History Main / Yubitsume

* The Trip-hop artist and ex Yazuka member DJ Krush once found a yubitsume-severed pinky on his desk, belonging to his best friend. [[DefectorFromDecadence He soon defected the group.]]

* An old AlfredHitchcockPresents episode starring Peter Lorre and Steve McQueen, based on the above RoaldDahl story. A compulsive gambler would take bets on things like a cigarette lighter being able to light ten times in a row. The winners got a large sum of money. Lose, and you'd lose part of your finger. [[spoiler: At the end, the gamblers' wife comes in and scolds him soundly, informing his marks that ''she'' owned everything - not her husband. You also see how she earned it - she has about three fingers left.]]
** A TalesFromTheCrypt episode has a similar plot. A pair of compulsive gamblers are determined to compete and find out who's the best in the world, but they wind up even in every game they play. They eventually come down to playing "Chop Poker," where every time you lose a hand of cards, you lose a finger from your hand. At the end of the episode [[spoiler: neither one has any limbs left, and they're stuck in a hospital playing checkers with their noses]].

* ''FourRooms''. QuentinTarantino and friends attempt to recreate the below-mentioned scene from Alfred Hitchcock Presents, with BlackComedy results.

* The RoaldDahl short story ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_from_the_South Man from the South]]'' is about a man who offers to make a bet with a young man over how many times he can set off his lighter without fail. The old man bets his CoolCar if he loses, and suggests that if he wins the younger man has to give him his little finger of his left hand. [[spoiler: Before the outcome is decided, the crazy old mans wife bursts in, explaining that the man has taken 47 fingers and lost 11 cars... she actually won everything he owned long ago, although it cost her most of her fingers to do so..]] The story has also been included in several TV and Movie anthologies.
** And referenced in 'The Man From Hollywood' segment of ''FourRooms'', in which film-making buddies watch, decide to go through with the same bet while they're still drunk, and snare the bellhop into participating ("We. Want. You. To. Be. The. Dice man!" "Hell of a night, isn't it Ted?")

* In the film ''JohnnyMnemonic'', the yakzua killer had his thumb replaced with reel of monofilament wire. It is generally assumed that he had cut off his thumb in the past due to dishonor and turned a disability into an asset (though that's not the case in the original.)

* In William Gibson's ''{{Neuromancer}}'', a gangster named Terzibashjian is missing most of his middle finger, indicating that he's undergone the ritual. Also, a man named Lupus admits that he works for the Yakuza.

'''Lupus''': I never screw up.

This is the reason that [[FourFingeredHands four-fingered cartoon people]] are [[ValuesDissonance a no-no in Japan]].

The practice originates in feudal Japan, where conventional sword grips rely on use of the pinky finger for strength; after yubitsume, the offender becomes weaker and more dependent on his superiors.

* In ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', instead of having to cut her finger off, Shion Sonozaki has to rip her own fingernails off, one for each of her sins, to earn repentance from her family, who are the Hinamizawa equivalent of the Yakuza.
** This is actually a stanard punishment inside the Sonozaki family. Shion and Mion's mom Akane had to do the same after confronting Granny Oryuu on her love life (ironically, her future husband was also a Yukuza boss), and Oryuu herself did it too for something we don't know of.

** This is actually a stanard punishment inside the Sonozaki family. Shion and Mion's mom Akane had to do the same after confronting Granny Oryuu on her love life, and Oryuu herself did it too for something we don't know of.

** This is actually a stanard punishment inside the Sonozaki family. Shion and Mion's mom Akane had to do the same after confronting Granny Oryuu on her lvoe life, and Oryuu herself did it too for something we don't know of.

* In the {{seinen}} manga ''WolfGuyWolfenCrest'', the son of a yakuza boss punishes a mook who seriously failed him by taking away his finger in a horribly {{Fingore}} scene; rather than using something sharp, he uses a metal ring he is wearing, grinding the mook's finger against the floor until it comes off.

* In ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', instead of having to cut her finger off, Shion has to rip her own fingernails off, one for each of her sins, to earn repentance from her family, who are the Hinamizawa equivalent of the Yakuza.

* An aversion in GreenArrow - the assassin Shado had all of her fingers intact, which Ollie's informant was a little surprised at hearing. He then warned Ollie it ''wasn't'' a good sign - Shado would have to be particularly {{Badass}} as to never ''need'' to make that sort of apology to her betters.

* In one {{Discworld}} novel it's mentioned that Harry King, who is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial definitely not a]] mob boss, has a missing pinky on one of his hands.

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* The picture above is from ''BuchoShimaKousaku''.
* In the {{seinen}} manga ''WolfGuyWolfenCrest'', the son of a yakuza boss punishes a mook who seriously failed him by taking away his finger in a horribly {{Fingore}} scene; rather than using something sharp, he uses a metal ring he is wearing, grinding the mook's finger against the floor until it comes off.
* In ''{{Change 123}}'', a Yakuza attacks one of Motoko's three badass fathers with a folding knife, but the blade folds down onto his thumb. The father calmly tells a horrified boy not to worry, because these guys cut their own fingers all the time.
* In ''HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', instead of having to cut her finger off, Shion has to rip her own fingernails off, one for each of her sins, to earn repentance from her family, who are the Hinamizawa equivalent of the Yakuza.
* Referenced in ''{{Gokusen}}'' after the Family lawyer, a close friend of the [[MafiaPrincess Yakuza Princess]] heroine is shot by a member of an opposing group. Two of the Yakuza who are her friends/subordiantes comment that it wouldn't be enough for the rival group to make amends by sending her the shooter's pinkies and little toes; she'd demand his life.
* A Yakuza boss in the seinen manga Homunculus did this almost constantly. Most of his gang members were missing pinkies because he would remove them for insignificant reasons like interrupting a meeting. Turns out he has a FreudianExcuse from accidentally slicing his brother's finger off as a child. When the main character helps him realize his problem, the boss slices his own pinky off.

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* In the {{seinen}} manga ''WolfenCrest'', the son of a yakuza boss punishes a mook who seriously failed him by taking away his finger in a horribly {{Fingore}} scene; rather than using something sharp, he uses a metal ring he is wearing, grinding the mook's finger against the floor until it comes off.

* In the film ''JohnnyMnemonic'', the yakzua killer had his thumb replaced with reel of monofilament wire. It is generally assumed that he had cut off his thumb in the past due to dishonor and turned a disability into an asset.

* ''{{Predators}}'' features a Yakuza enforcer, Hanzo, who is voiceless for most of the film. At a certain point, Hanzo reveals he speaks English - and shows two missing fingers saying he's mute "because he speaks too much".
* ''FourRooms''. Quentin Tarrintino and friends attempt to recreate the below-mentioned scene from Alfred Hitchcock Presents, with BlackComedy results.

* In {{Charles de Lint}}'s {{cyberpunk}} novel ''Svaha'', [[spoiler:yakuza attorney Fumiko Hirose]] does this shortly before [[spoiler:setting out to avenge the murder of her lover]].

* Isn't a version of this done in AssassinsCreed, where the assassin must sacrifice his left middle finger in order to use the Hidden Blade?
** Ring finger, but yes this is true. By the time of the second one it seems that this has gone out of style due to, y'know, putting the blade about half an inch lower. Who would have thought?

* Non-mafia-related example: During WWII, many fathers of Japanese soldiers that died on kamikaze runs cut off the top bits of their pinky fingers and sent them to the Emperor in protest of the war. They were intercepted and the Emperor never saw them.

* A variant of this is done in Heavy Rain