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Burakumin

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Burakumin (部落民: buraku, community or hamlet + min, people), or hisabetsu buraku (被差別部落 "discriminated communities / discriminated hamlets") are a Japanese social minority group. The burakumin are one of the main minority groups in Japan, along with the Ainu of Hokkaido and residents of Korean and Chinese descent.

They are communities of descendants of outcaste communities in the feudal era, which mainly comprised of those with occupations considered "tainted" with death (such as executioners, undertakers or leather workers) and traditionally lived in their own secluded hamlets and ghettos. They were legally liberated in 1871 with the abolishment of the feudal caste system, however this did not put a stop to discrimination and their lower living standards. In certain areas of Japan, there is still a stigma attached to being a resident of such areas, who sometimes face lingering discrimination in matters such as marriage.

Movements with objectives ranging from "liberation" to encouraging integration have tried over the years to put a stop to this problem.

Contents

Current Numbers

The number of burakumin asserted to be living in modern Japan varies from source to source. A 1993 investigation report by the Japanese Government counted 4,533 dōwa chiku (同和地区 "assimilation districts" - buraku communities officially designated for assimilation projects), mostly in western Japan, comprising of 298,385 households with 892,751 residents. The size of each community ranged from under 5 households to over 1000, with 155 household being the average size. About three quarters of settlements are in rural areas. The distribution of discriminated communities varied greatly from region to region. No discriminated communities were identified in the following prefectures: Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, Tōkyō, Toyama, Ishikawa and Okinawa. ([link]in Japanese).

The Buraku Liberation League, on the other hand, extrapolates Meiji-era figures to arrive at an estimate of nearly three million burakumin. [link] A 1999 source indicates the presence of some 2 million burakumin, living in approximately 5,000 settlements. [link] In some areas, burakumin hold a majority; they account for over 70 percent of all residents of Yoshikawa in Kochi Prefecture. In Ōtō in Fukuoka Prefecture, they account for over 60 percent.

Japanese government statistics show the number of residents of assimilation districts who claim buraku ancestry, whereas BLL figures are estimates of the total number of descendants of all former and current buraku residents, including current residents with no buraku ancestry.

Terminology

The term 部落 buraku literally refers to a small, generally rural, commune or a hamlet. People from regions of Japan where "discriminated communities" do not exist any more (e.g anywhere north of Tokyo) may normally refer to any hamlet as a buraku, indicating that the word's usage is not necessarily pejorative.

Hisabetsu-buraku (被差別部落 "discriminated community/hamlet") is a commonly used term, with people from them called hisabetsu-burakumin (被差別部落民 "discriminated community (hamlet) people") or hisabetsu buraku shusshin-sha (被差別部落出身者 "person from a discriminated community / hamlet").

Burakumin (部落民 "hamlet people") is actually an abbreviation and therefore its use in the Japanese language is sometimes frowned upon, although it is by far the most commonly used term in English.

Mikaihō-buraku (未開放部落 "unliberated communities" ) is a term sometimes used by human rights pressure groups and the one which has a degree of political ring to it.

A widely used term for buraku settlements is dōwa chiku (同和地区 "assimilation districts"), an official term for districts designated for government and local authority assimilation projects .

Tokushu buraku (特殊部落 "special hamlets") was used in the early 20th Century but is now considered inappropriate.

In the feudal era, the outcast caste were called eta (穢多, literally, "full of filth"), a term now obviously considered derogatory.

Some burakumin refer to their own communities as "mura" (村 "villages") and themselves as "mura-no-mono" (村の者 "village people").

Historical origins

The word burakumin is used to describe descendants of outcaste communities in feudal Japan, most of them being eta (穢多) who worked in occupations relating to death, such as executioners, undertakers or leather workers. Severe social stigma was attached to these occupations, influenced by Buddhist prohibitions against killing and Shinto notions of kegare (穢れ "taint"). Other outcastes included the hinin (非人). The definition of hinin, 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.

According to Japan, a Modern History, 2002: (cited here [link]),

Fundamental Shinto beliefs equated goodness and godliness with purity and cleanliness, and they further held that impurities could cling to things and persons, making them evil or sinful.... But a person could become seriously contaminated by habitually killing animals or committing some hideous misdeed that ripped at the fabric of the community, such as engaging in incest or bestiality. Such persons, custom decreed, had to be cast out from the rest of society, condemned to wander from place to place, surviving as best they could by begging or by earning a few coins as itinerant singers, dancers, mimes, and acrobats.

