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is a name for a low-status social group in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
. It is a term for ethnic Japanese people with occupations considered as being associated with , such as executioners,
undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker ( British English) or mortician ( American English), is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead ...
s,
slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...
workers,
butcher A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...
s, or tanners. During Japan's feudal era, acquired a
hereditary Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic informa ...
status of
untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...
, and became an unofficial
caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultur ...
of the Tokugawa class system during the
Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...
. were victims of severe discrimination and
ostracism Ostracism ( el, ὀστρακισμός, ''ostrakismos'') was an Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years. While some instances clearly expressed popular anger at the ci ...
in Japanese society, and lived as outcasts, in their own separate villages or ghettos. status was abolished officially after the
Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
in 1868, but the descendants of have since continued to experience stigmatization and discrimination in Japan.


Terminology

is derived from , a Japanese term which refers literally to a small, generally
rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are de ...
, commune or
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
. People from regions of Japan where "discriminated communities" no longer exist (e.g. anywhere north of
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
) may refer to any hamlet as a , indicating use of the word is not necessarily pejorative. Historically, the term was used for an outcast community that was discriminated against officially and formally. A term used much for settlements is , an official term for districts designated for government and local authority assimilation projects. The social issue concerning "discriminated communities" is usually referred to as or, less commonly, . During the feudal era, the outcaste were termed , a term now considered derogatory. towns were termed . Some refer to their own communities as and themselves as . Other outcaste groups from whom may have been descended included the . The definition of , as well as their social status and typical occupations varied over time, but typically included ex-convicts and vagrants who worked as town guards, street cleaners or entertainers. During the 19th century, the term was invented to name the and because both classes were forced to live in separate village neighborhoods.


Historical origins

The predecessors to , called or formed as a distinct group some time during the
Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japan ...
, AD 794-1185. Initially, they dealt with pollution but were not considered defiled personally. From the Heian period through medieval period, were regarded as having the ability to cleanse ritual pollution, and in some portrayals were even considered as having magical powers. were associated with the tanning industry and had the exclusive rights to tan hides. , meaning "non-human", was another pre- status, applying to beggars and camp followers of
samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They ...
. Their position was more mobile and they were thought to be less polluted. The
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
regarded beggars as and allowed them to beg in designated areas. They had to work as restroom attendants, prison officers, or
executioners An executioner is an officer of the court who carries out capital punishment sentences. Executioner may also refer to: *"The Executioner", a painting by 17th-century Spanish Tenebrist painter Jusepe de Ribera Written works * ''The Execution ...
. One famous or is , who was the chief of , and
street performers Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pra ...
in the
Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Sl ...
, and was given the exclusive
license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
of tanning, candle wicks and others and made a fortune.


End of the feudal era

The feudal caste system in Japan ended formally in 1869 with the
Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
. In 1871, the newly formed Meiji government issued the decree giving outcasts equal legal status. It is currently known better as the . However, were deprived of the exclusive rights of disposal of dead bodies of horses and cattle and the elimination of their monopolies of certain occupations actually resulted in a decrease of their general living standards, while social discrimination simply continued. During the early Meiji era, many anti- riots () happened around the country. For example, in a village in
Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...
when "former " tried to buy alcohol, four men were killed, four men were injured and 25 houses were destroyed by commoners, and in another village, 263 houses of were destroyed and 18 people of former were killed, which was part of an anti-Government riot. The practice of eating meat existed even during the Edo period, but the official ban of consumption of meat from livestock was ended during 1871 in order to "Westernise" the country, and many former began to work in abattoirs and as
butcher A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale food establishm ...
s, as they were thought to be experienced with the handling of dead bodies. Slow-changing social attitudes, especially in the countryside, meant that abattoirs and their workers were often met with hostility from local residents. Continued ostracism as well as the decrease of living standards resulted in former communities becoming slum areas. Prejudice against the consumption of meat continued throughout the Meiji period; in 1872, a group of , who objected to the Emperor's consumption of meat, tried to enter the
Tokyo Imperial Palace The is the main residence of the Emperor of Japan. It is a large park-like area located in the Chiyoda district of the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo and contains several buildings including the where the Emperor has his living quarters, the where va ...
and four of them were killed. They claimed that gods would leave Japan because the Japanese had eaten meat. There were many terms used to indicate former outcastes, their communities or settlements at the time. Official documents at the time referred to them as , while the newly-liberated outcasts called themselves , among other terms. Nakae Chōmin worked for the liberation of . He transferred his resident registration to and denounced the discrimination against them when he campaigned during the election of 1890 from Osaka and won. The term , now considered inappropriate, started being used by officials during the 1900s, and resulted in the meaning of the word ("hamlet") coming to imply former villages in certain parts of Japan. Attempts to resolve the problem during the early 20th century were of two types: the philosophy which encouraged improvements in living standards of communities and integration with the mainstream Japanese society, and the philosophy which concentrated on confronting and criticising alleged perpetrators of discrimination.


