Burakumin

The term {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} is derived from {{Nihongo||部落|buraku}}, a Japanese term which refers literally to a small, generally rural, commune or hamlet. In the regions of Japan where the {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} issue is much less publicly prominent, such as Hokkaido and Okinawa, {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} is still used in a non-pejorative sense to refer to any hamlet.{{cite book |last1=Hankins |first1=Joseph D |title=Working Skin: Making Leather, Making a Multicultural Japan |date=2014 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520959163 |page=113}} Historically, the term {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} was used for an outcast community that was discriminated against officially and formally.

A term used much for {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} settlements is {{nihongo3|'assimilation districts'|同和地区|dōwa chiku}}, an official term for districts designated for government and local authority assimilation projects from 1969 to 2002.

The social issue concerning "discriminated communities" is usually referred to as {{nihongo3|'assimilation issues'|同和問題|dōwa mondai}} or, less commonly, {{nihongo3|'hamlet issues'|部落問題|buraku mondai}}.

During the feudal era, the outcastes were termed {{nihongo3|{{lit|an abundance of defilement|an abundance of filth}}|穢多|eta}}, a term now considered derogatory. {{transliteration|ja|Eta}} towns were termed {{Nihongo||穢多村|etamura}}.

Some {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} refer to their own communities as {{nihongo3|'villages'|村|mura}} and themselves as {{nihongo3|'village people'|村の者|mura-no-mono}}.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

Other outcaste groups from whom {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} may have been descended included the {{Nihongo3|{{lit|non-human}}|非人|hinin}}. The definition of {{transliteration|ja|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|date=September 2017}}

During the 19th century, the term {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} was invented to name the {{transliteration|ja|eta}} and {{transliteration|ja|hinin}} because both classes were forced to live in separate village neighborhoods.{{cite book |last=Frédéric |first=Louis |date=2002 |title=Japan Encyclopedia |series=Harvard University Press Reference Library |publisher=Belknap Press |page=93 |isbn=9780674017535 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA93}}

Defining the {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} as a separate group is difficult. {{transliteration|ja|Burakumin}} parents sometimes do not tell their children about their ancestry in hopes of avoiding discrimination.{{cite journal |last1=McLauchlan |first1=Alastair |title=Solving Anti-Burakujūmin Prejudice in the 21st Century |journal=Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies |date=31 January 2003 |url=https://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/discussionpapers/McLauchlan.html |access-date=12 January 2023}} Because of this, there is an increasingly large population that has no idea that others would consider them {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}}.{{cite book |last1=Hankins |first1=Joseph D |title=Working Skin: Making Leather, Making a Multicultural Japan |date=2014 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520959163 |page=86}} Discrimination is primarily based on ancestry and location; someone with no {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} ancestry may be viewed as one and discriminated against if they move to a former {{transliteration|ja|dōwa chiku}}.{{cite journal |last1=Yamagishi |first1=Atsushi |last2=Sato |first2=Yasuhiro |title=Measuring Discrimination in Spatial Equilibrium: 100 Years of Japan's Invisible Race |journal=CIRJE F-Series |date=10 September 2022 |url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/tky/fseres/2022cf1188.html |access-date=12 January 2023}}

The predecessors to {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}}, called {{Nihongo||{{ill|かわた|ja}}|kawata|lowly people}} or {{Nihongo||{{ill|穢多|ja}}|eta}} 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.{{sfn|Meerman|2009|p=97}} 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 {{transliteration|ja|eta}}'s abilities to cleanse ritual pollution, and in some portrayals even possess magical powers.{{cite book |last=McCormack |first=Noah Y. |date=2012 |title=Japan's Outcaste Abolition: the Struggle for National Inclusion and the Making of the Modern State |publisher=Routledge |pages=34–5 |isbn=9781136283673 }} Another outcaste, the {{transliteration|ja|kawata}}, were associated with the tanning industry, and had the exclusive rights to tan hides.{{cite journal |last1=Toriyama |first1=Hiroshi |title=Problems with References to Historical Documents in J. M. Ramseyer, "On the Invention of Identity Politics: The Buraku Outcastes in Japan" |journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |date=2021 |url=https://apjjf.org/2021/9/Toriyama-Hirano-Komori.html}} 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.

