Yubitsume
Yubitsume ( Japanese 指 詰 め , dt. "Finger shortening") describes a ritual in Japanese culture, which is performed for the purpose of apologizing and making amends to someone who has been insulted by the person performing it. This is the solemn self-amputation of the little finger or a limb of it. Yubitsume takes place more or less exclusively in the circles of the Yakuza .
origin
It is believed that the Yubitsume can be traced back to the Bakuto Society , a kind of predecessor organization of the Yakuza. If a person was unable to pay their gambling debt, then the loss of the little finger was considered an equivalent replacement.
The reason for this can be found in Japanese swordsmanship, because there the little finger ensures a firm grip on the sword hilt - someone without it would no longer have been able to grip his sword properly and thus disadvantaged in combat and more on protection dependent on a higher one.
execution
To perform Yubitsume , your own (mostly left) little finger is placed on a clean cloth, palm side down. Now the owner himself chops off the finger with a sharp knife, for example a tanto , whereby the cut is either made directly above the knuckle or only the foremost phalanx is amputated, depending on the extent of the insult. Then the separated part is wrapped in the cloth and given due reverence to the leader ( oyabun ) of the person concerned.
In the event of later insults and offenses, the next phalanx is amputated; if the little finger on one hand is already completely missing, the pinky on the other hand would be continued. Sometimes a former yakuza is prescribed Yubitsume upon exit ; many members (whether active or no longer) therefore wear finger prostheses in order not to be immediately and publicly ostracized in society.
Yubitsume in popular culture
- Yubitsume is often performed in Japanese yakuza-eiga (yakuza films).
- The ritual is also shown in western films such as The Yakuza from 1975, Black Rain from 1989 and The Outsider from 2018.
- In the 2001 film Ichi the Killer , the character Kakihara has a piece of his tongue cut off after his boss tells him that a finger alone is not enough to atone for his crimes. The 2003 film Oldboy contains a similar scene.
- Michael Slade's novel Kamikaze also repeatedly portrays Yubitsume as punishment for misconduct against the Kumicho (a "godfather" of the local Yakuza).
- The ritual is also alluded to in the novel Neuromancer by William Gibson .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kaplan, D .; Dubro, A: "Yakuza," p. 14, University of California Press, 2003.