Post-war situation

Although liberated legally during 1871 with the abolition of the feudal
caste system Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural ...
, this did not end social
discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of Racial discrimination, r ...
against nor improve their living standards; until recently, Japanese family registration was fixed to an ancestral home address, which allowed people to deduce their ancestry.


Demographics

The number of asserted to be living in modern Japan varies from source to source. A 1993 report by the Japanese government counted 4,533 throughout the country. Most were located in western Japan, while none were located in
Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...
and Tōhoku. About three quarters of the districts are in rural areas. The size of each community ranged from less than five households to more than 1,000 households. The
Buraku Liberation League is a burakumin's rights group in Japan. Buraku are ethnic Japanese and descended from outcast communities of the Japanese feudal era. History Pre-World War II period The origin of the Buraku Liberation League is the , founded in 1922. Howeve ...
(BLL) has extrapolated Meiji-era figures to arrive at an estimate of nearly three million . In some areas, are in a majority; per a 1997 report, they accounted for more than 70 percent of all residents of
Yoshikawa is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 73,262 in 31,031 households and a population density of 2300 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Located in far southeastern Sait ...
(now Kōnan) in Kōchi Prefecture. In Ōtō,
Fukuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the southwest, K ...
, they accounted for more than 60 percent. Japanese government statistics show the number of residents of assimilation districts who claim ancestry, whereas BLL figures are estimates of the total number of descendants of all former and current residents, including current residents without any ancestry. According to a survey performed by the
Tokyo Metropolitan Government The is the government of the Tokyo Metropolis. One of the 56 prefectures of Japan, the government consists of a popularly elected governor and assembly. The headquarters building is located in the ward of Shinjuku. The metropolitan governme ...
during 2003, 76% of Tokyo residents would not change their opinion of a close neighbor whom they discovered to be a ; 4.9% of respondents, on the other hand, would actively avoid a neighbor. There is still a
social stigma Social stigma is the disapproval of, or discrimination against, an individual or group based on perceived characteristics that serve to distinguish them from other members of a society. Social stigmas are commonly related to culture, gender, ra ...
for being a resident of certain areas associated traditionally with the , and some lingering
discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of Racial discrimination, r ...
in matters such as
marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
and
employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any o ...
.


Discrimination in access to services

While in many parts of the country settlements, built on the site of former villages, ceased to exist by the 1960s because of either urban development or integration into mainstream society, in other regions many of their residents continued to suffer from slum-like housing and infrastructure, lower economic status, illiteracy, and lower general educational standards. In 1969, the government passed the to provide funding to these communities. Communities deemed to be in need of funding were designated for various , such as construction of new housing and community facilities such as health centers, libraries and swimming pools. The projects were terminated in 2002 with a total funding of an estimated 12 trillion yen over 33 years.