{{transliteration|ja|Hinin}}, meaning 'non-human', was another pre-{{transliteration|ja|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.{{cite book |script-title=ja:歴史のなかの米と肉 食物と天皇・差別 |title=Rekishi no naka no Amerika to niku shokumotsu to ten'nō sabetsu |trans-title=Rice and Meat in History Food and the Emperor Discrimination |language=ja |date=1993 |publisher=平凡社 |last=Harada |first=Nobuo |place=Tokyo |isbn=4-582-84147-3}} The Tokugawa shogunate regarded beggars as {{transliteration|ja|hinin}} and allowed them to beg in designated areas. They had to work as restroom attendants, prison officers, or executioners.

Within the hinin and {{transliteration|ja|eta}} communities there would usually be a centralized chieftain{{Cite web |last=Strusiewicz |first=Cezary Jan |date=2022-12-21 |title=Danzaemon — The Story of Old Japan's Underworld Kings |url=https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/japanese-culture/danzaemon-edo-underworld-kings/ |access-date=2023-04-18 |website=Tokyo Weekender |language=ja}} who was given the exclusive license of tanning, candle wicks and other similar occupations, employing their peers and concentrating great wealth and local power.{{cite journal |last1=OBA |first1=Yoshirō |date=December 25, 2012 |title=On Business History of Hokkaido Coal Mining and Shipping Corporation(2) |journal=北海学園大学学園論集 |volume=154 |issn=0385-7271 |access-date=October 6, 2020 |url=http://hokuga.hgu.jp/dspace/handle/123456789/2175}} This chieftain took on the name of {{Nihongo|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.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

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. The Tokugawa shogunate, citing neo-Confucian theory, ruled by dividing the people into four main categories. Older scholars believed that there were {{nihongo3||士農工商|Shi-nō-kō-shō}} 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.{{Harvnb|Beasley|1972|p=22}} However, various studies have revealed since about 1995 that the classes of peasants, craftsmen, and merchants under the samurai are 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/question/e/syakai.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130175341/https://www.tokyo-shoseki.co.jp/question/e/syakai.html|script-title=ja:「士農工商」や「四民平等」の用語が使われていないことについて|language=ja|website=

Tokyo Shoseki |archive-date=30 November 2023|access-date=7 March 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.city.uki.kumamoto.jp/2028316|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830135959/https://www.city.uki.kumamoto.jp/2028316|script-title=ja:第35回　教科書から『士農工商』が消えた ー後編ー　令和3年広報うき「ウキカラ」8月号|language=ja|website=Uki, Kumamoto|archive-date=30 August 2023|access-date=7 March 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.city.shimonoseki.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/58936.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606001503/https://www.city.shimonoseki.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/58936.pdf|script-title=ja:人権意識のアップデート|language=ja|website=Shimonoseki |archive-date=6 June 2023|access-date=7 March 2024}} 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.{{Cite journal |last=NEARY |first=IAN |date=2003 |title="Burakumin" at the End of History |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40971613 |journal=Social Research |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=269–270 |jstor=40971613 |issn=0037-783X}} The hinin were eventually forced to join in eta settlements (buraku). 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.{{Cite book |last=Orbaugh |first=Sharalyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9rdzPhsw0u8C&pg=PA393 |title=Japanese Fiction of the Allied Occupation: Vision, Embodiment, Identity |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-15546-6 |pages=393 |language=en}} 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.{{Cite book |last=Meerman |first=Jacob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UgmUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |title=Socio-economic Mobility and Low-status Minorities: Slow Roads to Progress |date=2009-06-02 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-97281-3 |pages=98 |language=en}}

File:Jiichiro Matsumoto.JPG, Jiichirō Matsumoto (1887–1966), who was born a {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} in Fukuoka prefecture. He was a statesman and termed "the father of {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} liberation".[http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss12/reber_old.shtml Buraku Mondai in Japan: Historical and Modern Perspectives and Directions for the Future] – Emily A. Su-lan Reber]]

