In the eye of the beholder
Susannah Breslin is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. She is a freelance journalist who blogs at Reverse Cowgirl and is at work on a novel set in the adult movie industry.
From "Eye of the Beholder" by Anton Kusters:
I'm in the front seat, riding with Soichiro in his car on his way to Shinjuku. "One cuts off one's finger to make a point", Soichiro explains while driving. "Usually to show the sincerity of an apology after doing something wrong."
"You cut off a single digit of your own finger in a ceremonial way, while facing your boss, and then you present the severed finger on a folded napkin to him. It reinforces the power of your apology. It shows that you're serious about what you're saying."
Somehow, i don't feel like questioning that.
"Eye of the Beholder," "Meet Soichiro," "As Light Shines on Thy Thigh." (Image credit: Anton Kusters. Via This Isn't Happiness.)
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a joint will do - or not. The image could mean a many as three mistakes or just one.
Losing a part of the hand weakens the sword grip, hence the meaning.
A plug for ol' iron-ass Mitchum's fine film, The Yakuza:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073918/
It has to do with this kinda stuff. ythere are many many Yakuza flicks, here's another stylish one:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059320/
Pinky fingers and body tattoos...
great post, thanks, I'm looking forward to following this project. Fascinating.
before the romance begins in earnest: gangster life whether Mafia, Hells Angels, Yakuza or Halliburton is fundamentally stupid life. A wide based pyramid of foot soldiers earn, bleed and obey to support a few cunning and ruthless strongmen on top. Only a fool or a psychopath could truly like it.
That reminds me of the time I was explaining to my son about Van Gogh cutting his ear off and sending it to his "girlfriend".
He said, "I would have just sent her a letter."
Perhaps just a really, really sincere note of apology might work too. I'm with Takuan.
@ the Joey B
Actually, the story about Van Gogh mailing an severed ear to a "girlfriend" is a good example of a factoid:
First of all, it was just the earlobe, not the entire ear.
Second, Van Gogh didn't put the lobe in the mail, but instead he walked down to the local brothel and delivered the gift in person. Wich i really think is the only way you can pass off body parts as tokens of affection - you have to be there yourself to verify the autenticity of the gift.
Thirdly, it has never been verified that he cut of the earlobe with the stated intention of presenting it to someone. Rumors abound that it actually was Gaugain that cut it of in a drunken bout and that the two maverick artists agreed to make the most of the situation.
I suppose that's why the thugs are supposed to mutilate themselves in front of their boss; so that there will be no suspicions of rationalization after the fact.
Yes eeyorex.. I'm aware. I was explaining the story to him, not necessarily perpetuating it. Thanks for the early morning pedantics, though. It's so much better than downward facing dog to get all limbered up.
I remember seeing one of these finger removals in a MONDO CANE film in the 60s. The image has always stuck with me, of course. At least this gives me a little rationale to understand it better.
A wide based pyramid of foot soldiers earn, bleed and obey to support a few cunning and ruthless strongmen on top.
Sounds like you're describing most, if not all, of the world's governments.
One wouldn't want to have made ten mistakes.
from
Jade
Mm, yes. Sorry about that, Joey.
I´m on a different continent, and I just reached my post-brunch espresso peak.
Usually, I´m all for "printing the myth" as long as it makes life more interesting. Its just that the Van Gogh ear story is one of those rare events where the facts are both more interresting and more unsettling than the perpetuated myths, wich is why i tend to get a bit anal retentive about it.
Anyway, my apoligies if i came on strong. I'll send you a pinkie...
Middle finger, right hand - is that Doraemon?!
According to Miss Manners: "A nice card or perhaps a bouquet of flowers will amply serve as an apology. No need to sever a limb."
I feel better already.
The yakuza, like the mafia in Sicily, survive on a kind of Robin-Hood legend that they never bother 'normal' people. In fact they do nothing but prey on 'citizens'.
My first encounter with a one came sitting in a bar near Shinjuku. I watched the owner and bar staff give deferential treatment to a stubby guy in a bad taste blue silk suit, who then tried to convince me and my drinking buddy to go to his 'club' by buying us a drink, then showing us his 'battle scars'. The same kind of club exists all over the world, it's free to get in but costs an arm and a leg minimum to leave. We bought him back his drink and left the bar.
