The term burakumin is derived from buraku (部落), a Japanese term which refers literally to a small, generally rural, commune or hamlet. In the regions of Japan where the burakumin issue is much less publicly prominent, such as Hokkaido and Okinawa, buraku is still used in a non-pejorative sense to refer to any hamlet.^[2] Historically, the term buraku was used for an outcast community that was discriminated against officially and formally.^{[citation needed]}

A term used much 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 from 1969 to 2002.^{[citation needed]}

The social issue concerning "discriminated communities" is usually referred to as dōwa mondai (同和問題, 'assimilation issues') or, less commonly, buraku mondai (部落問題, 'hamlet issues').^{[citation needed]}

During the feudal era, the outcastes were termed eta (穢多, lit. 'an abundance of defilement' or 'an abundance of filth'), a term now considered derogatory. Eta towns were termed etamura (穢多村).^{[citation needed]}

Some burakumin refer to their own communities as mura (村, 'villages') and themselves as mura-no-mono (村の者, 'village people').^{[citation needed]}

Other outcaste groups from whom buraku may have been descended included the hinin (非人, lit. 'non-human'). 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.^{[citation needed]}

During the 19th century, the term burakumin was invented to name the eta and hinin because both classes were forced to live in separate village neighborhoods.^[3]

Defining the burakumin as a separate group is difficult. Burakumin parents sometimes do not tell their children about their ancestry in hopes of avoiding discrimination.^[4] Because of this, there is an increasingly large population that has no idea that others would consider them burakumin.^[5] Discrimination is primarily based on ancestry and location; someone with no burakumin ancestry may be viewed as one and discriminated against if they move to a former dōwa chiku.^[6]

The predecessors to burakumin, called kawata (かわた [ja]; lowly people) or eta (穢多 [ja]) formed as a distinct group some time during the Heian period, AD 794–1185. The permeation of Buddhism into Japan in the first millennium led to the castigation of meat eating and similar activities. The Shinto and Buddhist cultures, which aimed for a certain purity of body and mind, considered working with dead animals, blood, or any sort of decaying object as polluting, and hence occupations like butchery and leather tanning were besmirched.^[7] The eta, people who held such occupations, dealt with pollution and were thus considered inferior or sub-human. However, because of their ability to deal with pollution, several myths emerged from the Heian through medieval periods about certain eta's abilities to cleanse ritual pollution, and in some portrayals even possess magical powers.^[8] Another outcaste, the kawata, were associated with the tanning industry, and had the exclusive rights to tan hides.^[9] Prior to the Edo period, these burakumin (peripatetic or settled) would live outside common population centers and maintained some socio-ethical significance, albeit negligible. They were also employed as mediators in disputes. Spatial and geographic markers played a significant role in the distinction between the burakumin and other members of society.^[10]

Hinin, meaning 'non-human', was another pre-burakumin status, applying to certain criminals, beggars and camp followers of samurai. Their position was more mobile, and they were usually thought to be less polluted.^[11] The Tokugawa shogunate regarded beggars as hinin and allowed them to beg in designated areas. They had to work as restroom attendants, prison officers, or executioners.^{[citation needed]}

Within the hinin and eta communities there would usually be a centralized chieftain^[12] who was given the exclusive license of tanning, candle wicks and other similar occupations, employing their peers and concentrating great wealth and local power.^[13] This chieftain took on the name of Danzaemon (弾左衛門) and was given the authority to supervise the hisabetsumin living in the hamlets located in the eight provinces of the Kanto region, the Izu Province, as well as in parts of Kai, Suruga, Mutsu and Mikawa Provinces.^{[citation needed]}

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate and began systematically curbing the autonomy of the feudal daimyo warlords whose struggles for dominance had defined the Sengoku period. By exerting control over strategically important daimyo and their fiefs, he centralized power and revitalized the position of Shogun as the de facto leader of Japan. His rule brought about the Edo period, which scholars characterize as the unification of Japan.^{[citation needed]}

The Tokugawa shogunate, citing neo-Confucian theory, ruled by dividing the people into four main categories. Older scholars believed that there were Shi-nō-kō-shō (士農工商) of "samurai, peasants (hyakushō), craftsmen, and merchants" (chōnin) under the daimyo, with 80% of peasants under the 5% samurai class, followed by craftsmen and merchants.^[14] However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai were considered equal, and the old hierarchy chart has been removed from Japanese history textbooks. In other words, peasants, craftsmen, and merchants are not a social pecking order, but a social classification.^[15][16][17]

