Otokodate (dandy) was the name given to the members of groups of young men formed to defend city dwellers from abuse from samurai. These groups, that even achieved a semi-official status, were outlawed in the end of the seventeenth century and are often considered the antecessors of the Yazuka (the Japanese Mafia). They were frequently the theme of Kabuki plays, where they were always presented as young men of samurai status that renounced their privileges to mend the evils of the world.