The standard with all mafia is to look for easy pickings, and most with Japanese being non confrontational, two or three of these losers crashing in through your front door waving samurai swords or smuggled Russian pistols is enough to clinch any deal.
Not so long ago a taxi driver told me he hated taking clients to a certain area of central Tokyo because there was a turf war going on between established Tokyo yakuza families and 'provincial' families trying to establish themselves in the capital.
I have the honour of seeing the foot soldiers, and their handlers, of one such 'up and coming' family on a regular basis. Unwanted by anyone else they are desperate individuals, more lout that devilishly stylish, who had to make a career choice between yakuza or ultra right wing nationalist group. They are the dregs and they know it.
What's the etiquette for disposing of the finger? Received the napkin, toss it in the trash? That would really drive home the point.
-lg
I didn't really get the "mafia" aspect of this at first, and I was thinking how strange it would be to need to apologize to your boss that much. I mean, I figured I would just be fired and that's that, I would never give my boss my FINGER. (He wouldn't want it, anyway).
I wouldn't accept anything less than the person playing russian roulette with a 9mm automatic to his temple. That would be true sincerity and dedication, showing the power of his apology. And one less loser gangster in the world to prey on everyone else.
A wide based pyramid of foot soldiers earn, bleed and obey to support a few cunning and ruthless strongmen on top.
By appearances we're wired for it.
not us bonobos.
About the Work
Soichiro is the lead character of the story that i’m starting to tell, about a Yakuza family in Japan. After more than 10 months of preparation, my brother and I have been granted access to start a long-term project to document the visible and hidden life of that particular family. All names used in the account above (and previous and future accounts) are fictional.
traditions are what make a people, spoiled immature attitudes may not have respect for this but it is irrelevant as this is the way life is lived , opinions only help to create new traditions usually changing them slowly.
interesting opportunities to learn from this art exhibit, neh?
spoiled immature attitudes may not have respect for this but it is irrelevant as this is the way life is lived
What is more spoiled and immature than the self-assessment of a career criminal?
There is no excuse for the disrepect for society implicit in a violent criminal lifestyle, and a few fingers are not enough to pay the debt of fear to society.
Can't play along and can't stay away? Then cut off your own head.
interesting opportunities to learn from this art exhibit, neh?
I do think cutting one's finger off as an apology is interesting, I do not think I will celebrate it.
As I see it it would be no different than oggling a starlet for her new silicon implants.
Why reward that pathology with my full attention?
Kusters' art stands alone as art. Do not let my sidebar detract from that.
I mean, I figured I would just be fired and that's that, I would never give my boss my FINGER.
I might, but I wouldn't cut it off.
Kusters' art stands alone as art.
As does Lynndie England's, if you're into that kind of art, or that kind of rationalization.
Mad, did you look at the other photo-essays?
Anyone who'd accept a body part as an apology is not worth apologizing to.
There are 4 and 20 ways to prove you're mad. To be sane in a mad world is what's hard.
I'm not sure you understand: when you appear before your oyabun you are ALREADY dead. Proffering a digit is begging a favour.
No Takuan, I was on your sidebar with you and igzabier.
as art, it is what it is, regardless of my opinion.
That's why they generally don't go for the 3-fingered Mickey Mouse hand in their animation.
But why go for the little finger first? It's actually a very useful digit. The actuarial values of digits go thumb, index, little, middle, ring in descending order, and the loss of my own left pinky would have a particularly dramatic effect on my ability to work.
Now if they wanted to be logical about it, if they just cut off one joint per "mistake" and abused their ring fingers to start, they could manage 6 apologies before they really messed up their hands...
standard assassin's method for killing with the shoto (short sword), or tanto (dagger) - both chosen over long sword for concealment - is getting close by deception, the sudden draw and then the abdominal stab for solar plexus/aorta using a two handed grip with dominant hand at base of hilt with little finger curled under the butt of the pommel for sliding resistance and secondary hand either in lateral co-grip or open palm to dominant hand fist- top to provide reverse thrust to free from bone in case of a mis-strike. Or so I am told. The pinkie matters.
offer a prayer for Asanuma-san, he was a good man.
http://tinyurl.com/nc7vtb
I wouldn't accept anything less than the person playing russian roulette with a 9mm automatic to his temple.
