My Encounter with the Buraku People

Charlie V. Morgan

Sociology graduate student

Brigham Young University

Provo, UT USA

My first experience with Japan was on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (otherwise known as the Mormon church). I spent two years in the Tohoku area of northern Japan. Upon returning to the states I entered Brigham Young University, interested in studying sociology and Japanese. One day I found an article in the New York Times about an outcaste group in Japan called the Burakumin. (In talking with many Burakumin, I learned that the politically correct word is Hisabetsu Burakumin-Hisabetsu meaning "those who are discriminated against.") I was shocked, as well as interested, to learn of a minority group I had never even heard of during my two-year stay in Japan. I immediately wanted to find out everything I could about the issues. Later in my studies, I had the opportunity to go to Japan for one year on an exchange program. My first choice location was Kyoto, because I wanted to look into the Buraku issues in more depth. Though I was disappointed to hear I would be going to Joetsu in Niigata Prefecture, I was happy just to be going to Japan. In a discussion with one of my professors, I learned that even Joetsu had a dowa chiku (a designated area where Buraku people live) consisting of over two hundred people in eighty households. I have since learned that Niigata Prefecture alone has around three hundred dowa chiku.

Although I heard many things about the Buraku people, none of them came directly from the Buraku people. I wanted to talk to Buraku people in person and hear their personal experiences. But how could I do it? I couldn't just walk up to a Buraku house, knock on the door and ask, "Are you a Burakumin ?" By chance, or maybe by fate, I met someone on another research project who lived in the dowa chiku. Here was my opportunity to talk to someone about the real issues and what was really going on with the Buraku people. The problem was that I couldn't talk to him about the Buraku people until I found out for sure that he was one of this minority group. I brought up the subject very carefully so as not to offend him. Throughout the entire conversation, I explained how I had heard many different things, was not sure what to believe and wanted to know the truth. Then I asked him, "Are you a Burakumin?" Okay, so maybe it wasn't the best approach, but I didn't know how else to find out. He dodged the question gracefully and diverted the conversation to another subject. I couldn't let an opportunity like this pass, so I explained my purpose in a little more detail, and then asked again, "Are you a Burakumin?" He dodged this attempt even more gracefully than the first. Okay, maybe he just didn't understand my motive, so I proceeded to explain it in more detail. I then asked him one more time. He said something to the effect of, "Okay, I don't have anything to hide; I am a Burakumin." After that, he opened my eyes to a hidden world of pain and suffering, but also one of a people fighting for their rights to equal treatment. That day was truly the defining moment in my perspective on the Buraku people, and it was the turning point in my research interests.

While studying at a university in Joetsu, I took a class on Dowa education (Dowa education can be divided into (1) Dowa education as a human right and (2) Dowa education about human rights. The former deals with issues of school enrollment, school achievement and educational opportunities in general, while the latter is concerned with school curriculum and teaching efforts to change prejudiced views and enhance human rights awareness. I learned more about the history and many of the current problems the Buraku people are facing. I even had the opportunity to go to the dowa chiku and listen to someone share his experiences while living there. Though I believe I will never be able to understand how these people feel, this was as close as I could come to feeling their pain and struggles. Truly moved, I wanted to become involved and try to do whatever I could to stop the discrimination and prejudice.

After getting to know about this problem, I couldn't help but talk to many of my friends and acquaintances about the Buraku people. To my surprise, many people (especially people my age) do not know anything about them. How could this be possible? The people who did know about them have numerous stereotypes and misconceptions. Overall, there seem to be two major misconceptions. The first incorrect perception is that although there was a lot of discrimination in the past, there is no more discrimination now. The second incorrect perception was that the discrimination and prejudices would disappear if the people would just move out of the dowa chiku. Because I heard these two misconceptions so many times, I would like to comment briefly on them.

The first comment I heard all the time is that there is no longer any discrimination. If you have ever talked to someone who was born in the dowa chiku, you would know that this could not be further from the truth. The president of a company stated that there is no longer any discrimination against the Buraku people. I countered that comment with my own ideas, specifically mentioning how much of the discrimination does not show up until it comes time to marry. I then asked him what he would do if his daughter wanted to marry someone from the dowa chiku. He paused and just said, "Oh, I see what you mean." (For a discussion of this misconception, see An Introduction to the Buraku Issue: Questions and Answers, by Suehiro Kitaguchi. Translation and Introduction by Alastair McLauchlan. Richmond, Surrey (England): Curzon Press Ltd. 1999)

The second comment was also voiced by many people I talked to: the discrimination will disappear if the Buraku people just move away from the dowa chiku. This one is a little tougher to refute. It is important to know that even though Buraku people leave the dowa chiku, they cannot escape their identity. Even if they may flee to Tokyo, their permanent address will always be available on their family registry. Once they are found out, the discrimination they experienced in the dowa chiku will continue in their new surroundings. One man in a dowa chiku changed his family registry dozens of times to protect his children from discrimination, only to be found out when his child wanted to marry someone who was not a Buraku person (Nanaju Nendai no Fujin Katsudo, Buraku Kaiho Dai 15 kai Zenkoku Fujin Shukai/Hokokusho). Aside from the logical explanations that can be given, a simple question remains: Why do the Buraku people have to give up their origin to escape discrimination? If they leave the dowa chiku, they cannot come back to the dowa chiku with their new spouse without the fear of her finding out their origin. They essentially have to forget who they are and where they came from. I personally would never be willing to give up my origins to escape some kind of prejudice. I do not think this choice is even an option-it is unlawful and disrespectful. (See An Introduction to the Buraku Issue: Questions and Answers.)

As those of you who have tried to find out about the Buraku people already know, information in English about the Buraku people is rare. The information available is either extremely outdated or out of print. Because of the lack of information in English, I did not expect to find many articles in Japanese. To my surprise, there is an incredible amount of information in Japanese-monthly journals from all over Japan, articles, books and even information on the Internet.

Because of my experiences, I have decided to write my doctoral dissertation on the Buraku people, focusing specifically on the marriage discrimination this minority group in Japan face. I am also interested in finding other people who are interested in these issues, with the possibility of doing joint research, or just talking about research. I have found some people who are doing research on Buraku issues, but I know there must be more. I would like to create a network of interested people and start a group e-mail on the subject of the Buraku people. If you have any interest, or know of others who do, please e-mail me at charlie_morgan1@excite.com.

I would like to thank Ralph Brown, Don Norton, Nobuki Fujimoto and John Hoffmann for their comments and corrections.

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