Social discrimination

Cases of social discrimination against residents of areas are still an issue in certain regions. Outside of the
Kansai The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshu, Honshū. The region includes the Prefectures of Japan, prefectures of Nara Prefecture, Nara, Wakayama Prefecture, Wakayama, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto, Osaka Prefectur ...
region, people in general are often not aware of the issues experienced by those of ancestry, and if they are, this awareness may only be awareness of the history of feudal Japan. Due to the sensitive nature of the topic and the campaigns by the
Buraku Liberation League is a burakumin's rights group in Japan. Buraku are ethnic Japanese and descended from outcast communities of the Japanese feudal era. History Pre-World War II period The origin of the Buraku Liberation League is the , founded in 1922. Howeve ...
to remove any references in the media that may propagate discrimination against them, it is rarely presented by the media. Prejudice against most often manifests itself in the form of marriage discrimination and sometimes in
employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any o ...
. Traditionalist families have been known to check on the backgrounds of potential in-laws to identify people of ancestry. These checks are now illegal, and marriage discrimination is diminishing; Nadamoto Masahisa of the Buraku History Institute estimates that between 60 and 80% of marry a non-, whereas for people born during the late 1930s and early 1940s, the rate was 10%. Many companies were known to have used lists of addresses that were developed first in 1975 to exclude the . The average income of a family was significantly less than the national average (60% in 1992). Cases of continuing social discrimination are known to occur mainly in western Japan, particularly in the
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
,
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...
, Hyogo, and
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui ...
regions, where many people, especially the older generation, stereotype residents (whatever their ancestry) and associate them with squalor, unemployment and criminality. No discriminated-against communities were identified in the following
prefectures A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...
:
Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...
,
Aomori is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a population density of 340 people per square kilometer spread over the city's total are ...
, Iwate, Miyagi,
Akita is a Japanese name and may refer to: Places * 8182 Akita, a main-belt asteroid * Akita Castle, a Nara period fortified settlement in Akita, Japan * Akita Domain, also known as Kubota Domain, feudal domain in Edo period Japan * Akita, Kumamoto ...
, Yamagata, Fukushima,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...
, Toyama, Ishikawa, and
Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...
. Hokkaido and Okinawa have had their own separate history of discrimination of their native ethnic groups the
Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...
and the Ryukyuans, respectively.


Yakuza membership

According to David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro in ''Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan's Criminal Underworld'' (Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1986), account for about 70% of the members of
Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan's largest '' yakuza'' organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe before World War II. It is one of the largest criminal organizations i ...
, the largest
yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the ter ...
crime syndicate in Japan. Mitsuhiro Suganuma, an ex-member of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, testified that account for about 60 percent of the members of the entire yakuza.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine


incident

In November 1975, the Osaka part of the Buraku Liberation League was alerted about the existence of a book named . Investigations revealed that copies of the hand-written 330-page book were being sold secretly by an Osaka-based business to numerous businesses and individuals throughout Japan by a mail order service named Cablenet, at between ¥5,000 and ¥50,000 per copy. The book contained a nationwide list of all the names and locations of settlements (as well as the primary means of employment of their inhabitants), which could be compared against people's addresses to determine if they were residents. The preface contained the following message: "At this time, we have decided to go against public opinion and create this book orpersonnel managers grappling with employment issues, and families pained by problems with their children's marriages". More than 200 large Japanese companies, including (according to the Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute of Osaka)
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
,
Nissan , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun bra ...
,
Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
and
Daihatsu , commonly known as Daihatsu, is a Japanese automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest surviving Japanese internal combustion engine manufacturers. The company's headquarters are located in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture. Historically, Daihatsu was ...
, along with thousands of individuals purchased copies of the book. In 1985, partially in response to the popularity of this book, and an increase of the Osaka prefectural government introduced "An Ordinance to Regulate Personal Background Investigation Conducive to Buraku Discrimination". Although the production and sale of the book has been banned, numerous copies of it are still in existence, and in 1997, an Osaka private investigation company was the first to be charged with violation of the 1985 statute for using the text.


