Confessions of a Yakuza (浅草博徒一代, Asakusa bakuto ichidai) is a 1989 book by Japanese doctor and author Junichi Saga.

[1][2][3] The book starts with the teenage Ijichi running away from his family home in Utsunomiya to Tokyo, to find a judge's mistress who he was having an affair with.

The book follows Ijichi through his first job at a family coal merchant in the then district of Fukagawa, his various mistresses and treatment for syphilis, the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, his initiation into the gang that controlled gambling in the Asakusa entertainment area, his various stretches in prison, his overseas service in occupied Korea in the 1920s, his rise to the boss of the gang, and his experiences during and after World War II.

The English translation of the book by John Bester was initially published by Kodansha under the title "The Gambler's Tale: A Life in Japan's Underworld.

Saga's main role in the book is to introduce some of the stories with descriptions of the older Ijichi as he recounts them.