Can't help wondering, how does one play that?
ten rounds, one live, nine with no primer or load, mixed on table and loaded at random. Or so I am told.
If memory serves, James Bond was once forced to choose which finger he would like to have horribly disabled. He picked his left little finger, on the grounds that it was most useless. Aeon's remark suggests left ring finger would have been a better choice. Where wedding bands are often placed.... hmmm.
There was an odd, fleeting reference to Bond's pinkie decision in the recent Casino Royale movie, when he tells his ladyfriend she'd be surprised to learn just what he can do with his little finger. Shocking.
Milovoo, Tak,
I have a feeling that Gollux intended that the gun would have only live ammo.
@aeon #31:
The actuarial values of digits go thumb, index, little, middle, ring in descending order, and the loss of my own left pinky would have a particularly dramatic effect on my ability to work.
That depends on what you do for a living. A typist might choose different fingers than someone whose primary tool is a handgun.
I have a feeling that Gollux intended that the gun would have only live ammo.
Ah I see, not exactly roulette then. I had been trying to figure out the formula for the probabilities involved but kept getting distracted.
(1/6) constant
vs.
(1/10) decreasing
(+ increased odds of jamming because of empty cartridges in the clip ... unless you're buying special fake bullets so they fit right, but really how often are you going to do this anyway?)
I have a feeling that Gollux intended that the gun would have only live ammo.
Exactly. The story of the fool who plays Russian Roulette with an automatic is a low-grade urban legend, and gollux was making a waggish allusion to offing onesself.
innocent: ,don't make me strike you with this iron.
I seem to recall having seen a political cartoon of Sarah Palin playing Russian roulette with an automatic recently....
Bot an urbane legion
http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2000-04.html
"A wide based pyramid of foot soldiers earn, bleed and obey to support a few cunning and ruthless strongmen on top. Only a fool or a psychopath could truly like it."
This is kind of a nice description for the army...
TAKUAN, MDH, and all the rest of the 'boo-boo yakuza' comments:
As an outsider, it's doubtful that you understand the complex interactions of these gangs with the rest of Japanese society anymore than you understand the social or historical circumstances that have lead to the structure of modern yakuza. Not everyone has the same advantages growing up in Japanese society, no matter how structured.
Living a sustainable existence in this country is extremely difficult - and sometimes this is the only place for certain people. The role filled by Yakuza, like it or not, is integral to the rest of Japanese society.
Japan is more than Roppongi and Shinjuku. Like all countries it has ghettos, impoverished country-sides, ghost towns, and illegal settlements... and it's people are more than Salary-men and Harajuku transvestites.
I'm no fan of Kill-Bill style over-romanticized gang fiction, but spare us your judgmental oversimplifications of a group you understand so little.
Benher is of the automatic persuasion with a variant in the aim: terribly effective.
Frankly I haven't read all this thread: pinky sacrificing seems so wussy compared to seppuku... I participated just for the fun of messing with Tak's suicide engineering efforts but with Benher intervention now this might just become worthy of watching.
If you think this is bad, wait until you find out how they apologize for adultery.
well gee Benher, I didn't say they were BAD people. Just stupid. And if I have sympathy to dispense, I save it for their victims.
As outsiders we probably shouldn't be criticizing the Jangaweed because it's doubtful that we understand their complex interactions in Darfur society. So, please spare us our judgmental oversimplifications of a group we understand so little.
I'm not sure how that works, but I understand full well gang traditions, honor and violent coercion. It is a human society thing that has strong core values held the world over in all these societies whether they be recent small time Chicago hoods or handed down from the mists of time as is inferred about the Yakuza. Educate me about it if you like, just don't glorify it.
Yes well, I'm sure the Japanese mafia eagerly await your suggestions on how they can overcome their "stupidity", dissolve their collectives, and integrate with the rest of society in some sort of state-approved fashion. (alas, no rolleyes emoticon)
PS - Also, because someone asked earlier, they keep the fingers.
why do you think the yakuza is a good thing, Benher?