L5r, 4e, Bbq

[Suteinu]

A couple of weeks ago, my friends had barbecue and chimbara for dinner. Watching some great Kurosawa brought to mind a couple of questions:

Is a budoka allowed, legally, to carry daisho (or either part of daisho) in Rokugan?

Is a doctor (a la Redbeard) considered an artisan or an eta?

Is the Kolat the Rokugani version of the yakuza, or does Rokugan have both as separate entities?

[Terraoblivion]

The daisho is the mark of the samurai and there's a death sentence for anybody else carrying them as if they belonged due to how it upsets the social order. As such, budoka need to use other weapons and not katanas or wakizashi. Though, of course, there is the possibility of a peasant mugging a samurai and pretending to be ronin, especially in very chaotic periods like the Clan War or similar.

And a doctor like Redbeard would be a filthy traitor consorting with gaijin, given how he was practicing European medicine rather than Chinese. L5R takes the isolationism of Edo period Japan and magnifies it to the cartoonish degree that a lot of people in the west think it was like. However, medicine is a high skill, so performing it is by no means something so dirty that only eta would do it. At least as long as you don't study anatomy too closely, which is a different matter.

Finally, there are definitely ordinary criminal groups in Rokugan, though they tend to be fronts and puppets for other groups, especially the Scorpion and the Kolat. However, the Kolat is more like a big Communist conspiracy than conventional organized crime, given how much of an ideology and sense of higher purpose it has. In general, organized crime in Rokugan tends towards relatively local, manageable groups that won't destabilize society or draw too much attention from magistrates. Scorpion dominance of the underworld helps make sure of that, while also providing contact to other groups.

[BWR]

She gets it mostly right, but the Redbeard issue is a bit more complex. Sure, the character and his knowledge taken straight out of the movie would be a walking violation of Imperial norms, but this has little to do with his social caste. If he were born an eta and somehow amassed a great deal of knowledge about Rokugani medicine and managed to open a clinic and get non-eta patients, he would still be eta. If he were bonge who got hold of gaijin knowledge and used it he would probably be reduced to eta the moment anyone found out. If he were samurai most people would probably shun him until the word spread about how awesome his skills were, then people would show up, even if they have to disguise themselves. Knowledge of gaijin ways is not in itself illegal, just their ways are dishonorable, and even that is contested by two Great Clans.

Artisan is not a social caste, though it is closely linked with caste, so someone could technically be an eta artisan, though this is highly unlikely to ever happen. Most likely he would be heimin (peasant caste).

[Occasional Sage]

Also, don't forget that the Yasuki and Daidoji are elbow-deep in the black markets and related crime, though where the Yasuki end and the Kolat begin is a tough question to answer.

[BWR]

Somehow I totally missed the Kolat/Yakuza question. :smalleek:

Short answer: the Kolat are not yakuza, and yakuza do exist in Rokugan.

According to "Way of the Thief" there are numerous minor and not-so-minor criminal organizations in Rokugan. Most of these are simple bandit gangs (or big ones like the Forest Killers), smugglers, pirates and basic thugs. There are also ronin groups which are the local law in areas, and at times do stuff that is illegal. Many groups are run by or overseen by the Yasuki and to a lesser extent the Daidoji, Yoritomo and Scorpion (in ascending order of likelihood). The main problem of yakuza in Rokugan is that in most important areas and during most times, the ruling class is strong enough that any intruding group is likely to be pounded hard, so you may have local crime bosses who keep their heads down and out of the way of the samurai, but large organizations that could draw too much attention from the law are rare.
The most lucrative and lawless places, like Ryoko Owari, are heaven from criminals of all kinds but some Great Clan is likely to keep a close eye on things, and any gang working there is likely to have a samurai at the top, working for his clan.

The Kolat, as has been pointed out, do resemble the yakuza the most, but there are important differences. Despite their more modern goals, the Kolat is originally an idelogical-political conspiracy, not an economic one. Their goal is not to amass wealth and local power but to overthrow the rule of heaven on earth. Economic power is just one aspect of their organization, if an increasingly important one (especially if you go by the more recent story). Since secrecy is the Kolat's most powerful weapon, they don't want anything to do with groups that basically shout out who and what they are like a yakuza group does.
I suppose the greatest difference between the two is in goals. Any yakuza, no matter what traditions or causes they claim, is about immediate power and wealth. The players there want power and wealth at some point in their life. The Kolat play the long game and can easily allow members or pawns to be a drain on resources in the hopes that this will further plans 2 or 3 generations later.
There are degrees and exceptions, of course, but this is roughly correct.

The Kolat could easily have yakuza groups that unknowlingly work for them, but the Kolat themselves don't really fit the description.