The feudal caste system in Japan ended formally in 1869 with the Meiji Restoration. In 1871, the newly formed Meiji government issued the {{Nihongo3|'Low Caste Abolishment Edict'|{{ill|賤民廃止令|ja}}|Senmin Haishirei}} decree, giving outcasts equal legal status. It is currently known better as the {{Nihongo3|Emancipation Edict|{{ill|解放令|ja}}|Kaihōrei}}. However, {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} were deprived of the exclusive rights of disposal of dead bodies of horses and cattle.{{cite web |date=November 20, 2004 |script-title=ja:明治初年における斃牛馬処理制とと畜業 -兵庫の事例から |title=Meijishonen ni okeru heigyūba shori-sei to to Chiku-Gyō – Hyōgo no jirei kara |trans-title=The Slaughtering System and the Slaughtering Industry in the First Year of the Meiji Era: A Case of Hyogo |language=ja |website=Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute |access-date=October 6, 2020 |url=https://blhrri.org/old/kenkyu/project/ishin/ishin_00016.html}}{{cite journal |author=桐村 彰郎 |date=December 1, 1989 |title=Buraku kaihō hantai ikki ni miru minshū ishiki no shosō |script-title=ja:部落解放反対一揆にみる民衆意識の諸相 |trans-title=Phases of Popular Consciousness in Riots against the Buraku Emancipation |language=ja |journal=Nara Law Review |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=1–30 |id={{NAID|120005847717}} }}{{cite journal |last=OBA |first=Yoshirō |date=March 25, 2013 |script-title=ja:北海道炭鉱汽船(株)百年の経営史と経営者像(三) |title=Hokkaidō tankō kisen (kabu) hyaku-nen no keiei-shi to keiei-sha-zō (san) |trans-title=On Business History of Hokkaido Coal Mining and Shipping Corporation(3) |url=http://hokuga.hgu.jp/dspace/handle/123456789/2262 |journal=北海学園大学学園論集 |volume=155 |issn=0385-7271 |access-date=October 6, 2020 |language=ja}} 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-{{transliteration|ja|Kaihōrei}} riots ({{Nihongo3||{{ill|解放令反対一揆|ja}}|Kaihōrei-hantai-ikki}}) happened around the country. For example, in a village in Okayama when "former {{transliteration|ja|eta}}" tried to buy alcohol, four men were killed, four men were injured and 25 houses were destroyed by commoners. In another village, as part of an anti-Government riot,{{cite web |last=畑中 |first=敏之 |script-title=ja:「穢多狩」について |title='Eta kari' ni tsuite |trans-title=A new aspect of the word "etagari": rethinking it in a context of history |language=ja |website=立命館大学経済学会 |id={{NAID|40016155268}} |url=http://ritsumeikeizai.koj.jp/koj_pdfs/57103.pdf |access-date=October 8, 2020}} 263 houses were destroyed and 18 former {{transliteration|ja|eta}}s were killed.

The practice of eating meat existed even during the Edo period,{{cite web |date=November 8, 2017 |script-title=ja:日本人は江戸時代にも｢肉｣を愛食していた 肉食を忌避していたとの通説があるが… |title=Nihonjin wa Edo jidai ni mo 'niku' o ai shoku shite ita nikushoku o kihi shite ita to no tsūsetsu ga aru ga… |trans-title=There is a common theory that the Japanese ate "meat" in the Edo period and avoided eating meat... |language=ja |website=Toyo keizai Inc. |access-date=October 8, 2020 |url=https://toyokeizai.net/articles/amp/196315?display=b&_event=read-body}} but the official ban of the consumption of meat from livestock was ended in 1871 in order to "Westernise" the country. Many former {{transliteration|ja|eta}} began to work in abattoirs and as butchers, 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, the decrease of living standards and the development of modern construction and city sprawl resulted in former {{transliteration|ja|eta}} communities becoming slum areas. Prejudice against the consumption of meat continued throughout the Meiji period. In 1872, a group of {{transliteration|ja|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.

There were many terms used to indicate former outcastes, their communities or settlements at the time. Official documents referred to them as {{nihongo3|'former {{transliteration|ja|eta}}'|旧穢多|kyu-eta}}, while the newly liberated outcasts called themselves {{nihongo3|'new citizens'|新平民|shin-heimin}}, among other terms.

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

The term {{Nihongo3|'special hamlets'|特殊部落|tokushu buraku}}, now considered inappropriate, started being used by officials during the 1900s, and resulted in the meaning of the word {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} ('hamlet') coming to imply former {{transliteration|ja|eta}} villages in certain parts of Japan.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

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

Although liberated legally during 1871 with the abolition of the feudal caste system, this did not end social discrimination against {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} nor improve their living standards; until recently,{{when|date=June 2021}} Japanese family registration was fixed to an ancestral home address, which allowed people to deduce their {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} ancestry.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}

The number of {{transliteration|ja|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 {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} ancestry, whereas the Buraku Liberation League (BLL) figures are estimates of the total number of descendants of all former and current {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} residents, including current residents without any {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} ancestry.

