Andrew Rankin's 'Yakuza: A 400-Year History' Explores the Myth of the Honorable Outlaw
In "Yakuza: A 400-Year History of the Japanese Underworld" (Basic), Andrew Rankin examines how the yakuza perceive themselves as noble warriors. The narrative opens with Sima Qian's account of honorable bandits from the first century B.C.E. and references the fourteenth-century "Water Margin." It emphasizes the early seventeenth century, a time when the Tokugawa shogunate's peace left many samurai without purpose, fostering a cultural shift toward outlaw heroism. Rankin analyzes the impact of Bushido literature and the tattooed depictions by Utagawa Kuniyoshi in the early nineteenth century. He also covers the collaboration between the state and yakuza in the 1850s, their activities following the Meiji Restoration, and connections to right-wing extremism in the 1930s, culminating in their postwar golden age, restrictions from 1991, and decline due to foreign gang competition.
Key facts
- Andrew Rankin's book 'Yakuza: A 400-Year History of the Japanese Underworld' is published by Basic.
- The book traces yakuza mythology to Sima Qian's first-century B.C.E. writings and the fourteenth-century Chinese novel 'Water Margin.'
- The Tokugawa shogunate's peace in the early seventeenth century left many samurai without combat roles, leading some to adopt outlaw personas.
- Utagawa Kuniyoshi's early nineteenth-century prints of tattooed outlaw heroes sparked a tattoo craze linked to the criminal underworld.
- In 1854, Commodore Matthew Perry's U.S. fleet forced Japan to open its ports, prompting the Tokugawa rulers to enlist criminal gangs against radicals.
- The Meiji Restoration of 1868 abolished the samurai caste and accelerated modernization, pushing yakuza into new rackets.
- Sakai Eizo, a 1930s racketeer, founded the Great Japanese Order of Righteousness, admired Mussolini's Blackshirts, and met Heinrich Himmler.
- From 1991, tougher laws restricted yakuza activities, leading most gangs to cease predatory crimes against civilians rather than become clandestine mafias.
Entities
Artists
- Andrew Rankin
- Takakura Ken
- Sima Qian
- Utagawa Kuniyoshi
- Sakai Eizo
- Kodama Yoshio
- Sasakawa Ryoichi
- Koizumi Matajiro
- Koizumi Junichiro
- Tanaka Kakuei
- Takaichi Sanae
- Matthew Perry
- Chubby Shino
- John Wayne
- Gary Cooper
- Heinrich Himmler
- Benito Mussolini
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Institutions
- Toei
- Yamaguchi-gumi
- Basic
- National Essence Society
- Great Japanese Order of Righteousness
- Patriotic People's Party
- World Health Organization
- University of Tokyo
- Lockheed Corporation
- C.I.A.
- Imperial Japanese Army
Locations
- Tokyo
- Japan
- Shinjuku
- China
- Southeast Asia
- Rome
- Italy
- Berlin
- Germany
- Manchuria
- Hiroshima
- Kobe
- Osaka
- Serbia
- Montenegro
- Geneva
- Switzerland