There are many theories as to how and in which era the outcaste communities came into existence. For example, whether society started ostracising those who worked in tainted occupations, or if those who originally dropped out of society were forced to work in tainted occupations, is disputed. The social status and typical occupations of outcaste communities also varied considerably according to region and over time.

At the start of the Edo period (1603-1867), the caste system was officially established as a means of designating social hierarchy, and eta were placed at the lowest level, outside of the four main divisions of society. Like the rest of the population, they were bound by sumptuary laws based on the inheritance of their social class, The eta lived in segregated settlements, and were generally avoided by the rest of Japanese society. Segregation and discrimination were encouraged by the authorities as a means of government control. For example, they typically had their own temples and were not allowed to visit other religious sites. Japanese Buddhists were given posthumous religious names (戒名 kaimyo) when they were deceased; eta were often given names that included the kanji characters for beast, humble, ignoble, servant, and other derogatory expressions.[link] When dealing with members of other castes, they were expected to display signs of subservience, such as the removal of headwear. In an 1859 court case described by author Shimazaki Toson, a magistrate declared that "An eta is worth 1/7 of an ordinary person."

Historically, eta were not liable for taxation in feudal times, including the Tokugawa period, because the taxation system was based on rice yields, which they were not permitted to possess. Some outcastes were also called kawaramono (河原者, "dried-up riverbed people") because they lived along river banks that could not be turned into rice fields. Since their undesirable status afforded them an effective monopoly in their trades, some succeeded economically and even occasionally obtained samurai status through marrying or the outright purchase of troubled houses. Some historians point out that such exclusive rights originated in ancient times, granted by shrines, temples, kuge, or the imperial court, which held authority before the Shogunate system was established.

End of feudal era

The feudal caste system in Japan ended in 1869 with the Meiji restoration, and in 1871 the newly formed Meiji government issued a decree called kaihorei(解放令 "Emancipation Edict") giving outcastes equal legal status. However, the elimination of economic monopolies which they had over certain occupations actually led to a decline in their general living standards, while social discrimination simply continued. For example, the ban on consumption of meat from livestock was lifted in 1871 in order to "westernise" the country, and many former eta moved onto work in abbatoirs and as butchers. However, slow-changing social attitudes, especially in the countryside, meant that abbatoirs and workers were met with hostility from local residents. Continued ostracisation as well as the decline in living standards led to former eta communities turning into slum areas.

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 kyu-eta (旧穢多 "former eta"), while the newly liberated outcastes called themselves shin-heimin(新平民"new citizens"), amongst others. The term tokushu buraku (特殊部落 "special hamlets", now considered inappropriate) started being used by officials in 1900's, leading to the meaning of the word buraku ("hamlet") coming to imply former eta villages in certain parts of Japan.

Movements to resolve the problem in the early 20th century were divided into two camps: the "assimilation" movement which encouraged improvements in living standards of buraku communities and integration with the mainstream Japanese society, and the "suiheisha (levellers)" movement which concentrated on confronting and criticising alleged perpetrators of discrimination.

Post-war situation

Whereas in many parts of the country buraku settlements, built on the site of former eta villages, ceased to exist by the 1960's either by urban development or by integration into mainstream society, in other regions many continued to suffer from slum-like housing and infrastructure, and lower economic status, literacy and general educational standards amongst residents. In 1969, the government passed the Special Measures Law for Assimilation Projects to provide funding to these communities. Communities deemed to be in need of funding were designated for various Assimilation Projects (同和対策事業dōwa taisaku jigyō), such as construction of new housing and community facilities such as health centres, libraries and swimming pools . The projects were terminated in 2002 with a total funding of an estimated 12 trillion yen over 33 years, with the living standards issue effectively resolved.

However, cases of social discrimination against residents of buraku areas is still an issue in certain regions. Outside of the Kansai region, people in general are often not even aware of the issue, and if they are, usually only as part of feudal history. Due to the taboo nature of the topic it is rarely covered by the media, and people from eastern Japan, for example, are often shocked when they learn that it is a continuing issue.

