In feudal Japan, people engaged in death-related work, such as mourners, executioners and tanners, were severely discriminated against because they were considered to be tainted and impure. The Shinto belief believes that people may be seriously polluted by repeated killing of animals or engaging in terrible misconduct such as incest or bestiality. These people are forced to live outside the ordinary society of the wandering community.
It is unclear exactly when these caste communities will emerge. In the Edo period [1603-1867], the existence of the wandering community became common. At the time these people were called eta, or dirty people. The government supports segregation and discrimination in the eta community. Eta does not allow access to religious sites outside the community and has its own temple.
The feudal system of feudal Japan was abolished by Emperor Meiji in 1871, and the abandoned were granted the same legal status. However, this does not end discrimination, and many terms are used to refer to former wanderers. The word burakumin ["Hamlet"] began in the early 1900s to describe people in the former eta community. In some parts of the country, the burakumin settlement still exists in the same area of the former eta village.
In western Japan, such as Osaka, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, there is still a problem with social discrimination against burakumin. Many people, especially those belonging to the older generation, associate the buraku class with crime and lower socioeconomic status. According to some estimates, burakumin accounts for 70% of the members of the Yamaguchi group. The Yamaguchi group is one of the largest criminal organizations in the world and the largest Yakuza syndicate in Japan.
Orignal From: Burakumin - the inviolability of feudal Japan
No comments:
Post a Comment