Notes on Yakuza

So, I've been interested in the yakuza a little recently after watching My Boss My Hero, so I decided to learn a bit more about it all. 

The following are some notes I have made from wikipedia*. I wrote them for my own use, but thought others might like to read a mini-summary (if it makes sense to you...)

* I have put "from wikipedia" in bold as I have no idea whatsoever if it is ok to take notes from wiki which are and are not in my own words and then put them on my blog. I am in no way stating that I wrote the following or am trying to pass it off as my own. Well, it's probably in such "note" form that it doesn't make sense to anyone else... but yeah, as I don't really know if it's ok to do this, I thought I'd clarify myself a bit. Did I say the following words are notes I have made from wikipedia?

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Yakuza

General:
- aka gokudou (or bouryokudan by police / media, or ninkyou dantai by yakuza themselves).
- members of transnational & international crime syndicates
- strict codes of conduct / organised nature

Divisions:
- tekiya (one of lowest social groups in Edo / ilicit and stolen goods / later formed own organisations, took over some commerce and admin roles in society, then allowed members to be peddlers or guards at festivals etc. / peddlers paid rent for their positions / Edo govt. formally recognised the tekiya organisations and gave the leaders permission to carry nagawakizashi (previously only noblemen and samurai could have swords on their person).
- bakuto (gambling / the lowest social class as gambling was illegal / opened small gambling houses in abandoned temples etc / the gambling houses ran loan shark businesses / bakuto looked down upon / negative aspects of yakuza originate from the bakuto - even the word yakuza refers to a losing hand in oicho-kabu blackjack.

Structure and other stuff:
- due to economic sitch in mid-period, yakuza groups were made up of delinquants / yakuza initiation ceremonies still incorporate tekiya & bakuto rituals, today's yakuza groups still may identify with one group in particular / kyushu island has been largest source of yakuza members / 60% of yakuza decendants of bakumin (a feudal outcast class) 

- obayan/kobun hierarchy / sakazumi ie. sharing of sake cup / during WWII yakuza organisations declined to focus on war efforts / yakuza members cut family ties to show loyalty to oyabun / women yakuza called nee-san / those that receive sakazumi become part of immediate family and are ranked little or big brother / kobun can offer sakazumi to underlings to form own affiliated subsidiary organisation. / yakuza full body tattoos (when playing oicho-kabu, yakuza may remove shirt to display tattoo).

Rituals:
- yubitsume (cutting of the finger as form of apology or penance / transgressor cuts tip off left little finger and gives to boss / transgressor's superior can spare him and take blame / yubitsume has origins in the holding of katana as it would weaken the grip of the sword and force the transgressor to rely more on his gang / prosthetic little fingers used to hide this from others.

Largest Groups: 
1) yamaguchi-gumi - began 1915 / 55,000 members / 850 clans / make up 50% of all yakuza
2) sumiyoshi-kai - 20,000 members / 277 clans / federation
3) inagawa-kai - 15,000 members / 313 clans

Today:
- yakuza groups have helped during disasters - such as Kobe earthquake. 
- many syndicates ban drug trafficking.
- yakuza has ties with realty and the banking market.

Ref:
Yakuza @ Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakuza
Oicho-Kabu @ Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oicho-Kabu