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Yakuza film (Japanese:ヤクザ映画,Hepburn:Yakuza eiga) is a popularfilm genre inJapanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings ofyakuza, Japaneseorganized crime syndicates. In thesilent film era, depictions ofbakuto (precursors to modern yakuza) as sympatheticRobin Hood-like characters were common.
Two types of yakuza films emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. TheNikkatsu studio was known for modern yakuza films inspired byHollywoodgangster films, whileToei was the main producer of what is known asninkyo eiga (仁侠映画; "chivalry films"). Set in theMeiji andTaishō eras,ninkyo eiga depict honorable outlaws torn betweengiri (duty) andninjo (personal feelings).
In contrast toninkyo eiga,jitsuroku eiga (実録映画; "actual record films") based on real crime stories became popular in the 1970s. These portrayed modern yakuza not as honorable heirs to the samurai code, but as ruthless street thugs living for their own desires.
In thesilent film era, films depictingbakuto (precursors to modern yakuza) asRobin Hood-like characters were common. They often portrayed historical figures who had accumulated legends over time as "sympathetic but lonely figures, forced to live an outlaw existence and longing, however hopelessly, to return to straight society."[1]Kunisada Chūji was a popular subject, such as inDaisuke Itō's three-partA Diary of Chuji's Travels from 1927. DuringWorld War II, the Japanese government used cinema as wartime propaganda, and as such depictions ofbakuto generally faded.Mark Schilling namedAkira Kurosawa'sDrunken Angel from 1948 as the first to depict post-war yakuza in his bookThe Yakuza Movie Book : A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films, although he noted it does not follow the genre's common themes.[2] TheOccupation of Japan that followedWorld War II also monitored the films being made. However, when the occupation ended in 1952, period-pieces of all types returned to popularity. A notable modern yakuza example is 1961'sHana to Arashi to Gang byTeruo Ishii which launched a series that depicted contemporary gang life including gang warfare.[3]
The studioNikkatsu made modern yakuza films under theMukokuseki Action (無国籍アクション,Mukokuseki Akushon) or "Borderless Action" moniker, which, unlike other studios in the genre, borrowed heavily fromHollywoodgangster films. These are typified by theWataridoriseries that started in 1959 and starAkira Kobayashi and, in most installments,Joe Shishido.[4] Another popular series in the style was theKenjū Buraichō series starringKeiichirō Akagi and, again, Joe Shishido. However, this series ended abruptly in 1961 due to Akagi's death.[4]
A subset of films known asninkyo eiga (仁侠映画) or "chivalry films" then began to thrive. Most were created by theToei studio and produced by Koji Shundo, who became close with actual yakuza before becoming a producer, and despite his denial, is said to have been one himself.[5][6] Set in theMeiji andTaishō eras, thekimono-clad yakuza hero of ninkyo films (personified byKōji Tsuruta andKen Takakura) was always portrayed as a stoic honorable outlaw torn between the contradictory values ofgiri (duty) andninjo (personal feelings). Sadao Yamane stated their willingness to fight and die to save someone or their boss was portrayed as "something beautiful."[7] In his book, Schilling citedTadashi Sawashima'sJinsei Gekijo: Hishakaku from 1963 as starting the ninkyo eiga trend.[8] Ninkyo eiga were popular with young males that had traveled to cities from the countryside in search of jobs and education, only to find themselves in harsh work conditions for low pay. In their bookYakuza Film and Their Times, Tsukasa Shiba and Sakae Aoyama write that these young men "isolated in an era of high economic growth and tight social structures" were attracted to the "motifs of male comrades banding together to battle the power structure."[9]
Shundo supervised Takakura and helped Toei sign Tsuruta, additionally his own daughterJunko Fuji became a popular female yakuza actress starring in theRed Peony Gambler series.[10] Nikkatsu made their first ninkyo eiga,Otoko no Monsho starringHideki Takahashi, in 1963 to combat Toei's success in the genre. However, today Nikkatsu is best known for thesurrealB movies bySeijun Suzuki, which culminated with the director being fired after 1967'sBranded to Kill.[11] Likewise,Daiei Film entered the field withAkumyō in 1961 starringShintaro Katsu. They also had Toei's rival in the female yakuza genre withKyoko Enami starring in theOnna Tobakuchi series.[12]
In 1965, Teruo Ishii directed the first installment in theAbashiri Prison series, which was a huge success and launched Takakura to stardom.