A 1993 report by the Japanese government counted 4,533 {{nihongo3|assimilation districts|同和地区|dōwa chiku}} 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.{{cite web |author1=野口道彦 |script-title=ja:同和地区 |website=Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute |language=ja |access-date=February 2, 2020 |url=http://blhrri.org/nyumon/yougo/nyumon_yougo_02.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522103357/http://blhrri.org/nyumon/yougo/nyumon_yougo_02.htm |archive-date=May 22, 2006 }}

It is estimated that around 1,000 buraku communities chose not to register as {{transliteration|ja|dōwa chiku}}, wanting to avoid the negative attention that could come from explicitly declaring themselves {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}}.{{cite book |last1=Hankins |first1=Joseph D |title=Working Skin: Making Leather, Making a Multicultural Japan |date=2014 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520959163 |page=92}} BLL has extrapolated Meiji-era figures to arrive at an estimate of nearly three million {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}}.{{Cite journal |url=http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/7/alldritt001.html |title=The Burakumin: The Complicity of Japanese Buddhism in Oppression and an Opportunity for Liberation |author=Leslie D. Alldritt |journal=Journal of Buddhist Ethics |date=July 2000 |issn=1076-9005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125094650/http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/7/alldritt001.html |archive-date=November 25, 2005 }} In some areas, {{transliteration|ja|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.{{cite book|script-title=ja:図説 今日の部落差別 各地の実態調査結果より |trans-title=Illustrated Today's Buraku Discrimination Based on Survey Results in Various Regions |title=Zusetsu kyō no buraku sabetsu kakuchi no jittai chōsa kekka yori |pages=31 |date=March 15, 1997 |publisher=BLHRRI |isbn=4-7592-0193-9 |language=ja}}

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 {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}}; 4.9% of respondents, on the other hand, would actively avoid a {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} neighbor. There is still a social stigma for being a resident of certain areas associated traditionally with the {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}}, and some lingering discrimination in matters such as marriage and employment.{{cite web |date=March 23, 2003 |script-title=ja:東京の被差別部落の歴史と現状・全文 |title=Tōkyō no hisabetsuburaku no rekishi to genjō zenbun |trans-title=The History and Present Situation of Discriminated Buraku in Tokyo Full Text |language=ja |location=Tokyo |publisher=Buraku Liberation League |access-date=April 29, 2010 |archive-date=June 6, 2011 |url=http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~mg5s-hsgw/tkburaku/history/tkbtxt.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606173704/http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~mg5s-hsgw/tkburaku/history/tkbtxt.html}}

In many parts of the country, {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} settlements built on the site of former {{transliteration|ja|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|date=September 2017}}

In 1969, the government passed the {{nihongo|Special Measures Law for Assimilation Projects|同和対策事業特別措置法|dōwa taisaku jigyō tokubetsu sochihō}}{{cite web |script-title=ja:法律第六十号(昭四四・七・一〇) 同和対策事業特別措置法 |title=Hōritsu dai roku jū-gō (Akira shi shi nana ichi rei) dōwa taisaku jigyō tokubetsu sochi-hō |trans-title=Law No. 60 (Showa 44.7.10) Dowa countermeasures business special measures law |website=The House of Representatives, Japan |url=http://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb_housei.nsf/html/houritsu/06119690710060.htm |access-date=August 7, 2020 |language=ja}} to provide funding to these communities. Communities deemed to be in need of funding were designated for various {{nihongo|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|date=September 2017}}

Cases of social discrimination against residents of {{transliteration|ja|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 {{transliteration|ja|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.{{cite magazine |title=From the Cutting Room |magazine=Far Eastern Economic Review |date=July 9, 1992 |pages=28–29|first=Robert|last=Guest}}

Prejudice against {{transliteration|ja|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 {{transliteration|ja|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 {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} marry a non-{{transliteration|ja|burakumin}}, whereas for people born during the late 1930s and early 1940s, the rate was 10%.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nancho.net/kyoto/nadamoto.html|title = Kyoto Ijin: Nadamoto Masahisa}} Over the past decades, the number of marriages between {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} and non-{{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} have increased, and opinion polls have shown a decrease in the number of Japanese willing to state they would discriminate against {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}}.{{cite journal |last1=Morgan |first1=Charlie V. |title=A Case Study of Buraku and Non-Buraku Couples in Japan |journal=Journal of Comparative Family Studies |date=2007 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=31–54 |doi=10.3138/jcfs.38.1.31 |jstor=41604121 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41604121 |access-date=12 January 2023}}