Nonaka incident

In 2001, future Prime Minister of Japan Tarō Asō, along with
Hiromu Nonaka was a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party. Nonaka served as a local politician in Kyoto Prefecture from 1951 to 1978 and in the House of Representatives from 1983 to 2003, becoming one of its most prominent members in the 1990 ...
, was among the LDP's chief candidates to succeed
Yoshirō Mori is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan between April 2000 and April 2001. He was unpopular in opinion polls during his time in office, and is known for making controversial statements, both during and after his ...
as premier of Japan. Nonaka, the former
Chief Cabinet Secretary The is a member of the cabinet and is the leader and chief executive of the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan. The Chief Cabinet Secretary coordinates the policies of ministries and agencies in the executive branch, and also serves as the governmen ...
, is of ''burakumin'' descent. During a meeting of LDP officials at which Nonaka was not present, Asō reportedly told the assembled group, "We are not going to let someone from the become the prime minister, are we?"Yamaguchi, Mari
"Discrimination claims die hard in Japan"
''
The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched b ...
'', January 25, 2009, p. 2.
Nonaka subsequently withdrew as a candidate. Asō's comment about Nonaka's heritage was revealed in 2005. Asō denied that he had made the statement, but Hisaoki Kamei, who was present at the 2001 meeting, stated in January 2009 that he had heard Asō say something "to that effect".


Hashimoto incident

Tōru Hashimoto is a Japanese TV personality, politician and lawyer. He was the mayor of Osaka city and is a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Osaka Restoration Association. He is one of Japan's leading right-wing conservative-populist politicians. Early ...
, a
lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...
, former
governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of
Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nar ...
, former
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
of
Ōsaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2.7 ...
City and the founder of the
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
Nippon Ishin no Kai The is a conservative and right-wing populist political party in Japan. Formed as ''Initiatives from Osaka'' in October 2015 from a split in the old Japan Innovation Party, the party became the third-biggest opposition party in the National ...
, was the subject of an article in 2012 published in the
magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
, entitled , which claimed his father to be and his relatives members of the yakuza. The article further elaborated that Hashimoto was eccentric and dangerous based on his "blood". Hashimoto, who was the mayor of Ōsaka at that time, excluded the
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...
''
The Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...
'', the wholly-owned subsidiary company of the magazine's publisher, from a
press conference A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...
and demanded an explanation from the publisher. Hashimoto later sued the publisher and the writer for
defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
. The
Buraku Liberation League is a burakumin's rights group in Japan. Buraku are ethnic Japanese and descended from outcast communities of the Japanese feudal era. History Pre-World War II period The origin of the Buraku Liberation League is the , founded in 1922. Howeve ...
, who did not endorse his policies, also remonstrated. The publisher had a third party examine the incident and apologized. The president of the publisher, , resigned to take responsibility.


Burakumin rights movement

As early as 1922, officials of the Hisabetsu Buraku organized a campaign, the , to advance their rights. The Declaration of the encouraged the to unite in resistance to discrimination, and sought to create a positive identity for the victims of discrimination, insisting that the time had come to be "proud of being ". The declaration portrayed the ancestors as "manly martyrs of industry" and argued that to submit meekly to oppression would be to insult and profane these ancestors. Despite internal divisions among anarchist, Bolshevik, and social democratic factions, and despite the Japanese government's establishment of an alternate organization, the Yūma, designed to reduce the influence of the , the Levelers Association remained active until the late 1930s. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the National Committee for Burakumin Liberation was initiated, changing its name to the during the 1950s. The league, with the endorsement of the
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
and
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
parties, influenced the government into making important concessions during the late 1960s and 1970s. During the 1960s, the Sayama Incident publicised the problems of the group. The incident involved the murder conviction of a member of the discriminated communities based on circumstantial evidence, which is generally given little weight vs. physical evidence in Japanese courts. One concession was the passing of the ''Special Measures Law for Assimilation Projects'', which provided financial aid for the discriminated communities. In 1976, legislation was also approved banning third parties from investigating another person's family registry. This traditional system of registry, kept for all Japanese by the
Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Justi ...
since the 19th century, would reveal an individual's ancestry if consulted. By the new legislation, these records could now be consulted only for legal cases, making it more difficult to identify or discriminate against members of the group. During the 1980s, some educators and local governments, particularly in areas with relatively large populations, began special education programs which they hoped would encourage greater educational and economic success for young members of the group and decrease the discrimination they faced. rights groups exist presently in all parts of Japan except for
Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...
and
Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...
. have been established across the country by prefectural governments and local authorities; these, in addition to promoting rights, campaign on behalf of a wide range of other groups such as women, the disabled, ethnic minorities, foreign residents and released prisoners. Even into the early 1990s, however, discussion of the 'liberation' of these discriminated communities, or even their existence, was rare in public discussion.


