not really a martial arts question, or even a question on chinese culture.
but i couldnt find a solid answer elsewhere and its a short question so it shouldnt clog anything up

why the hell are the yakuza called the yakuza ? what i have read on wikipedia has said it is to do with a card game similar to black jack where the worst cards possible to draw are 8 9 3 which should be hachi kyu san
or thats the way i was taught to say it whenever i have learnt japanese from anyone (there was a japanese woman at my school who taught me a little bit as a hobby and i've done karate classes before as a child where the instructions were shouted out in japanese) and through watching japanese films and anime.

but apparently according to what everyone else thinks (apart from all the people who i have ever seen who have spoken japanese who use normal japanese pronounciations for numbers) the numbers 8 9 3 are supposedly pronounced

ya ku za.

my only answer to this is that maybe the criminal gangs of japan have their own way of pronouncing things similar to maybe crips not using words that have the letter B at the front (yes that happens) and vice versa e.g im going for a bigarette
or im gonna go take a cath. (yes really)


can anyone here clear this up

hachi kyu san

or ya ku za


any help greatly appreciated