Buraku Stories

Buraku -pedia A brief history of the buraku issue Start Here Laws related to the buraku issue Start Here The buraku social movement organizations Start Here Additional Information Incidents Start Here

Buraku Literature Filter by Title Filter by Year Filter through Categories Article Book English Japanese Filter through Tags APEBD Ainu Buraku Culture Discrimination Dōwa Dōwa Area Dōwa Education Dōwa Laws Dōwa Policies Education History Identity Incidents Internet Korean Language Laws Literature Osaka People Policies Prewar Sayama Incident Social Movements Surveys Tokyo Wartime Women Youth 部落差別の謎を解く 川元祥一 2012 2nd ed. 東京: 株式会社にんげん出版. An Introduction to the Buraku Issue: Questions and Answers Kitaguchi, Suehiro 1999 Osaka: Japan Library. Burakumin - a Japanese marginal group: Japan's hidden people fight to gain equality Samel, Swapna 2009 Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 70:785–94. Educational Demands and Institutional Response: Dōwa Education in Japan Hawkins, John N. 1983 Comparative Education Review 27(2):204–26. Introduction of the System of “Mieruka” in Social Disadvantaged Area: The Case of Community and Livelihood Support in Local City INADA Nanami, WAKAMATSU Tsukasa, HOURAI Rino, and MIZUUCHI Toshio 2008 ABSTRACTS of the Annual Meeting, The Human Geographical Society of Japan 2008(0):406–406. Japan’s Modernization and Discrimination: What Are Buraku and Burakumin? Kobayakawa, Akira 2020 Critical Sociology 47:111–32. Affirmative Action Policies Under the Postwar Japanese Constitution: On the Effects of the Dōwa Special Measures Policy McCormack, Noah 2018 The Asia-Pacific Journal 16(5 Nr4). Buraku Invisibility and Policy Making Yano, Ryo 2019 Journal of Welfare Sociology 16(0):33–53. Conflicting Japanese Interpretations of the Outcaste Problem“(Buraku Mondai)” Ruyle, Eugene E. 1979 American Ethnologist 6(1):55–72. Grass-Roots ‘Multiculturalism’: Korean-Burakumin Interrelations in One Community Bayliss, Jeffrey P. 2001 Asian Cultural Studies 27(March). Japanese Politics of Equality in Transition: The Case of the Burakumin Hah, Chong-do, and Christopher C. Lapp 1978 Asian Survey 18(5):487–504. Japan’s Outcaste Abolition: The Struggle for National Inclusion and the Making of the Modern State McCormack, Noah 2013 Oxon, Abingdon, Milton Park: Routledge.

"They are ethnically Japanese, speak Japanese, follow the similar religious and cultural practices as other Japanese, and thereby ought not to be considered a separate ethnic group. The question that invariably follows, then, is this: How do people know who is or is not burakumin." ​ - Christopher Bondy in his book: Voice, Silence, Self: Negotiations of Buraku Identity in Contemporary Japan (2015:15) What is buraku ? ​Buraku means “village” or “hamlet” and is a common used word referring to someone's residence. However, the buraku issue is based on the locations called tokushu buraku (special hamlets). The use of tokushu buraku emphasized on their “differences” to the “normal” villages. The term towards the outcaste groups was changed to buraku/burakumin removing the negative connotation the word tokushu created. Nowadays, we call the location either buraku or hisabetsu buraku (discriminated against hamlets). Careful! The term tokushu buraku is a derogatory term and should only be used for the historical narrative. Who are the burakumin ? The term burakumin refers to people who are descendants of outcaste groups created by the feudal class system during the Edo period working in "unclean" occupation such as butchers living in a hisabetsu buraku ​The term burakumin refers often to the descendants of eta , hinin and other outcaste classes, but it consists all different groups of people who were and are living in the buraku . Like the term hisabetsu buraku , we either call the people burakumin or the hisabetsu burakumin . ​ "Unclean" refers to the japanese word of kegare . We explain that here . The three mentioned references were commonly used and are now obsolete. We discuss that here. Where are the burakumin and how many are there? Unless someone tells you that they are burakumin , no one can know. This coupled with the discrimination and stigma the term buraku bears restricts their freedom. Additionally, many aren't even aware that they are descendants of burakumin /former outcaste group. All this creates an unclear picture of the number of burakumin currently residing in Japan but the number is estimated in between 1.5 to 3 million. There are buraku areas throughout Japan except in Okinawa and in Hokkaido and most are in western Japan. What is the buraku issue? The buraku issue (jap. buraku mondai ) refers to the discrimination the burakumin suffer. The stigma of the buraku denies them the chances of occupation or marriage. Often described as a historical issue, it is however still existent in current Japan.