Buraku Liberation League and the

The
Buraku Liberation League is a burakumin's rights group in Japan. Buraku are ethnic Japanese and descended from outcast communities of the Japanese feudal era. History Pre-World War II period The origin of the Buraku Liberation League is the , founded in 1922. Howeve ...
is considered one of the most militant among 's rights groups. The BLL is known for its fierce "denunciation and explanation sessions", where alleged perpetrators of discriminatory actions or speech are summoned for a public hearing before a panel of activists. Early sessions were marked by occasions of violence and kidnapping, and several BLL activists have been arrested for such acts. The legality of these sessions is still disputed, but to this date the authorities have mostly ignored them except in the more extreme cases. In 1990,
Karel van Wolferen Karel van Wolferen (born 1941) is a Dutch journalist, writer and professor, who is particularly recognised for his knowledge of Japanese politics, economics, history and culture. Career as journalist, writer and academic After finishing high sch ...
's criticism of the BLL in his much-acclaimed book '' The Enigma of Japanese Power'' prompted the BLL to demand the publisher halt publication of the Japanese translation of the book. Van Wolferen condemned this as an international scandal. The other major activist group is the (or , affiliated to the
Japanese Communist Party The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a dem ...
(JCP). It was formed in 1979 by BLL activists who were either purged from the organization or abandoned it during the late 1960s, due to, among other things, their opposition to the decision that subsidies to the should be limited to the BLL members only. Not all were BLL members, and not all residents of the areas targeted for subsidies were historically descended from the out-caste.Upham (1987). The often disputed the BLL, accusing them of chauvinism. The conflict between the two organizations increased during 1974 when a clash between teachers belonging to a JCP-affiliated union and BLL activists at a high school in Yoka, rural
Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...
, put 29 in hospital. In 1988, the BLL formed the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR). The BLL sought for the IMADR to be recognized as a
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
Non-Government Organization, but in 1991, the informed the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
about the alleged human rights violations committed by the BLL in the course of their 'denunciation sessions' held with accused 'discriminators'. According to a BLL-funded think tank, when cases of discrimination were alleged, the often conducted denunciation sessions as fierce as those of the BLL. Nonetheless, the IMADR was designated a UN human rights NGO in March 1993. On March 3, 2004, the announced that "the issue has basically been resolved" and formally disbanded. On March 4, 2004, they began a new organization known as the or .


Religious discrimination

Jodo Shinshu Buddhism originally patronized the lower castes. The effect of this encouragement, however, was that it resulted in a series of anti-feudal rebellions, known as the Ikkō-ikki revolts, which seriously threatened the religious and political status-quo. Accordingly, the political powers created a situation whereby the Jōdo Shinshū divided into two competing parts, the Shinshu Otani-ha and the Honganji-ha. This had the consequence that the sects became less anti-feudal. Later the state also forced all people to belong to a specific Buddhist school according to the formula: In consequence the Honganji, which during
Rennyo Rennyo (, 1415–1499) was the 8th Monshu (head priest) of the Hongan-ji Temple of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, and descendant of founder Shinran. Jodo Shinshu Buddhists often referred to as the restorer of the sect ( in Japanese). He w ...
's leadership of it had defiantly accepted the derogatory label of 'the dirty sect' (see Rennyo's letters known as the Ofumi/Gobunsho) now began to discriminate against its own burakumin members as it jostled for political and social status. In 1922, when the National Levelers' Association (Zenkoku-suiheisha) was initiated in Kyoto, Mankichi Saiko, a founder of the society and Jodo Shinshu priest, said: After many petitions from the BLL, in 1969 the Honganji changed its opinion on the burakumin issue. Zenkairen, which disassociated from the BLL in 1968, regrets this decision. Religious discrimination against the burakumin was not recognized until the BLL's criticism sessions became widespread. For example, in 1979 the Director-General of the
Sōtō Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngsh� ...
Sect of Buddhism made a speech at the "3rd
World Conference on Religion and Peace Religions for Peace is an international coalition of representatives from the world's religions dedicated to promoting peace founded in 1970. The International Secretariat headquarters is in New York City, with regional conferences in Europe, A ...
" claiming that there was no discrimination against burakumin in Japan.


