What are the stereotypical characteristics of yakuza speech?


When people imitate yakuza speech, what are the major things they do to make
it recognizable as such?

If possible, how accurate is this compared to actual yakuza speech?

I've seen mention elsewhere on this site that there is some relationship with
Hiroshima dialect - how so?

One thing I've been told is that r's should be trilled. Intonation also seems
to be exaggerated. Is this so and what else is there?




As you probably already read in the [question on
dialects](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/654/how-many-dialects-
are-commonly-used-today), Yakuzas are often pictured speaking Hiroshima-ben
_on TV_. According to Japanese friends, this has probably as much to do with
the fact that Hiroshima-ben naturally sounds quite hard to the ear (whereas
soft-spoken Kyoto-ben is the typical dialect choice for cute, feminine
characters) as any real-world trend.

In reality, I'd say your average yakuza speaks a slang-heavy, ultra-masculine
version of whatever his (or his clan's) native dialect is. As it happens, many
yakuzas do come from Hiroshima and the West of Japan in general, so Kansai-ish
accent is usually a safe bet (once again: Kansai-ben(s) tend to sound harsher
and more direct than other dialects, so there's that too). Pretty sure the
none-to-rare Osaka yakusa speaks exclusively osaka-ben...

As you already guessed, among obvious (possibly stereotypical) characteristics
are:

1) extreme rolling of 'R's and ample exaggerated [consonant
gemination](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/751/how-did-little-
tsu-become-a-lengthener)...

2) liberal use of profanities (このやろう、おんどれ etc.) and strong interjections (ほっっら
etc.)

3) casual use of boastful/demeaning pronouns (われ、俺、きさま etc.)

But frankly, you will hear all of the above (and more) by talking to any
sufficiently cocky working-class Osaka resident.

My nifty [bilingual kansai-ben
phrasebook](http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%96%A2%E8%A5%BF%E5%BC%81%E3%82%92%E8%8B%B1%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%A7%E5%96%8B%E3%82%8C%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A3%E3%81%8B-%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%8E%E3%83%B3-%E3%83%92%E3%82%AE%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9/dp/4796639829)
has a (slightly tongue-in-cheek) "angry speech" section. Here are a couple of
the more straightforward ones:

ええ加減にせぇ！【ええかげんにせぇ】→ "Enough!"

ワレ、どつきまわすど！ → "I'll beat the crap out of you"

血い見るどわれぇ【ちいみるどわれぇ】→ "So you wanna see some blood?!"

クソガキがいちびりやがって！しまいにはイてまうぞ！→ "You're asking for trouble, kid!"

おんどれ、ええ根性しとるやないけ！ → "You are starting to piss me off"

One more for the road?

ワレ、目ん玉ほじぐりかえすど！ → "I'll rip your eyes out!"

Once again same warning applies re. real yakuza vs. average Kishiwada nomiya
dweller (never faced a pissed-off yakuza, so couldn't tell you)

PS: all apologies if the above is more an overview of regular rude/harsh
Kansai-ben than bona-fide Yakuza-speech, but in my limited (courteous, non-
confrontational and definitely non-violent) interactions with these types,
that's pretty much what they've always sounded like.

**Addendum** : talked some more with (Japanese) friends about this and the
consensus was that there ultimately isn't any fundamental difference between
"Yakusa-speech" and heavily-masculinised working-class osaka-ben (or
hiroshima-ben, or whatever you pick). There are, however, a few _words_ that
are exclusively Yakuza slang, e.g.:

チャカ → gun (instead of 鉄砲【てっぽう】)

サバく → to sell (instead of 売る)

シャブ → drugs (methamphetamine)

Not to mention common terms for Yakuza hierarchy (チンピラ, おやぶん etc.) and
derogative nicknames for the police: 犬【いぬ】, ポリこう etc.

Good luck placing those in everyday conversation ;-)

While googling around to double-check the above, I found [this great
page](http://www.jingai.com/yakuza/lesson1.html) which is essentially the
answer to your question (and more).




As you probably already read in the [question on
dialects](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/654/how-many-dialects-
are-commonly-used-today), Yakuzas are often pictured speaking Hiroshima-ben
_on TV_. According to Japanese friends, this has probably as much to do with
the fact that Hiroshima-ben naturally sounds quite hard to the ear (whereas
soft-spoken Kyoto-ben is the typical dialect choice for cute, feminine
characters) as any real-world trend.

In reality, I'd say your average yakuza speaks a slang-heavy, ultra-masculine
version of whatever his (or his clan's) native dialect is. As it happens, many
yakuzas do come from Hiroshima and the West of Japan in general, so Kansai-ish
accent is usually a safe bet (once again: Kansai-ben(s) tend to sound harsher
and more direct than other dialects, so there's that too). Pretty sure the
none-to-rare Osaka yakusa speaks exclusively osaka-ben...

As you already guessed, among obvious (possibly stereotypical) characteristics
are:

1) extreme rolling of 'R's and ample exaggerated [consonant
gemination](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/751/how-did-little-
tsu-become-a-lengthener)...

2) liberal use of profanities (このやろう、おんどれ etc.) and strong interjections (ほっっら
etc.)

3) casual use of boastful/demeaning pronouns (われ、俺、きさま etc.)

But frankly, you will hear all of the above (and more) by talking to any
sufficiently cocky working-class Osaka resident.

My nifty [bilingual kansai-ben
phrasebook](http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%96%A2%E8%A5%BF%E5%BC%81%E3%82%92%E8%8B%B1%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%A7%E5%96%8B%E3%82%8C%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A3%E3%81%8B-%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%8E%E3%83%B3-%E3%83%92%E3%82%AE%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9/dp/4796639829)
has a (slightly tongue-in-cheek) "angry speech" section. Here are a couple of
the more straightforward ones:

ええ加減にせぇ！【ええかげんにせぇ】→ "Enough!"

ワレ、どつきまわすど！ → "I'll beat the crap out of you"

血い見るどわれぇ【ちいみるどわれぇ】→ "So you wanna see some blood?!"

クソガキがいちびりやがって！しまいにはイてまうぞ！→ "You're asking for trouble, kid!"

おんどれ、ええ根性しとるやないけ！ → "You are starting to piss me off"

One more for the road?

ワレ、目ん玉ほじぐりかえすど！ → "I'll rip your eyes out!"

Once again same warning applies re. real yakuza vs. average Kishiwada nomiya
dweller (never faced a pissed-off yakuza, so couldn't tell you)

PS: all apologies if the above is more an overview of regular rude/harsh
Kansai-ben than bona-fide Yakuza-speech, but in my limited (courteous, non-
confrontational and definitely non-violent) interactions with these types,
that's pretty much what they've always sounded like.

**Addendum** : talked some more with (Japanese) friends about this and the
consensus was that there ultimately isn't any fundamental difference between
"Yakusa-speech" and heavily-masculinised working-class osaka-ben (or
hiroshima-ben, or whatever you pick). There are, however, a few _words_ that
are exclusively Yakuza slang, e.g.:

チャカ → gun (instead of 鉄砲【てっぽう】)

サバく → to sell (instead of 売る)

シャブ → drugs (methamphetamine)

Not to mention common terms for Yakuza hierarchy (チンピラ, おやぶん etc.) and
derogative nicknames for the police: 犬【いぬ】, ポリこう etc.

Good luck placing those in everyday conversation ;-)

While googling around to double-check the above, I found [this great
page](http://www.jingai.com/yakuza/lesson1.html) which is essentially the
answer to your question (and more).