The concept of impurity (kegare) Kegare (pollution / impurity) is the pollution resulting from negative occurrences including the following: Death of a person or an animal Birth, menstrual periods, pregnancy Catastrophes (Kobayashi 2016:142) By proximity or touching “pollution” (shokue ) and the consequence of becoming such, people believed that kegare is contagious and stayed away from “polluted” people and areas (Kobayashi 2016:142). burakumin and impurity Before the outcaste groups eta , hinin , and other became institutionalized through the class system in the Tokugawa Shogunate (Edo period), there were various other similar instances of marginalized groups through the concept of impurity. All the various cases throughout history that were marginalized and discriminated through the concept of impurity occupied work that related to the afore-mentioned "reasons". In the case of the eta , their close relation to the work of tanners or removing animal corpses from the streets made them "impure". Vice versa, when someone conducted such work without "being part of the eta group", one could be considered as such In contemporary times, the arbitrary pointing in relation to the impurity exists. Many who work in slaughterhouses or in waste disposal are often seen as burakumin although they are not. Bibliography Kobayashi, Kenji. 2016. Sabetsugo - Fukaigo [Discriminatory Terms - Unpleasant Terms]. 1st ed. Tōkyō: Kabushiki kaisha ningen shuppan.

Links Table of Content Social Movement Organizations Other Organizations Research Institutes Communities Other Social Movement Organizations Buraku Liberation League National Liberal Assimilation Association Buraku Heritage ABDARC Other Organisations International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) Research Institutes Kyoto Buraku Issue Research Resource Center Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute Buraku Issue Research Institute Communities Yata Machizukuri Committee for the Respect of Human Rights Other Liberty Osaka (Osaka Human Rights Museum) Suiheisha History Museum

Buraku Social Movement Organizations Work in Progress References and Bibliography will be added later Table of Content Kaizen Movement Yūwa / Dōwa Movement Kaihō Movement Zenkairen The Kaizen Movement wanted to improve (kaizen ) from the inside List of Groups under this movement ​ 1893: The Youth Virtue Association (Seinen Shintoku Kai ) ​ 1895: Thrift and Savings Association (Kinken Chochiku Kai ) ​ 1898: Customs Improvements League Association (Fūzoku Kaizen Dōmei Kai ) ​ 1902: Commoners Safety and Work Association (Bisaku Heiminkai ) ​ 1903: Great Japan Fraternal Integration Society (Dainippon Dōhō Yūwa Kai ) ​ Yūwa / Dōwa Movement also called as Sympathy and Reconciliation Movement ( Dōjō Yūwa Undō) ​​ Based on the sympathy towards the buraku , the movement to reconcile with the general population with the burakumin under the patronage of the emperor Both the kaizen and yūwa groups were arguing that the “blame” of the discrimination an the situation the burakumin are in are theirs to take. ​ ​ Differences between kaizen and yūwa Prior believed that the buraku discrimination will be solved by improving the education and environment of the buraku people and areas. Latter believes that the discrimination will be solved when the attitudes of the general public changes against the buraku peopl e List of Groups under this movement ​ 1912 Great Japan Brotherhood Society (Daiwa Dōshi Kai ) ​ Chinzei Impartial Society (Chinzei Kōmeikai ) in Fukuoka Prefecture ​ Fukushima Town People's Unity Association (Fukushima Chōmin Icchi Kyōkai ) in Hiroshima Prefecture, ​ the Izumo Partisan Society (Izumo Dōshikai ) in Shimane Prefecture ​ the Okayama Prefecture Partisan Society (Okayama-ken Dōshikai ) in Okayama Prefecture ​ 1914 ​ ​Imperial Way Society (Teikoku Kōdō Kai ) afterwards many groups throughout many prefectures were established first national sized group The Fukui Friendship Society (Fukui-ken Shinwa Kai ) The Toyama Yūwa Association (Toyama-ken Yūwa Kai ) The Wakayama Dōwa Association (Wakayama-ken Dōwa Kai ) Okayama Prefecture Harmony Society (Okayama-ken Kyōwakai ) The Tottori Prefecture Wholeheartedness Society (Tottori-ken Isshin Kai ) The Torine Prefecture Harmony and Respect Association (Torine-ken Wakei Kai ) The Hiroshima Prefecture Sympathy Society (Hiroshima-ken Kyōmei Kai ) The Yamaguchi Wholeheartedness Society (Yamaguchi-ken Isshin Kai ) The Tokushima Prefecture Yūwa Groups Association (Tokushima-ken Yūwa Dantai Rengo Kai ) The Ehime Good Neighbour Society (Ehime-ken Zenrin Kai ) 1919 Kōchi Prefecture Way Society Association (Kōchi-ken Kōdō Kai ) Fukuoka Prefecture Friendship Society (Fukuoka-ken Shinzen Kai ) Oita Prefecture Friendship Society (Oita-ken Shinwa Kai ) 1921 the Mutual Love Association (Dōaikai) ​ 1925 Central Association for Reconciliation Projects (Chū’ō Yūwa Jigyō Kai ) Buraku Improvement Groups in all regions were unified under this group Became the governmental body of the y ūwa movement Provided subsidies for yūwa groups and buraku improvement projects in every prefecture Raised awareness within the general population and involved the imperial family 1941: changed to Dōwa Service Society (Dōwa Hōkō Kai ) Name changed from yūwa to dōwa Yūwa Projects to Dōw a Projects, etc. During the war, the group wasn’t active and published only few books Dissolved in 1946, M arch 1960 All Japan Assimilation Association (Zen Nihon Dōwa Kai ) was formed with dōwa area residents at its core, with the aim of creating a nationwide movement 1986 National Liberal Assimilation Association (Zenkoku Jiyū Dōwa Kai ) Kaihō Movement Burakumin ​ disapproving the yūwa / dōwa movement. Instead of relying on the government or around on their support and help, they want to fight with their own strength The Suiheisha Declaration became the principle of the buraku liberation movement They used the term eta which was considered as a derogatory term as a word to be proud of Did Discrimination Denunciation ​ List of Groups under this movement 1920: Swallow Association (Tsubame Kai ) 1922-1941: National Levelers' Society (Zenkoku Suiheisha ) dissolved in 1943​ 1946-1955 National Committee for Buraku Liberation (NCBL, Buraku Kaihō Zenkoku Iinkai ) 1955: Buraku Liberation League (BLL, Buraku Kaihō Dōmei ) For the detailed history of the National Levellers' Society (Zenkoku Suiheisha), see here Zenkairen Formerly the group that advocated for a broader class struggle in order to solve buraku issue 1976 National United Buraku Liberation Movement Association (Zenkairen, Zenkoku Buraku Kaihō Undō Rengō Kai )