The burakumin held occupations associated with religious impurity, and were subsequently relegated as outcastes and subject to ostracization in the mainstream Japanese society. Among the members of the outcastes were the eta (hereditary outcastes), landless peasants and the hinin, which comprised people guilty of certain crimes and their offspring. As Japanese society stabilized, the demand for leather declined, as it was used largely for warring purposes, and along with the Tokugawa caste policy, the eta were relegated to the peripheries of villages or formed their own communities.^[18]The craft of basketry, for unknown reasons, became an outcaste trade.^[19] The hinin were eventually forced to join in eta settlements (buraku).^{[citation needed]}

As the Edo period witnessed local prosperity, the shogunate augmented the differences between the four classes (even between the burakumin and the hinin), and often used the two outcaste groups as scapegoats.^[10] Various humiliating injunctions mandating certain dress codes or hairstyles for burakumin were passed, and by the 18th century, they were prohibited from entering temples, homes of common citizens and schools without permission. At this point, the burakumin were generally economically subsistent on the government's purchase of the war equipment they produced, and they adopted occupations in the military as jailers, torturers and executioners.^[20]

The feudal caste system in Japan ended formally in 1869 with the Meiji Restoration. In 1871, the newly formed Meiji government issued the Senmin Haishirei (賤民廃止令 [ja], 'Low Caste Abolishment Edict') decree, giving outcasts equal legal status. It is currently known better as the Kaihōrei (解放令 [ja], Emancipation Edict). However, burakumin were deprived of the exclusive rights of disposal of dead bodies of horses and cattle.^[21][22][23] The elimination of their monopolies of certain occupations actually resulted in a decrease of their general living standards, while social discrimination simply continued.^{[citation needed]}

During the early Meiji era, many anti-Kaihōrei riots (Kaihōrei-hantai-ikki (解放令反対一揆 [ja])) happened around the country. For example, in a village in Okayama when "former eta" tried to buy alcohol, four men were killed, four men were injured and 25 houses were destroyed by commoners.^[22] In another village, as part of an anti-Government riot,^[24] 263 houses were destroyed and 18 former etas were killed.^{[citation needed]}

The practice of eating meat existed even during the Edo period,^[25] but the official ban of the consumption of meat from livestock was ended in 1871 in order to "Westernise" the country. Many former eta began to work in abattoirs and as butchers, as they were thought to be experienced with the handling of dead bodies.^[11]

Slow-changing social attitudes, especially in the countryside, meant that abattoirs and their workers were often met with hostility from local residents. Continued ostracism, the decrease of living standards and the development of modern construction and city sprawl resulted in former eta communities becoming slum areas. Prejudice against the consumption of meat continued throughout the Meiji period. In 1872, a group of Yamabushi, who objected to the Emperor's consumption of meat, tried to enter the Tokyo Imperial Palace and four of them were killed. They claimed that gods would leave Japan because the Japanese had eaten meat.^[11]

There were many terms used to indicate former outcastes, their communities or settlements at the time. Official documents referred to them as kyu-eta (旧穢多, 'former eta'), while the newly liberated outcasts called themselves shin-heimin (新平民, 'new citizens'), among other terms.^{[citation needed]}

Nakae Chōmin was a late 19th century statesman who worked for the liberation of burakumin. He transferred his resident registration to buraku and denounced the discrimination against them when he campaigned during the election of 1890 from Osaka and won.^{[citation needed]}

The term tokushu buraku (特殊部落, 'special hamlets'), now considered inappropriate, started being used by officials during the 1900s, and resulted in the meaning of the word buraku ('hamlet') coming to imply former eta villages in certain parts of Japan.^{[citation needed]}

Attempts to resolve the problem during the early 20th century were of two types: the 'assimilation' (同和, dōwa) philosophy which encouraged improvements in living standards of buraku communities and integration with the mainstream Japanese society, and the 'levelers' (水平社, suiheisha) philosophy which concentrated on confronting and criticising alleged perpetrators of discrimination.^{[citation needed]}

Although liberated legally during 1871 with the abolition of the feudal caste system, this did not end social discrimination against burakumin nor improve their living standards; until recently,^[when?] Japanese family registration was fixed to an ancestral home address, which allowed people to deduce their burakumin ancestry.^{[citation needed]}