Many companies were known to have used lists of {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} addresses that were developed first in 1975 to exclude the {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}}. The average income of a {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} family was significantly less than the national average (60% in 1992).{{cite magazine |title=A tale of two sisters |magazine=Far Eastern Economic Review |date=July 9, 1992 |pages=28–29|first=Robert|last=Guest}}

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 {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} residents (whatever their ancestry) and associate them with squalor, unemployment and criminality.{{cite web |author=Alastair McLaughlan |title=Japan's Burakumin: An Introduction |website=Japan Focus |archive-date=April 30, 2006 |access-date=May 8, 2006 |url=http://japanfocus.org/article.asp?id%3D485 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430222434/http://japanfocus.org/article.asp?id=485 }}

No {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} communities were identified in the following prefectures: Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima, Tokyo, Toyama, Ishikawa, and Okinawa.{{Cite web |url=http://blhrri.org/nyumon/yougo/nyumon_yougo_02.htm |script-title=ja:同和地区 |title=Dōwa chiku |trans-title=Dōwa district |language=ja |publisher=Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522103357/http://blhrri.org/nyumon/yougo/nyumon_yougo_02.htm |archive-date=May 22, 2006}}

According to David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro in Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan's Criminal Underworld (1986), {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} account for about 70% of the members of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest yakuza crime syndicate in Japan.{{cite book |last1=Kaplan |first1=David E. |last2=Dubro |first2=Alec |title=Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan's Criminal Underworld |location=Massachusetts |publisher=Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. |date=1986 |page=133}}

Mitsuhiro Suganuma, an ex-member of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, testified in 2006 that {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} account for about 60 percent of yakuza.Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/WA1X2gCImbQ Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160415232741/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA1X2gCImbQ Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |date=October 19, 2006 |title=Speech by Mitsuhiro Suganuma |work=Japanese Yakuza |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA1X2gCImbQ}}{{cbignore}}

As early as 1922, officials of the {{transliteration|ja|hisabetsu buraku}} organized a campaign, the {{nihongo|"Levelers Association of Japan"||Suiheisha}}, to advance their rights. The Declaration of the {{transliteration|ja|Suiheisha}} encouraged the {{transliteration|ja|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 {{transliteration|ja|eta}}". The declaration portrayed the {{transliteration|ja|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 {{transliteration|ja|Suiheisha}}, the Levelers Association remained active until the late 1930s.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

After World War II, the National Committee for Burakumin Liberation was initiated, changing its name to the {{nihongo|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|date=January 2023}}

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|date=September 2017}} This traditional system of registry, kept for all Japanese by the Ministry of Justice since the 19th century, would reveal an individual's {{transliteration|ja|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.

During the 1980s, some educators and local governments, particularly in areas with relatively large {{transliteration|ja|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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/dialogue/1_09/articles/566|title = Seeking to End Discrimination Through Dowa Education | Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs}} {{transliteration|ja|Burakumin}} rights groups exist presently in all parts of Japan except for Hokkaido and Okinawa.

{{Nihongo|"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 {{transliteration|ja|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|date=September 2017}} Even into the early 1990s, however, discussion of the 'liberation' of these discriminated communities, or even their existence, was rare in public discussion.

File:Flag of Buraku Liberation League.png

The Buraku Liberation League is considered one of the most militant among {{transliteration|ja|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|date=September 2017}}

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.Upham, Frank K. (1987), Instrumental Violence and the Struggle for Buraku Liberation, 146–190, in Michael Weiner (ed.), Race, Ethnicity and Migration in Modern Japan Volume II Indigenous and Colonial Others, London and New York: Routledge Curzon. {{ISBN|0-415-20856-4}}.Pharr, Susan J. (1990), Burakumin Protest: The incident at Yoka High School_, 133–145, in Michael Weiner(ed.), Race, Ethnicity and Migration in Modern Japan Volume II Indigenous and Colonial Others, London and New York: Routledge Curzon. {{ISBN|0-415-20856-4}}.Ichinomiya Yoshinari and Group K21 and Terazono Atsushi (eds.) (2003), Dowa riken no shinso 2 (Jinken Mafia-ka suru "Buraku Kaiho Domei" no renkinjutsu o ou! — The true face of Dowa interests 2 (Chasing the alchemy of the "Buraku Liberation League" which Mafiaizes human rights) ("Invasion of human rights" incidents in liberation education and human rights education), Tokyo: Takarajimasha.

