Sukeban
Japanese term meaning "girl boss" or "delinquent girl"
title: "Sukeban" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["crime-in-japan", "female-criminals", "female-stock-characters-in-anime-and-manga", "japanese-subcultures", "japanese-words-and-phrases", "fiction-about-juvenile-delinquency", "slang-terms-for-women", "women-in-japan"] description: "Japanese term meaning "girl boss" or "delinquent girl"" topic_path: "geography/japan" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukeban" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Japanese term meaning "girl boss" or "delinquent girl" ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox cultural movement"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Sukeban |
| yearsactive | 1960s–1970s |
| country | Japan |
| influenced | Seinen manga, Pinky Violence films, all-girl Bōsōzoku gangs |
| :: |
| name = Sukeban | image = | alt = | caption = | yearsactive = 1960s–1970s | country = Japan | majorfigures = | influences = | influenced = Seinen manga, Pinky Violence films, all-girl Bōsōzoku gangs
is a Japanese term meaning , and the female equivalent to the male ja in Japanese culture. The usage of the word ja refers to either the leader of a girl gang or the entire gang itself, and is not used to refer to any one member of a girl gang.
The word ja was originally used by delinquents, but has been used by the general population to describe the subculture since 1972. ja were formed as a direct result of male gangs' refusal to accept female members, consequently the term has come to refer to the massive movement that brought feminism to public attention at a time when men of the yakuza were thriving.
ja reportedly first appeared in Japan during the 1960s, presenting themselves as the female equivalent to the ja gangs, which were composed mostly of men. During the 1970s, as ja gangs began to die out, ja girl gangs began to rise in number. Gangs were initially small groups of girls sneaking cigarettes in school bathrooms, but eventually grew in numbers, as did their level of criminality. These gangs were commonly associated by violence and shop-lifting. Gangs ranged in size from Tokyo's United Shoplifters group, comprising roughly 80 members, to the Kanto Women Delinquent Alliance, rumored to have had around 20,000 members. Criminal activities and violence of the girl gangs in Japan reached such a high that sketches used to identify them in Japanese police pamphlets in the 1980s described aspects of their fashion as "omens of downfall".
Characteristics
Appearance and other signifiers
The common signifiers of ja include brightly-dyed or permed hair, in colours of either blonde or light brown. Members of ja also modified their school uniform by wearing coloured socks, rolling up their sleeves and lengthening their skirt, which were sometimes decorated with gang-affiliated symbols, kanji and/or slogans. The long skirts were a rejection of the popularity of the miniskirt, which had become popular in the 1960s during the sexual revolution. Though their skirts were long, ja often cut their shirts to expose their midriffs. Converse sneakers were also another addition, and their clothes often had handmade modifications, including badges and buttons. They wore very little make-up and sported thin eyebrows. Adding to these features, ja usually wore surgical masks, and often carried with them razor blades, bamboo swords and chains, which could be concealed under their skirts.
The style of the sukeban have been interpreted as a rebellion against traditional gender norms, sexism, and the objectification of women, while, more specifically, the length of their skirts has been read as a reaction to the sexual revolution.
Codes of Conduct and similar attitudes
ja girls followed strict rules and codes of conduct within their gangs. Each gang possessed a hierarchy as well as their own means of punishment; cigarette burns were considered a minor punishment for stealing a boyfriend or disrespecting a senior member. ja were reported to engage in activities such as stimulant use, shoplifting, theft, and violence, but if arrested, could be charged with the lesser offence of "pre-delinquency". Stimulants used often included sniffing paint thinner or glue.
Media and cultural influence
In the 1970s and 1980s, ja became popular characters in ja manga. ja characters could also be seen in ja manga publications. ja, Tales of Yajikita College and ja were three popular ja series that had a mostly ja cast.
Pink film director Norifumi Suzuki made the first films in the seven-film Girl Boss (ja) series. He also started the four-film Terrifying Girls' High School series (1971–1972) featuring ja characters. Both series featured prominent Pinky violent actresses Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto, as well as former beauty queen Reiko Oshida. On December 6, 2005, Panik House company released a four-disc region-1 DVD collection surveying ja films entitled The Pinky Violence Collection. These films challenged traditional constructions of gender and female sexuality in postwar Japan.
Jewish Japanese crime writer Jake Adelstein said with regards to ja:
Footnotes
Sources
- Ashcraft, Brian with Ueda Shoko (2010). Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool. Kodansha. .
- Weisser, Yuko Mihara (2nd Quarter 2001). "Japanese Fighting Divas 101". Asian Cult Cinema #31.
References
- (16 February 2019). "Sukeban - The Forgotten Story of Japans Girl Gangs".
- (27 December 2023). "SUKEBAN: Japan's 70s Delinquent Girl Gangs".
- (5 November 2015). "Remembering Japan's badass 70s schoolgirl gangs".
- "The Japanese Slang Jiko".
- Yonekawa, Akihiko. ''Beyond Polite Japanese: A Dictionary of Japanese Slang and Colloquialisms'', 2001, pages 26–27. {{ISBN. 978-4-7700-2773-3.
- (2 August 2018). "1970's Sukeban Subculture: Japanese Delinquent Gangs".
- Webb, Beth. (16 February 2016). "How Vicious Schoolgirl Gangs Sparked a Media Frenzy in Japan".
- (18 July 2019). "The True Story Of Sukeban: Violent Girl Gangs Of '70s Japan".
- Cherry, Kittredge. (1991). "Womansword: What Japanese Words Say About Women". Kodansha International Ltd..
- Everyday, Vintage. (October 18, 2018). "Sukeban: 20 Amazing Photographs Capture Badass Girl Gangs in Japan From the 1970s and 1980s".
- [http://okazu.yuricon.com/2004/03/03/yuri-mangayuri-anime-sukeban-deka/ Yuri Manga: Sukeban Deka Review], [[Yuricon#Publishing and Outreach. Okazu]], Erica Friedman of [[Yuricon]] {{webarchive. link. (September 5, 2015)
- (1 January 2012). "Pinky Violence: Shock, awe and the exploitation of sexual liberation". Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema.
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