Aside from these films featuring modern yakuza in the 20th century, manychanbara (samurai films) made in the 1960s and 1970s featured provincial yakuza in earlier periods. Notable examples includeAkira Kurosawa'sYojimbo (1961), in which arōnin hires out his services to rival yakuza gangs, and several entries in the long-runningZatoichi series (1962-1989).
Many Japanese movie critics cite the retirement of Junko Fuji in 1972 as marking the decline of the ninkyo eiga.[13] Just as moviegoers were getting tired of the ninkyo films, a new breed of yakuza films emerged, thejitsuroku eiga (実録映画; "actual record films"). These films portrayed post-war yakuza not as honorable heirs to the samurai code, but as ruthless, treacherous street thugs living for their own desires. Manyjitsuroku eiga were based on true stories, and filmed in adocumentary style withshaky camera. Thejitsuroku genre was popularized byKinji Fukasaku's groundbreaking 1973 yakuza epicBattles Without Honor and Humanity.[7] Based on the events of real-life yakuza turfs inHiroshima Prefecture, the film starringBunta Sugawara spawned four sequels and another three part series.
Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane believes the films were popular because of the time of their release; Japan's economic growth was at its peak and at the end of the 1960sthe student uprisings took place. The young people had similar feelings to those of the post-war society depicted in the film.[14] Schilling wrote that after the success ofBattles Without Honor and Humanity, Takakura and Tsuruta received less and less roles at the direction of Toei's president. Soon after, Shundo retired, although he would later return.[15]
Another style emerging in the 1970s was hitman movies, focused on hired assassins who operated within the world of the yakuza but were not bound by the usual traditions and obligations of regular yakuza members. Examples includeTōru Murakawa'sYūgi or Game trilogy (1978-79), and several films starringSonny Chiba as a hitman withkarate skills, such asYakuza Deka (1970),The Street Fighter (1974), and their various sequels.
Somepink films (softcore sex films) also included yakuza themes, such asSex & Fury and its sequelFemale Yakuza Tale (both 1973).
In the 1980s, yakuza movies drastically declined due in part to the rise of home videoVCRs. One exception was theYakuza Wives series starringShima Iwashita, which was based on a book of interviews with the wives and girlfriends of real gangsters.[16] In 1994, Toei actually announced thatThe Man Who Shot the Don starringHiroki Matsukata would be their last yakuza film unless it made $4 million US in home video rentals. It did not and they announced they would stop producing such movies, although they returned a couple of years later.[17]
But in the 1990s, the low-budget direct-to-video movies calledGokudō brought a wealth of yakuza movies, such as Toei'sV-Cinema line in 1990. Many young directors had freedom to push the genre's envelope. One such director wasRokurō Mochizuki who broke through withOnibi in 1997. Directors such asShinji Aoyama andKiyoshi Kurosawa started out in the home video market before becoming regulars on the international festival circuit. Though the most well-known gokudō creator isTakashi Miike, who has become known internationally for his extremely violent, genre pushing and border crossing (yakuza movies taking place outside Japan, such as his 1997Rainy Dog) films in the style.[18]
One director who did not partake in the home video circuit isTakeshi Kitano, whoseexistential yakuza films are known around the world for a unique style. His films use harsh edits, minimalist dialogue, odd humor, and extreme violence that began withSonatine (1993) and was perfected inHana-bi (1997).[19]
(Names are listed alphabetically by surname in thewestern convention ofgiven-name, surname for clarity.)
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