surrogate Father Figure ruling over his sons lowered down the pyramid like the Confucian family unit in the Yakuza older brothers would rank above younger brothers creating a feudal system much like the Shogun it itself where Financial tributes and

loyalty were paid upward the Yakuza also intentionally mirrored this Lord vassel relationship in its initiation ceremonies wearing new initiate and his new Superior would solidify their bond by ritualistically consuming sake from the same Bowl this was extremely similar to a standard ritual for a samurai pledging allegiance to his Lord as a sign of status and membership high-ranking members of the group also commissioned tattoos covering their chests and arms generally stopping at the elbow where it could be concealed in a kimono revealed only in closed settings among other Yakuza members such as playing cards topless these

markings expressed the wealth and bravery of an individual since the process was both expensive and excruciating Plus in the days before tattoo removal it also provided an irrevocable symbol of loyalty once Inked you were Yakuza until death you couldn't just disappear and live a normal life and loyalty to the organization was held as absolute with members told to break ties with blood family and treat their surrogate relationships of the Yakuza as their own kin they shared a unique slang language and hand signals to identify other members and also communicate their meaning in code should a

member lie to his Superior or cheat or break the rules of the organization they would seek forgiveness in a special ritual where the offender would cut off the tip of their left pinky finger or the ring finger or middle finger on subsequent offenses these were the operative fingers in leveraging a sword during a swing and therefore showed humbling self-sacrifice while also symbolically demonstrating how the organization did not work properly if there was a weak member by the year 1800 the Yakuza had gained enough power to be a political force in certain regions with the shogunate

recognizing highlevel commanders as semi-official Samurai allowing some to wear swords and have a measure of Civic control through policing powers and that wasn't really surprising after all the shogunate government itself was a feudal organization that provided Security in exchange for a tribute and enacted its will with violence yet despite this favorable treatment when revolutionary forces attempted to restore the emperor to full power in 1868 triggering the ban War which you can actually see our series on here most Yakuza organizations sided with the restorationist samurai against their former allies in the shogunate after the Mei restoration

this cooperation between the government and Yakuza continued During the period of the Tao democracy from the 1910s through the 30s several known Yakuza members served in the prime minister's cabinet and one as the leader of the conservative party this political success came on the back of investment in the newly open and booming construction and dockyard sectors in Japan some of it done under legitimate corporate entities that served as a cover for criminal activity this three-way Partnership of business politics and crime culminated in 1919 when several prominent Yakuza families gathered in a banquet hall with right-wing

politicians and Industrial leaders in a sake sharing ceremony to cement a political Alliance though the members were secret the formation of their new Coalition was made very public the next morning as planes dropped 10,000 leaflets over Tokyo announcing the Venture the target of this deal was the Japanese labor movement which had grown in power and intensity through the first Decades of the 20th century inherently nationalistic and aggressive towards perceived enemies such as Communists and leftists the Yakuza became a paramilitary wing of the Japanese right being used to violently suppress strikes and Union organizing ironically a

group created as an early form of labor organization had become anti-un thus completed the yakuza's rise to prominence in Japanese Society a far-reaching organization that had interests in protection rackets sex work extortion blackmail narcotics and human trafficking but also despite all of that was considered almost a semi-official institution in Japanese life that had political connections and openly helped with earthquake relief one that at its peak in the 1960s was estimated to boast over 180,000 full members yet its prominence might also have been its downfall anti-organized crime laws in Japan as well as greater job opportunities

have styed the organization's Recruitment and profits so the modern families are estimated to have less than 12,000 full members or perhaps they've merely been temporarily dealt a bad hand and will rise once more when the deck is again shuffled congratulations Master of History you have achieved the highest rank in the Ordo extra Historia except there actually is one rank high higher than that I know it's crazy it's so secret we couldn't tell you about it until now the rank of Patron where you can see episodes before the uninitiated Sheep do join The conspiratorial Whispers of

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