The Honda-kai (本多会) were a Japanese yakuza gang active in Kobe in the middle of the 20th century.
5-624: The Honda-kai was a " bakuto " gang, mainly devoted to illegal gambling . After World War II , they formed an alliance with the Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate, then growing under the leadership of Kazuo Taoka . But the power-sharing arrangement was unsuitable to Taoka, and the Honda-kai were soon absorbed into the Yamaguchi-gumi's ranks and ceased to be an independent operation. It is believed that an American Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate began utilizing
10-634: The Honda-kai (本多会) name in the mid-2000s. This Japanese history–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a criminal organization is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bakuto Bakuto (博徒) were itinerant gamblers active in Japan from the 18th century to the mid-20th century. They were one of two forerunners (the other being tekiya , or peddlers) to modern Japanese organized crime syndicates called yakuza . Beginning around
15-487: The 17th century, bakuto plied their trade in towns and highways in feudal Japan , playing traditional games such as hanafuda and dice . During the Tokugawa shogunate , violent bakuto ikka (families) rose to power with the gambling spaces they ran, occasionally hired by local governments to gamble with laborers, winning back worker's earnings in exchange for a percentage. They had varying qualities of relationships with
20-446: The tradition of yubitsume , or self-mutilation as a form of apology, to yakuza culture. Up until the mid-20th century, some yakuza organizations that dealt mostly in gambling described themselves as bakuto groups. But this was seen as outdated, and most were eventually absorbed into larger, more diverse syndicates. For example, the Honda-kai was a Kobe -based bakuto gang which formed an alliance after World War II with
25-417: The villages in which they lived, often as well with the government, despite their connection. In the 18th century, the tradition of elaborate tattooing was introduced into bakuto culture. Dealers of card or dice games often displayed these full-body tattoos shirtless while playing. This eventually led to the modern yakuza tradition of full-body tattooing. Bakuto were also responsible for introducing
#790209