Notable burakumin

*
Tadashi Yanai is a Japanese billionaire businessman, the founder and president of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo ("unique clothing"). As of October 2021, he was the richest person in Japan, with an estimated net worth of US$26.5 billion & 40th ...
, founder and president of Uniqlo *
Tōru Hashimoto is a Japanese TV personality, politician and lawyer. He was the mayor of Osaka city and is a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Osaka Restoration Association. He is one of Japan's leading right-wing conservative-populist politicians. Early ...
, politician of the
Nippon Ishin no Kai The is a conservative and right-wing populist political party in Japan. Formed as ''Initiatives from Osaka'' in October 2015 from a split in the old Japan Innovation Party, the party became the third-biggest opposition party in the National ...
, lawyer, the 52nd governor of Osaka Prefecture, and former Mayor of Osaka city * Jiichirō Matsumoto, politician and businessman who was called the "buraku liberation father" *
Ryu Matsumoto was a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Fukuoka, Fukuoka and graduate of Chuo University, he was elected to the House of Representatives ...
, politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature) * Toru Matsuoka, politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature) * Rentarō Mikuni, actor * Manabu Miyazaki, writer, social critic and public figure known for his underworld ties *
Kenji Nakagami was a Japanese novelist and essayist. He is well known as the first, and so far the only, post-war Japanese writer to identify himself publicly as a Burakumin is a name for a low-status social group in Japan. It is a term for ethnic Japanese ...
, writer, critic, and poet *
Hiromu Nonaka was a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party. Nonaka served as a local politician in Kyoto Prefecture from 1951 to 1978 and in the House of Representatives from 1983 to 2003, becoming one of its most prominent members in the 1990 ...
, chief cabinet secretary (1998–1999)


See also

*
Buraku Liberation League is a burakumin's rights group in Japan. Buraku are ethnic Japanese and descended from outcast communities of the Japanese feudal era. History Pre-World War II period The origin of the Buraku Liberation League is the , founded in 1922. Howeve ...
*
Feudal Japan hierarchy Edo society refers to the society of Japan under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Edo society was a feudal society with strict social stratification, customs, and regulations intended to promote poli ...


Discrimination in Japan

*
Racism in Japan Racism in Japan comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are related to each other, are held by various people and groups in Japan, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and actions (including violenc ...
* Human rights in Japan


General

*
Caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultur ...
*
Untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...
** Baekjeong, the former outcast community of Korean society. **
Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...
, a collective term for the outcast endogamous communities of India and Nepal. **
Cagot The ''Cagots'' () were a persecuted minority found in the west of France and northern Spain: the Navarrese Pyrenees, Basque provinces, Béarn, Aragón, Gascony and Brittany. Evidence of the group exists as far back as 1000 CE. Name Etymol ...
or Agotes, the former outcast community of France and Spain. **
Tanka is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature. Etymology Originally, in the time of the '' Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short ...
(danhu) ("boat people") in
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...
,
Fuzhou Tanka Fuzhou Tanka ( Fuzhou dialect: 曲蹄; Foochow Romanized: Kuóh-dà̤ ; Simplified Chinese: 福州疍民 Hók-ciŭ Dáng-mìng; 江妹仔 Gĕ̤ng-muói-giāng; 曲蹄婆 Kuóh-dà̤-bò̤), or Boat People, are from Fujian, China. A branch of th ...
in
Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...
, si-min (small people) and mianhu in
Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with it ...
, Gaibu and Duomin (To min; ) in
Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Ji ...
, '' jiuxing yumin'' ( in the
Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
River region, yoh-hu ("music people") in
Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-leve ...
**
Bụi đời The Vietnamese term bụi đời ("life of dust" or "dusty life") refers to vagrants in the city or, ''trẻ bụi đời'' to street children or juvenile gangs. From 1989, following a song in the musical ''Miss Saigon'', "Bui-Doi" came to popularl ...
, outcast community of Vietnam after
Fall of Saigon The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, t ...
.


