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Burakumin
The yakuza are members of organized crime syndicates based in Japan—in other words, gangsters. Hansu and Kim Changho are associated with yakuza organizations, and the pachinko industry traditionally has yakuza ties as well, so the livelihoods of both Sunja’s sons are linked to the yakuza to some degree. Because Koreans are so heavily discriminated against in employment, some Koreans work for the yakuza and yakuza-affiliated industries out of desperation. Even though Yoseb suspects and despises Hansu’s yakuza ties before anyone else does, the family relies on Hansu’s connections to regain their property and rebuild their home after the war. The suspicion of yakuza contamination sinks Solomon’s real estate deal at the end of the book.
Yakuza Quotes in Pachinko
The Pachinko quotes below are all either spoken by Yakuza or refer to Yakuza. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 2, Chapter 19
Quotes
“Yakuza are the filthiest people in Japan. They are thugs; they are common criminals. They frighten shopkeepers; they sell drugs; they control prostitution; and they hurt innocent people. All the worst Koreans are members of these gangs. I took money for my education from a yakuza, and you thought this was acceptable? I will never be able to wash this dirt from my name. You can’t be very bright,” he said. “How can you make something clean from something dirty? And now, you have made me dirty,” Noa said quietly, as if he was learning this as he was saying it to her. “All my life, I have had Japanese telling me that my blood is Korean— that Koreans are angry, violent, cunning, and deceitful criminals. All my life, I had to endure this. I tried to be as honest and humble as Baek Isak was; I never raised my voice. But this blood, my blood is Korean, and now I learn that my blood is yakuza blood. I can never change this, no matter what I do. It would have been better if I were never born. How could you have ruined my life? How could you be so imprudent? A foolish mother and a criminal father. I am cursed.”
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Pachinko LitChart as a printable PDF.
Yakuza Term Timeline in Pachinko
The timeline below shows where the term Yakuza appears in Pachinko. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 2, Chapter 19
...just didn’t want him to meet me, because you didn’t want me to meet your yakuza papa.” She asks Noa how else he could explain Hansu’s chauffeur or the swanky apartment...
(full context)
...and doesn’t know what he does for a living, but Noa insists that he’s a yakuza, one of “the worst Koreans,” and that Noa “will never be able to wash this...
(full context)
Book 3, Chapter 4
Sunja notices that Hansu has aged well; he looks like a “handsome grandfather,” not a yakuza boss. Meanwhile, she is aware that she looks like a poor, hardworking, prematurely aged woman....
(full context)
Book 3, Chapter 8
...begs Noa to have mercy and visit his family. Noa says he can’t, that “having yakuza in your blood is something that controls you […] this is my curse.”
(full context)
Book 3, Chapter 10
...judgment. Etsuko thinks that Hana is right; she doesn’t want to be seen as a yakuza wife. Back at Etsuko’s apartment, the two reconcile somewhat, and Etsuko says she will let...
(full context)
Book 3, Chapter 19
...him anything else, and that his client “wasn’t looking for a run-in with the yaks” (yakuza). The transaction, Kazu declares, is “contaminated.”
(full context)