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|date=September 2017}} Van Wolferen condemned this as an international scandal.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

The other major {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} activist group is the {{Nihongo|National {{transliteration|ja|Buraku}} Liberation Alliance|全国部落解放運動連合会|Zenkoku Buraku Kaihō Undō Rengōkai}}, or {{transliteration|ja|Zenkairen}}, affiliated to the Japanese Communist Party (JCP). It was formed in 1979Neary, Ian (1997), Burakumin In Contemporary Japan_, 50–78, in Michael Weiner (ed.), Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity, London: Routledge p. 66 {{ISBN|0-415-15218-6}}. 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 {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} should be limited to the BLL members only. Not all {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} were BLL members, and not all residents of the areas targeted for subsidies were historically descended from the outcastes.Upham (1987).

The {{transliteration|ja|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|date=September 2017}}

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 {{transliteration|ja|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".Ichinomiya, Group K21 and Terazono (eds.) (2003).{{better source needed|reason=Reference refers only to the characterisation and terminology of the 'crimes', not to the IMADR application to the UN. What crimes were they?|date=June 2021}}

According to a BLL-funded think tank, when cases of discrimination were alleged, the {{transliteration|ja|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.Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute (2005 [2004]), Photo Document of the Post-war 60 Years-Development of the Buraku Liberation Movement, Osaka: Kaiho Publishing Company Ltd. {{ISBN|4-7592-4116-7}}

On March 3, 2004, the {{transliteration|ja|Zenkairen}} announced that "the {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} issue has basically been resolved" and formally disbanded. On March 4, 2004, they began a new organization known as the {{Nihongo|"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 {{transliteration|ja|Zenkoku Jinken Ren}}."Zenkoku Buraku Kaihou Undou Rengkai" (National Buraku Liberation Alliance) (2004), "Zenkairen Dai 34 Kai Teiki Taikai Ni Tuite" ('About the Zenkairen 34th Regular Meeting), available at http://www.geocities.jp/zenkairen21/01-5.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223211604/http://www.geocities.jp/zenkairen21/01-5.html |date=December 23, 2008 }} [February 26, 2008].{{cite web|url=http://zjr.sakura.ne.jp/ |script-title=ja:全国地域人権運動総連合 |title=Zenkoku chiiki jinken undō sō rengō |trans-title=National Federation of Regional Human Rights Movements |language=ja |access-date=July 29, 2019}}

{{expand section|perspective and general expertise cleanup|date=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.

Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism originally patronized the lower castes{{Opinion|date=April 2023}}. In 1922, when the National Levelers' Association ({{transliteration|ja|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:

{{blockquote|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.{{cite web |first=Toshinori |last=Kasahara |date=1996 |title=Shin Buddhism and the Buraku-min |archive-date=2005-05-03 |access-date=2005-07-26 |url=http://www.shindharmanet.com/writings/burakumin.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050503084212/http://www.shindharmanet.com/writings/burakumin.htm}}}}

After many petitions from the BLL, in 1969 the Honganji changed its opinion on the {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} issue.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}} {{transliteration|ja|Zenkairen}}, which disassociated from the BLL in 1968, regrets this decision.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

Religious discrimination against the {{transliteration|ja|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.

{{expand section|Expert expansion|date=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 cityBrasor, Philip, [http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fd20121028pb.html "Hashimoto needs a much thicker skin"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130112110329/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fd20121028pb.html |date=January 12, 2013 }}, The Japan Times, October 28, 2012, p. 9.{{cite news |date=December 30, 2012 |script-title=ja:「橋下徹は部落の鬼っ子」 部落解放同盟委員長に聞く |title='Hashimototōru wa buraku no kizzu' buraku kaihō dōmei iin-chō ni kiku |trans-title="Toru Hashimoto is a Buraku demon boy" Interview with the chairman of the Buraku Liberation League |language=ja |work=Business Journal |access-date=February 17, 2013 |url=http://biz-journal.jp/2012/12/post_1242.html}}