References


Bibliography

Main text originally fro
Library of Congress, Country Studies
'Religious Discrimination' and 'Jodo shinshu Honganji' sections adapted fro

an

* Alldritt, Leslie D. ''The Burakumin: The Complicity of Japanese Buddhism in Oppression and an Opportunity for Liberation'' * Amos, Timothy P. "Portrait of a Tokugawa Outcaste Community", ''East Asian History'' (2006) Issue 32/33, pp 83–108 * Amos, Timothy P. ''Embodying Difference: The Making of Burakumin in Modern Japan'' (2011) * Amos, Timothy. "Fighting the Taboo Cycle: Google Map Protests and Buraku Human Rights Activism in Historical Perspective." ''Japanese Studies'' 35.3 (2015): 331–353. * Amos, Timothy. "Binding Burakumin: Marxist historiography and the narration of difference in Japan." ''Japanese Studies'' 27.2 (2007): 155–171. * Fowler, Edward. "The Buraku in Modern Japanese Literature: Texts and Contexts", ''Journal of Japanese Studies'' (2000) 26#1 pp 1–39 * Groemer, Gerald. "The Creation of the Edo Outcaste Order." ''Journal of Japanese Studies'' 2001 27#2 pp 263–29
in JSTOR
* Kasahara, Toshinori. ''Shin Buddhism and the Buraku-min'' (1996 Honolulu Higashi Honganji) * Neary, Ian. "Burakumin in contemporary Japan", in ''Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity'', Michael Weiner, ed. * Neary. Ian. "Burakumin at the End of History", ''Social Research'' (2003) 70#1 pp 269–294, online. * Shimazaki, Toson. ''
The Broken Commandment ''The Broken Commandment'' is a Japanese novel written by Tōson Shimazaki published in 1906 (late Meiji period) under the title ''Hakai'' (破戒). The novel deals with the ''burakumin'', formerly known as ''eta''. This book enjoyed great popular ...
'' * Suzuki, D.T., Oiwa, K. ''The Japan We Never Knew: A Journey of Discovery'' (Stoddart Publishing, Toronto: 1996) *


External links


The Headquarters of Buraku Liberation League




* ttp://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/discussionpapers/2005/Ito2.html Cooperativeness and Buraku Discrimination discussion paper by Takuya Ito in th
''electronic journal of contemporary Japanese studies''
October 31, 2005.

discussion paper by Alastair McLauchlan in th
''electronic journal of contemporary Japanese studies''
January 31, 2003.

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070911035844/http://www3.osk.3web.ne.jp/~blrhyg/ ひょうご部落解放・人権研究所Burakumin research institute)
全国部落解放運動連合会
National Buraku Liberation Alliance)�
全国地域人権運動総連合
(National Confederation of Human Rights Movements in the Community) �
Zenkoku Jinken Ren Blog

部落問題研究所
(Burakumin research institute)
京都部落問題研究資料センター
(Burakumin in Kyoto research data)
自由同和会
Burakumin rights group)
全日本同和会
(Burakumin rights group)
部落解放同盟全国連合会
(Burakumin rights group)

''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', November 30, 1995. Nicholas Kristof on the state of toleration at that time.
"Japan's Outcasts Still Wait for Acceptance"
''The New York Times'', January 15, 2009. Article by Norimitsu Onishi on Buraku history and current status, with a focus on Hiromu Nonaka, a prominent politician of Buraku descent.
Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil secrets
Sat May 2, 2009 - Jay Alabaster, Associated Press.
"Mysterious Past Meets Uncertain Future in Tokyo's Sanya District"
''Digital Journal'', October 31, 2009. Blair McBride on Buraku status of North-East Tokyo area. * * * {{Authority control Human rights abuses in Japan Society of Japan Injustice Demographics of Japan Japanese caste system Japanese values Identity politics in Japan Social history of Japan
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
Yakuza