Yakuza introduction rituals serve ongoing identification and signaling functions, not mere tradition.

Evidence

Introductions are a similarly serious business in the Japanese yakuza, which has its own “unique forms of greeting and identification… When two yakuza meet for the first time, each of them will take up a pose. Stepping forward slightly, bending his legs, putting his clenched fist on the right femur, and stretching out his left arm each will recite at length his place of origin, present residence, the name of his oyabun, and his own name in stilted archaic language. When he has finished, the same type of greeting is repeated by the other party” (Iwai 1986: 223). This practice derives from the artisans of feudal Japan; that does not mean, however, that these formal procedures can be dismissed as a “residue of past customs,” as the author asserts. — Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Business of…, 936

Categorization

Category: Connection Points

• XREF: Yakuza introductions echo the Godfather’s presentation of Bonasera’s problem — both are formalized credit-and-identification protocols that substitute for state-issued identity documentation. This parallels how Corleone’s word functions as currency.