Cases of continuing social discrimination are known to occur mainly in western Japan, particularly Osaka, Kyōto, Hyōgo and Hiroshima regions, where many people, especially the older generation, stereotype buraku residents (whatever their ancestry ) with associations with squalor, unemployment and criminality. [link]. (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), burakumin account for about 70 percent of the members of Yamaguchi-gumi, the biggest yakuza syndicate in Japan.) The prejudice most often manifests itself in the form of marriage discrimination, and less often, in employment. Traditionalist families have been known to check on the backgrounds of potential in-laws to identify people of buraku background. These checks are now illegal, and marriage discrimination is diminishing; Nadamoto Masahisa of the Buraku History Institute estimates that between 60 and 80% of burakumin marry a non-burakumin, whereas for people in their sixties, the rate was 10% [link].

The \"Tokushu Buraku Chimei Soukan\" Incident

In November 1975, the Osaka branch of the Buraku Liberation League were tipped off about an existence of a book called "A Comprehensive List of Buraku Area Names" (特殊部落地名総鑑 Tokushu Buraku Chimei Soukan). Investigations revealed that copies of the hand-written 330-page book were being secretly sold by an Osaka based firm to numerous firms and individuals throughout Japan by a mail order service called Cablenet, at between ¥5,000 and ¥50,000 per copy. The book contains a nationwide list of all the names and locations of buraku settlements (as well as the primary means of employment of their inhabitants) which could be compared against an individual's address to determine if they are buraku residents.

The preface contained the following message: "At this time, we have decided to go against public opinion and create this book [for] personnel managers grappling with employment issues, and families pained by problems with their children's marriages." More than 200 large Japanese firms, including (according to the Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Centre of Osaka) Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Daihatsu, and thousands of individuals, purchased copies of the book.

In 1985, partially in response to the popularity of this book, and an increase in mimoto chōsa (身元調査, private investigation into one's background) 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 firm was the first to be charged with violation of the 1985 statute for using the text. It is not unlikely that more of Japan's highly-lucrative private investigation market still enjoys ownership of the book.

Burakumin rights movement

As early as 1922, leaders of the hisabetsu buraku organized a movement, the "Levelers Association of Japan" (Suiheisha), to advance their rights. The Declaration of the Suiheisha encouraged the Burakumin to unite in resistance to discrimination, and sought to frame a positive identity for the victims of discrimination, insisting that the time had come to be "proud of being eta. The declaration portrayed the Burakumin ancestors as "manly martyrs of industry." 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 Yūma movement, designed to undercut the influence of the Suheisha, the Levelers Association remained active until the late 1930s.

After World War II, the National Committee for Burakumin Liberation was founded, changing its name to the Buraku Liberation League (Buraku Kaihou Doumei) in the 1950s. The league, with the support of the socialist and communist parties, pressured the government into making important concessions in the late 1960s and 1970s. One concession was the passing of the Special Measures Law for Assimilation Projects, which provided financial aid for the discriminated communities. Also, in 1976, legislation was put in place which banned third parties from looking up another person's family registery (koseki). This traditional system of registry, kept for all Japanese by the Ministry of Justice since the 19th century, would reveal an individual's buraku ancestry if looked up. Under the new legislation, these records could now be consulted only in legal cases, making it more difficult to identify or discriminate against members of the group.

Even into the early 1990s, however, discussion of the 'liberation' of these discriminated communities, or even their existence, was taboo in public discussion. In the 1960s, the Sayama incident (狭山事件), which involved a murder conviction of a member of the discriminated communities based on circumstantial evidence, focused public attention on the problems of the group. In the 1980s, some educators and local governments, particularly in areas with relatively large hisabetsu buraku 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.

Branches of burakumin rights groups exist today in all parts of Japan except for Hokkaido and Okinawa.

"Human Rights Promotion Centers" (人権啓発センター) have been set up across the country by prefectural governments and local authorities; these, in addition to promoting burakumin rights, campaign on behalf of a wide range of groups such as women, the disabled, ethnic minorities, foreign residents and released prisoners. (The term "human rights" (人権 jinken) usually has a different meaning in Japan as it does in the English speaking world. Where in English the term is most often used in reference to protecting people against violations by, for example, the criminal justice system or an oppressive regime, in Japan it is most often used in reference to equality and discrimination issues.)

The Buraku Liberation League and the Zenkairen

The Buraku Liberation League is considered one of the most militant among burakumin'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 turned a blind eye to them except in the more extreme cases.

