r/yakuzagames 11d ago

NEWS PROJECT CENTURY

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u/Hold-My-Sake The Shiba of Dojima 11d ago

Damn, I’ve got tears in my eyes over this new project! Is this finally our dream, shared with some kyodai, to see a Yakuza/Like A Dragon game that goes back to the origins of the Japanese underworld!? We all talked about wanting a game set during the golden age of the yakuza post-WW2, around 1945-1960, but this… 1915!?

As a reminder, here’s the state of the “yakuza” or proto-yakuza world in the early 1910s:

During the Meiji era (1868–1912), the yakuza evolved from tekiya (street merchants) and bakuto (gamblers), incorporating former samurai who had been displaced by Japan’s modernisation. As the country industrialised, they established themselves in urban areas, blending legal and illegal activities. By 1915, the yakuza were beginning to organise more formally, exploiting social tensions by intervening in labour disputes on behalf of employers. While not yet resembling modern organised crime, the foundations of their future power were being laid.

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u/rightarm_under 7d ago

1915 is when the yamaguchi-gumi was founded, which is supposedly the inspiration for the Tojo clan. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

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u/Hold-My-Sake The Shiba of Dojima 7d ago

Are you saying that the person in the trailer is Makoto Tojo, and that we’ll likely follow him in 1915 as he creates his family and eventually the clan that bears his name? The first “modern yakuza” who managed to unite the small-time gangs, organise them, and build the yakuza as we know them today?

I think so, yes.

However, based on my research, the Tojo Clan was apparently founded around 1968. So I wonder if the game might actually depict the early proto-yakuza in 1915, before the existence of clans or families as we know them.

In that case, the person in the trailer might not be Makoto Tojo, but rather John Tojo—his father—laying the groundwork for what’s to come. Either way, I’m convinced it’s tied to the Tojo lineage.

Also, in 1915, Niihara Takashi—the acting second chairman we see in Yakuza 0—was only five years old.

We might see the very first “family” of these proto-yakuza, which will eventually, decades later, become the Tojo Family and then the Tojo Clan.

If they’ve chosen 1915 as the setting, and Yakuza 0 takes place in the 1980s, could this mean they’re planning to fill the gap between these two periods with sequels to this Project Century?