Battles Without Honor and Humanity

, also known in the West as The Yakuza Papers, is a Japanese yakuza film series produced by Toei Company. Inspired by a series of magazine articles by journalist Kōichi Iiboshi that are based on memoirs originally written by real-life yakuza Kōzō Minō, the films detail yakuza conflicts in Hiroshima Prefecture. Five films directed by Kinji Fukasaku and starring Bunta Sugawara as Shozo Hirono (a character based on Minō) were produced between 1973 and 1974. They were critically and commercially successful and popularized the subgenre of yakuza film called Jitsuroku eiga, which are often based on true stories. Fukasaku directed an additional three standalone films under the New Battles Without Honor and Humanity title between 1974 and 1976. Three more films by different directors were produced in 1979, 2000 and 2003. Sources The Jingi Naki Tatakai series of articles written by Kōichi Iiboshi that began in magazine in 1972, are rewrites of a manuscript originally written by while he was in prison. Minō led his own yakuza family associated with the Yamamura-gumi before being arrested in 1963. While incarcerated in Abashiri Prison he wrote his memoir and upon being released in 1970, retired from the yakuza life. His memoir tells the story of what is commonly called the , that took place between 1950 and 1972. Several yakuza groups were involved, the most well-known being the Yamaguchi-gumi and Kyosei-kai. In the films, the Yamamura-gumi became the Yamamori family, the Minō-gumi became the Hirono family, the Tsuchioka-gumi became the Doi family, the Yamaguchi-gumi became the Akashi family, the Honda-kai became the Shinwa Group, and the Kyosei-kai became the Tensei Coalition.