The number of burakumin asserted to be living in modern Japan varies from source to source. Japanese government statistics show the number of residents of assimilation districts who claim buraku ancestry, whereas the Buraku Liberation League (BLL) figures are estimates of the total number of descendants of all former and current buraku residents, including current residents without any buraku ancestry.^{[citation needed]}

A 1993 report by the Japanese government counted 4,533 dōwa chiku (同和地区, assimilation districts) throughout the country. Most were located in western Japan, while none were located in Hokkaido 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.^[26]

It is estimated that around 1,000 buraku communities chose not to register as dōwa chiku, wanting to avoid the negative attention that could come from explicitly declaring themselves burakumin.^[27] BLL has extrapolated Meiji-era figures to arrive at an estimate of nearly three million burakumin.^[28] In some areas, burakumin are in a majority; per a 1997 report, they accounted for more than 70 percent of all residents of Yoshikawa (now Kōnan) in Kōchi Prefecture. In Ōtō, Fukuoka Prefecture, they accounted for more than 60 percent.^[29]

According to a survey performed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government during 2003, 76% of Tokyo residents would not change their opinion of a close neighbor whom they discovered to be a burakumin; 4.9% of respondents, on the other hand, would actively avoid a burakumin neighbor. There is still a social stigma for being a resident of certain areas associated traditionally with the burakumin, and some lingering discrimination in matters such as marriage and employment.^[30]

In many parts of the country, buraku settlements built on the site of former eta villages ceased to exist by the 1960s because of either urban development or integration into mainstream society. However, 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.^{[citation needed]}

In 1969, the government passed the Special Measures Law for Assimilation Projects (同和対策事業特別措置法, dōwa taisaku jigyō tokubetsu sochihō)^[31] 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 centers, libraries and swimming pools. The projects were terminated in 2002 with a total funding of an estimated 12 trillion yen over 33 years.^{[citation needed]}

Cases of social discrimination against residents of buraku areas are still an issue in certain regions. Outside of the Kansai region, people in general are often not aware of the issues experienced by those of buraku 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 to remove any references in the media that may propagate discrimination against them, the issue is rarely discussed in the media.^[32]

Prejudice against buraku most often manifests itself in the form of marriage discrimination and sometimes in employment. Traditionalist families have been known to check on the backgrounds of potential in-laws to identify people of buraku 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 burakumin marry a non-burakumin, whereas for people born during the late 1930s and early 1940s, the rate was 10%.^[33] Over the past decades, the number of marriages between burakumin and non-burakumin have increased, and opinion polls have shown a decrease in the number of Japanese willing to state they would discriminate against burakumin.^[34]

Many companies were known to have used lists of buraku addresses that were developed first in 1975 to exclude the burakumin. The average income of a buraku family was significantly less than the national average (60% in 1992).^[35]

Cases of continuing social discrimination are known to occur mainly in western Japan, particularly in the Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Hiroshima regions, where many people, especially the older generation, stereotype buraku residents (whatever their ancestry) and associate them with squalor, unemployment and criminality.^[36]

No burakumin communities were identified in the following prefectures: Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, Tokyo, Toyama, Ishikawa, and Okinawa.^[37]

According to David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro in Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan's Criminal Underworld (1986), burakumin account for about 70% of the members of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza crime syndicate in Japan.^[38]

Mitsuhiro Suganuma, an ex-member of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, testified in 2006 that burakumin account for about 60 percent of yakuza.^[39]

As early as 1922, officials of the hisabetsu buraku organized a campaign, 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 create a positive identity for the victims of discrimination, insisting that the time had come to be "proud of being eta".^{[citation needed]} The declaration portrayed the burakumin 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 Suiheisha, the Levelers Association remained active until the late 1930s.^{[citation needed]}

After World War II, the National Committee for Burakumin Liberation was initiated, changing its name to the Buraku Liberation League (Buraku Kaihō Dōmei) during the 1950s. The league, with the endorsement of the socialist and communist 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 against physical evidence in Japanese courts.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} 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 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.^{[citation needed]}

During 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.^[40] Burakumin rights groups exist presently in all parts of Japan except for Hokkaido and Okinawa.^{[citation needed]}

"Human Rights Promotion Centers" (人権啓発センター) have been established across the country by prefectural governments and local authorities; these, in addition to promoting burakumin rights, campaign on behalf of a wide range of other groups such as women, the disabled, ethnic minorities, foreign residents and released prisoners.^{[citation needed]} Even into the early 1990s, however, discussion of the 'liberation' of these discriminated communities, or even their existence, was rare in public discussion.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[41][42][43]