• Jiichirō Matsumoto, politician and businessman who was called the "{{transliteration|ja|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{{cite book |last=Mikuni |first=Rentaro |author-link=Rentaro Mikuni |date=March 2006 |title=ikizama shinizama |publisher=ロングセラーズ |isbn=4-8454-2071-6}}{{cite news |date=September 1983 |title=Buraku Liberation News |publisher=Buraku Liberation League |url=http://www.blhrri.org/old/blhrri_e/news/news016.pdf}}
• 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){{cite magazine |author=Tim Larimer Sonobe |date=March 26, 2001 |title=Head of the Pack |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,103843,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930082158/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,103843,00.html |archive-date=September 30, 2007 }}{{cite journal |last=藤岡 |first=雅 |date=August 30, 2014 |script-title=ja:ユニクロ・柳井が封印した「一族」の物語 |title=Yunikuro Yanai ga fūin shita 'ichizoku' no monogatari |trans-title=The story of the "clan" sealed by UNIQLO and Yanai |language=ja |script-journal=ja:週刊現代}}
• Akina Nakamori, singer and actress. She is one of the most popular and best-selling artists in Japan.

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

• Racism in Japan
• Human rights in Japan

• Caste
• Untouchability
• {{transliteration|ko|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 ({{transliteration|zh|danhu}}) ('boat people') in Guangdong, Fuzhou Tanka in Fujian, {{transliteration|zh|si-min}} ('small people') and {{transliteration|zh|mianhu}} in Jiangsu, Gaibu and Duomin (To min; {{zh|labels=no|t=惰民 |p=duò mín |l='idle/lazy/fallen/indolent people'}}) in Zhejiang, {{transliteration|zh|jiuxing yumin}} ({{zh|labels=no|t=九姓魚民 |p=jiǔxìng yúmín |l='nine name fishermen'}} in the Yangtze River region, {{transliteration|zh|yoh-hu}} ('music people') in Shanxi
• {{lang|vi|Bụi đời}}, the outcast community of Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

Main text originally from [http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html Library of Congress, Country Studies]. 'Religious Discrimination' and 'Jodo shinshu Honganji' sections adapted from [https://web.archive.org/web/20050503084212/http://www.shindharmanet.com/writings/burakumin.htm Shindharmanet] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20050625015602/http://blhrri.org/blhrri_e/blhrri/q%26a.htm BLHRRI.Org].

{{Refend}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite journal|last=Alldritt|first=Leslie D.|title=The Burakumin: The Complicity of Japanese Buddhism in Oppression and an Opportunity for Liberation|url=https://blhrri.org/old/blhrri_e/news/new107/new10703.html|journal=Buraku Liberation News March|year=1999|number=107}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Amos |first1=Timothy P. |title=Portrait of a Tokugawa Outcaste Community |journal=East Asian History |date=2006 |volume= |issue=32/33 |pages=83–108 |doi= |url=https://www.eastasianhistory.org/sites/default/files/article-content/32-33/EAH32-33_04.pdf |access-date= |issn=1036-6008 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928233413/https://www.eastasianhistory.org/sites/default/files/article-content/32-33/EAH32-33_04.pdf |url-status=dead }}
• Amos, Timothy P. Embodying Difference: The Making of Burakumin in Modern Japan (2011)
• {{cite journal |last1=Amos |first1=Timothy |title=Fighting the Taboo Cycle: Google Map Protests and Buraku Human Rights Activism in Historical Perspective |journal=Japanese Studies |date=2 September 2015 |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=331–353 |doi=10.1080/10371397.2015.1119028 |s2cid=146819883 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10371397.2015.1119028 |access-date= |language=en |issn=1037-1397 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Amos |first1=Timothy |title=Binding Burakumin: Marxist Historiography and the Narration of Difference in Japan |journal=Japanese Studies |date=September 2007 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=155–171 |doi=10.1080/10371390701494168 |s2cid=144444326 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10371390701494168 |access-date= |language=en |issn=1037-1397 }}
• {{cite book |last=Beasley|first=William G.|author-link=William G. Beasley|year=1972|title=The Meiji Restoration|publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, California|isbn=0-8047-0815-0}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Fowler |first1=Edward |title=The Buraku in Modern Japanese Literature: Texts and Contexts |journal=Journal of Japanese Studies |date=2000 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=1–39 |doi=10.2307/133390 |jstor=133390 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/133390 |access-date= |issn=0095-6848 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Groemer |first1=Gerald |title=The Creation of the Edo Outcaste Order |journal=Journal of Japanese Studies |date=2001 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=263–293 |doi=10.2307/3591967 |jstor=3591967 |url=https://www.jstor.org/pss/3591967 |issn=0095-6848 }}
• 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.
• {{cite journal |last1=Neary |first1=Ian |title=Burakumin at the End of History |journal=Social Research |date=2003 |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=269–294 |doi=10.1353/sor.2003.0019 |s2cid=142516741 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/558566/summary |access-date= |issn=1944-768X }}
• Shimazaki, Toson. The Broken Commandment
• Suzuki, D.T., Oiwa, K. The Japan We Never Knew: A Journey of Discovery (Stoddart Publishing, Toronto: 1996)
• {{cite book |editor=The Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute |script-title=ja:部落問題事典 |trans-title=Burakumin Problems Dictionary |publisher=解放出版社(Kaihou) |year=1986}}