Buraku Dictionary Filter by Title Select Title Filter by Categories Select Categories Filter through Tags BLL Buraku Buraku Discrimination Burakumin Class System Denunciation Struggle Dōwa Dōwa Area Dōwa Measures Emancipation Edict Family Register Kaihō Kaizen Laws Liberation Ostracized Groups Report Silence Yūwa Note: Many entries are empty and will be completed slowly but surely. Newer entries will be added from time to time while I work on other parts and read more literature Buraku 部落 (被差別部落) buraku (hisabetsu buraku) The term buraku is often used to refer to someone's village. The locations where the outcaste groups lived where referred as tokushu buraku . Nowadays, buraku is simply used and formally hisabetsu buraku . Burakumin 部落民 (被差別部落民) burakumin (hisabetsu burakumin) This term refers to the people living in the buraku or who are descendants from such. However, you can't know unless they tell you. Be careful when using this term. Chinzei Impartial Society 鎮西公明会 Chinzei Kōmeikai Customs Improvements League Association 風俗改善同盟会 Fūzoku Kaizen Dōmei Kai Don't wake up the sleeping children 寝た子を起こすな neta ko o okosuna The idea that if the buraku issue is ignored then it will disappear or will solve itself. Dōwa Area 同和地区 dōwa chiku Under the SML, those were the 'designated areas' that were targeted for the dōwa measures. Due to the exclusion from more than 1000 buraku areas during the SML, dōwa areas do not directly refer to buraku areas. Buraku Liberation League 部落解放同盟 buraku kaihō dōmei Central Association for Reconciliation Projects (財団法人) 中央融和事業協会 Chū’ō Yūwa Jigyō Kai Commoners Safety and Work Association 備作平民会 Bisaku Heiminkai Denunciation Struggle 糾弾闘争 kyūdan tōsō The Denunciation Struggle was a tactic of the Suiheisha to confront the discriminators and demand an apology (or more). This was continued by the Buraku Liberation League. Dōwa 同和 dōwa Often translated as "Assimilation" or "Harmony". The term dōwa is often interchangeably for buraku , thus making the buraku issue the dōwa issue. However, the term is not necessarily a direct reference to the buraku . Eta 穢多 eta Directly translates to "a lot of dirt". The eta were people who one of the groups excluded by the Edo class system. This term is derogatory hence why they should only be used in the historical context.

English (Japanese in cursive) Careful! The term tokushu buraku is a derogatory term and should only be used for the historical narrative.