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.^{[citation needed]} Van Wolferen condemned this as an international scandal.^{[citation needed]}

The other major buraku activist group is the National Buraku Liberation Alliance (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 1979^[44] 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 burakumin should be limited to the BLL members only. Not all burakumin were BLL members, and not all residents of the areas targeted for subsidies were historically descended from the outcastes.^[41]

The Zenkairen 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, put 29 in hospital.^{[citation needed]}

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 human rights violations committed by the BLL in the course of their "denunciation sessions" held with accused "discriminators".^{[41][45][better source needed]}

According to a BLL-funded think tank, when cases of discrimination were alleged, the Zenkairen often conducted denunciation sessions as fierce as those of the BLL. Nonetheless, the IMADR was designated a UN human rights NGO in March 1993.^[46]

On March 3, 2004, the Zenkairen announced that "the buraku issue has basically been resolved" and formally disbanded. On March 4, 2004, they began a new organization known as the "National Confederation of Human Rights Movements in The Community" (全国地域人権運動総連合, Zenkoku Chiiki Jinken Undō Sōrengō') or Zenkoku Jinken Ren.^[47][48]

This section needs expansion with: perspective and general expertise cleanup. You can help by adding to it. (June 2021)

Historically, they were followers of their own folk religion, and even in modern times, a significant portion of the burakumin population practices their own folk religion and ancestor worship. Today, most burakumin share common religious practices with the majority of Japanese citizens, following a unique mixture of Shinto and Buddhism, known as Shinbutsu-shūgō (神仏習合). They perform Shinto rituals at the birth of newborns. Historically, their funeral rituals were based on their own folk rites, and they buried their dead, unlike Buddhists. Many of them have also adopted Buddhism to escape social discrimination, as it offered religious advantages.^{[citation needed]}

The burakumin developed a relationship with Christianity, mainly as state oppressors carrying out the orders of the Shogunate. From the 1600s to 1800s burakumin were settled by the government to help monitor and enforce the city of Nagasaki, the original centre of Japanese Christianity. While they were not known as frequent converts, the burakumin liberation organisations did later adopt the Crown of Thorns, powerful in Catholicism, as a symbol.^[49]

Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism originally patronized the lower castes^[opinion]. 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, critiquing aggressive postures on the denouncement of acts of discrimination:

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.^[50]

After many petitions from the BLL, in 1969 the Honganji changed its opinion on the burakumin issue.^{[citation needed]} Zenkairen, which disassociated from the BLL in 1968, regrets this decision.^{[citation needed]}

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 Sect of Buddhism made a speech at the "3rd World Conference on Religion and Peace" claiming that there was no discrimination against burakumin in Japan.^{[citation needed]}

This section needs expansion with: Expert expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2023)

• Tadashi Yanai, founder and president of Uniqlo
• Tōru Hashimoto, politician of the Nippon Ishin no Kai, lawyer, the 52nd governor of Osaka Prefecture, and former Mayor of Osaka city^[51][52]
• Jiichirō Matsumoto, politician and businessman who was called the "buraku liberation father"
• Ryu Matsumoto, politician of the Minshutō Party of Japan, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature)
• Toru Matsuoka, politician of the Minshutō Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature)
• Rentarō Mikuni, actor^[53][54]
• Manabu Miyazaki, writer, social critic and public figure known for his underworld ties
• Kenji Nakagami, writer, critic, and poet
• Hiromu Nonaka, chief cabinet secretary (1998–1999)^[55][56]

• Buraku Liberation League
• Feudal Japan hierarchy
• Departures (2008 film)

• Racism in Japan
• Human rights in Japan

• Caste
• Untouchability
  • Baekjeong, the former outcast community of Korean society
  • Dalit, a collective term for the outcast endogamous communities of India and Nepal
  • Cagot or Agotes, the former outcast community of France and Spain
  • Tanka (danhu) ('boat people') in Guangdong, Fuzhou Tanka in Fujian, si-min ('small people') and mianhu in Jiangsu, Gaibu and Duomin (To min; 惰民; duò mín; ''idle/lazy/fallen/indolent people'') in Zhejiang, jiuxing yumin (九姓魚民; jiǔxìng yúmín; ''nine name fishermen'' in the Yangtze River region, yoh-hu ('music people') in Shanxi
  • Bụi đời, the outcast community of Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon