These punishments include yubitsume, rinchi(lynching), hamon (expulsion from the yakuza family), zetsuen(permanent expulsion), and death. However, heavier punishments exist for more serious offenses. 11 Aceti et al 6 state that yubitsume is less prevalent among younger members of the yakuza, contending that they prefer to pay a fine for their offenses, and also note the shaving of one’s hair, financial penalties, temporary imprisonment, and temporary expulsion as punishments for small offenses. 10 The desire of the yakuza to be less conspicuous may have led to the decline of this practice, and the main forms of punishment among the yakuza presently are financial penalties and expulsion from the organization. Kaplan and Dubro 9 provide the following testimony from a yakuza member who testified against the group: “The actual procedure is to take…what they in Japanese Yakuza call a little silver knife – on a table – and you pull it towards you and bend over and your body weight will snap your finger off…The finger that is severed is put in a small bottle with alcohol and your name is written on it and it is sent to whoever you’re repenting to as a sign that you are sorry.” Not all descriptions of the ritual include wrapping the finger in cloth or performing the ritual in front of the boss. Rush 8 writes that the severed portion is wrapped specifically in silk. The severed portion of the small finger is wrapped in the cloth and handed to the head of the offender’s yakuza family, who supervises the event. The offender places his left hand, palm down, on the cloth and uses a tanto, or sharp knife, to amputate his small finger at the DIP. Morris 3 writes: A small piece of clean cloth is placed on a flat surface. There are varying accounts of how the ritual proceeds. 6 The concept of ikiyubi as presented by Aceti et al implies that the performer of yubitsume is not necessarily an offender, which runs counter to the strongly punitive connotation of the ritual. 3 When the offender voluntarily amputates his finger to avoid heavier punishment, the amputated finger is called shuniyubi, which means “dead finger”, and when a yakuza member undergoes yubitsume to resolve a conflict, the amputated finger is called ikiyubi, which means “living finger”, and is a symbol of sincere loyalty. The boss may decide that yubitsume is not satisfactory for atonement, and the member may have to commit seppuku, which is suicide by self-disembowelment, 7 or be expelled from the yakuza.
Japense mafia 4 fingers code#
Thus, yubitsume reflects the requirement of members to abide by a strict code of conduct.Īceti et al 6 contend that yubitsume normally is not imposed as punishment but instead results from the offender’s own decision to demonstrate his repentance in the hope of avoiding more serious punishment, or is performed to solve a problem or conflict for which the sacrificing party is not responsible.
2 Furthermore, he would be more vulnerable, as self-amputation would make hand-to-hand combat and handling firearms more difficult. The pragmatic value of yubitsume to yakuza leaders is that the offending kobun, or soldier, would be viewed as more dependent on protection from his boss, or oyabun. 3 In effect, by paying his debts, a gambler safeguarded his adeptness at self-defense. The truncation of the small finger would weaken a gambler’s grip on his sword, thereby putting him at a disadvantage in future sword fights. Consequences in the long term were also considered. 3 The acute pain of the process was not the only reason yubitsume was feared. 2 The practice motivated a gambler to pay his debts, for if he failed to do so, he would have to sever a portion of one of his small fingers as an alternative method of payment. The bakuto introduced yubitsume as punishment for serious offenses that did not warrant execution or expulsion from the criminal organization to which the offender belonged. Yubitsume has its origins among Japanese gamblers called bakuto. Kirkup 5 cites the case of a bankrupt Japanese businessman indebted to a yakuza member, who was assisted by a South Korean doctor in 2005 to remove one of his fingers with a hammer and chisel following administration of an anesthetic. To note, a person who undergoes yubitsume is not necessarily a member of the yakuza. 2 Thus, some yakuza members may present with multiple truncated proximal digits. 4 Courtesy of Anton Kusters, who gave permission to publish this photograph.Ī 1993 governmental survey found that 45 percent of modern yakuza members had severed finger joints, and that 15 percent had performed the act at least twice. Yakuza member who amputated his small finger on the left hand.
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