{{Refend}}

• [http://www.bll.gr.jp/ The Headquarters of Buraku Liberation League]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070626183059/http://www.blhrri.org/index_e.htm The Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute]
• [http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/discussionpapers/2005/Ito2.html Cooperativeness and Buraku Discrimination], discussion paper by Takuya Ito in the [http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/ electronic journal of contemporary Japanese studies], October 31, 2005.
• [http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/discussionpapers/McLauchlan.html Solving Anti-Burakujūmin Prejudice in the 21st Century: Suggestions from 21 Buraku Residents], discussion paper by Alastair McLauchlan in the [http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/ electronic journal of contemporary Japanese studies], January 31, 2003.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928075012/http://junana.com/CDP/corpus/GLOSSARY3.html#1014084 Buraku: in Community, Democracy, and Performance by Bruce Caron]
• [https://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)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081207025507/http://www.geocities.jp/zenkairen21/ 全国部落解放運動連合会](National Buraku Liberation Alliance)→[https://web.archive.org/web/20071009092020/http://homepage3.nifty.com/zjr/ 全国地域人権運動総連合] (National Confederation of Human Rights Movements in the Community) → [http://zjr.sakura.ne.jp/ Zenkoku Jinken Ren Blog]
• [http://www.burakken.jp/ 部落問題研究所] (Burakumin research institute)
• [http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~qm8m-ndmt/ 京都部落問題研究資料センター] (Burakumin in Kyoto research data)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070923012221/http://www11.plala.or.jp/dowakai/ 自由同和会](Burakumin rights group)
• [http://www.zennihon-douwakai.gr.jp/ 全日本同和会] (Burakumin rights group)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070915073242/http://www.zenkokuren.org/ 部落解放同盟全国連合会] (Burakumin rights group)
• [https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/30/world/japan-s-invisible-minority-better-off-than-in-past-but-stilloutcasts.html "Japan's Invisible Minority: Better Off Than in Past, but Still Outcasts"]. The New York Times, November 30, 1995. Nicholas Kristof on the state of toleration at that time.
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/world/asia/16outcasts.html "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.
• [https://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090502/ap_on_hi_te/as_japan_google_dark_secrets Old Japanese maps on Google Earth unveil secrets] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090526205945/http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090502/ap_on_hi_te/as_japan_google_dark_secrets |date=May 26, 2009 }} Sat May 2, 2009 – Jay Alabaster, Associated Press.
• [http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/281379 "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.
• {{cite journal |last1=Shimahara |first1=Nobuo |year=1984 |title=Toward the Equality of a Japanese Minority: The case of Burakumin |journal=Comparative Education |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=339–53 |jstor=3098878 |doi=10.1080/0305006840200305}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Gottlieb |first1=Nanette |year=1998 |title=Discriminatory language in Japan: Burakumin, the disabled and women |journal=Asian Studies Review |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=157–73 |doi=10.1080/10357829808713193|s2cid=144197076 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Hah |first1=Chong-do |last2=Lapp |first2=Christopher C. |date=May 1978 |title=Japanese Politics of Equality in Transition: The Case of the Burakumin |journal=Asian Survey |volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=487–504 |jstor=2643462 |doi=10.2307/2643462}}

{{Social class}}

{{Japanese social terms}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Human rights abuses in Japan

Category:Society of Japan

Category:Demographics of Japan

Category:Japanese caste system

Category:Japanese values

Category:Identity politics in Japan

Category:Social history of Japan

Japan

Category:Yakuza

Category:Class discrimination