Some were criminals, while others worked the jobs that no one else wanted to work in Japanese society at the time. They were the untouchables and had to bear extreme discrimination from the government and society. They were forced to stick together in order to survive. During the mid-Edo period of Japanese history (1603-1868), there were two main groups of burakumin, both low ranking in society, that would most likely form the basis of the early Yakuza.
The tekiya were a group who stole or scammed goods and resold them, and the bakuto operated illegal gambling operations. From the bakuto came the tradition of cutting off the first joint of the little finger in order to punish a group member for doing something wrong. This was done in order to instill fear and loyalty towards the boss.
Also, if a Yakuza member decided they wanted to leave the gang for whatever reason, they would suffer losing their little finger and therefore always be branded as a former Yakuza member. During this time, people from the lower castes of society were developing their own tattoos, called irezumi, which are the basis for today’s Japanese decorative tattoos.
This was a revolutionary idea because these groups were taking punishment tattoos (often put on people’s foreheads and limbs) meant for outlaws, and reinventing their usage into a way to express themselves. These criminal tattoos were placed in noticeable places by the government for each criminal, completely ostracizing that person, and stopping any business from hiring them.
Around this time, the Yakuza was becoming a known group, and tattoos were outlawed in Japan and only criminals or outlaws had tattoos. Therefore, the Yakuza were embracing their own heritage and revolutionary rebelling against society with their tattooed bodies.