Buraku Stories

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.

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 . Formally they are called hisabetsu buraku and short as 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.

Greetings My name is Niki and I am the owner and editor of Buraku Stories. I studied Japanese Studies and Chinese Studies in B.A. at the Heidelberg University from 2013 until 2018. During that time, I did an exchange year at the Tokyo Gakugei between 2015 and 2016. After finishing my Bachelors degree, I started my M.A. at the International Christian University and graduated in 2020 with a degree in Social and Cultural Analysis. I returned to Heidelberg in 2021 and started my PhD in Japanese Studies. How did I became interested in the buraku issue? Whilst studying Japanese history and literature in my B.A. I came in touch with the topic briefly. It was not until I went to Japan as an exchange student back in 2015 to 2016 that I became interested in the buraku issue. One of the classes during that year was about Japanese society (more specifically about the minorities in Japan) and when the lecture addressed the burakumin I got hooked immediately. ​ Being a minority myself (German-born Asian) I explained the racism and discrimination I faced simply because I was "different (ethnically, visually, etc.)" than my environment. Then, learning how the burakumin are discriminated against although "not different (ethnically or linguistically)" sparked my curiosity towards the buraku issue ever since. ​ On top of that, I was able to meet burakumin who were open about their background, researchers and professors related to the topic and had tours in buraku areas. The most significant factor for continuing my research on this topic and what kept my curiosity was Christopher Bondy who also was my adviser during my M.A. studies at the International Christian University. Why did I create Buraku Stories? This project started back in 2019, when during my M.A. research, I had the opportunities to talk to various burakumin about the issues they currently face. Coupled with the fact that the buraku issue in Japan is barely talked about and although the literature in English on this topic is increasing, it is still a small amount compared to other topics about Japanese Society, I thought to create something useful that might help the burakumin in one way, thus I made Buraku Stories. ​ The core of Buraku Stories is to make information about the buraku issue more accessible. By providing a database of literature, creating a dictionary of terms related to the topic and most importantly, making the information in English (and other languages) would ease the entry to the topic for those who are interested.

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.

Buraku Database Buraku Dictionary Start Here List of Literature related to the buraku issue Start Here Researchers Start Here Additional Information Laws and Reports related to the buraku issue Start Here Links to various organisations and institutions Start Here

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.