In 1990, Karel van Wolferen'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 buraku activist group is the All Japan Federation of Buraku Liberation Movements (全国部落解放運動連合会 zenkoku buraku kaihō undō rengōkai, or Zenkairen), affiliated to the Japanese Communist Party(JCP). It was formed in the late 1960's by BLL activists who were purged from the organisation due to their opposition to the decision that subsidies to the burakumin should be limited to the BLL members only. (Not all burakumin were BLL members.)

The Zenkairen often came head-to-head with the BLL, accusing them of chauvinism. The bickering between the two organisations boiled over in 1974 when a clash between teachers belonging to a JCP-affiliated union and BLL activists at a high school in Yoka, rural Hyogo Prefecture 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 Non-Government Organization, but in 1991, the Zenkairen informed the United Nations about the alleged crimes the BLL had committed.

However, when suspected cases of discrimination were uncovered, the Zenkairen often conducted denunciation sessions as fierce as those of the BLL.

In 2004, the Zenkairen ceased all campagning activity and effectively disbanded after announcing that "the buraku issue has basically been resolved".

Religious discrimination against burakumin

While nearly all Japanese Buddhist sects have discriminated against the burakumin, the case of the Jodo Shinshu Honganji Sect is a particularly bitter and ironic one. The original ideology of the sect, as propounded by its founder Shinran, was anti-discriminatory, rejecting the need to keep the traditional Buddhist precepts or to carry out the purification rituals of indigenous Japanese religion. As such butchers, fishermen, and so on, who had all been discriminated against by the older sects, were welcomed into the Jodo Shinshu.

The side-effect of this liberating ideology, however, was that it led to a series of anti-feudal rebellions, known as the Ikko-ikki revolts, which seriously threatened the religious and political status-quo. As such the political powers engineered a situation whereby the Jodo Shinshu split into two competing branches, the Shinshu Otani-ha and the Honganji-ha. This had the consequence that the sects moved increasingly away from their anti-feudal position towards a feudal one.

Later the state also forced all people to belong to a specific Buddhist temple according to the formula:

"the imperial family is in Tendai, the peerage is in Shingon, the nobility is in Jodo (Honen's followers), the Samurai is in Zen, the beggar is in Nichiren, and Shin Buddhists (Shinran's followers) are at the bottom." (Kasahara 1996)
In consequence the Honganji, which under Rennyo's leadership 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 founded in Kyoto, Mankichi Saiko, a founder of the movement and Jodo Shinshu priest, said:

"We shouldn't disgrace our ancestors and violate humanity by our harsh words and terrible actions. We, who know how cold the human world is, and how to take care of humanity, can seek and rejoice from the bottom of our hearts in the warmth and light of human life."[link]

The fact of religious discrimination against the burakumin was commonly denied until the late twentieth century. For example, in 1979 the Director-General of the Soto Sect of Buddhism made a speech at the "3rd World Conference on Religion and Peace" claiming that there was no longer any discrimination against burakumin in Japan.[link].

Finally in 1969 the Honganji began to recognise its mistreatment of burakumin and appears to be beginning to address the problem.[link].

Burakumin in film and fiction

In High and Low (Japanese title 天国と地獄 Tengoku to jigoku, literally "Heaven and Hell") [link], a movie adapted in 1963 from Evan Hunter's King's Ransom, Akira Kurosawa made a political statement by having the main character work as a shoe industry executive who rose from humble origins as a simple leather worker, clearly implying (to Japanese audiences) the main character's burakumin status. The story has the main character selflessly sacrifice his fortune in order to save his driver's son, showing that burakumin are as heroic as anyone else[[Citing sources citation needed]].

The plight of the burakumin has also been presented in Hashi no nai kawa [link] (橋のない川 "The River With No Bridge") a novel by Sue Sumii (住井 すゑ), which received several film adaptations, in 1969, 1970 and 1992. The title refers to the fact that areas in which burakumin lived were often separated by a river, but bridges to cross were rarely constructed.

Author Lian Hearn depicts a fictional feudal country highly similar to that of Japan's own history in the three-book series Tales of the Otori (2003-2004). The series depicts a caste system wherein "untouchables" live outside of mainstream society. The protagonist develops a friendship with one such outcast, a tanner who lives and works with other tanners in riverside settlements.

see also

External links

References

Credits

Main text originally from [Library of Congress, Country Studies]. Religious Discrimination and Jodo shinshu Honganji sections adapted from [Shindharmanet] and [BLHRRI.Org].

 

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