Yakuza; also known as Gokudo; are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police; and media by request of the police; call them boryokudan ('violent groups'); while the yakuza call themselvesninkyo danta ('chivalrous organizations').

Although yakuza membership has declined following an anti-gang law aimed specifically at yakuza and passed by the Japanese government in 1992; there are thought to be more than 58;000 active yakuza members in Japan today.