Burakumin and Koreans in Japan: From Ancient Times to the End of the Meiji Period

Year 2024, Volume: 7 Issue: 14, 50 - 62, 30.06.2024

Hümeyra Gülmez

Abstract

Japan hosted an ostracized group, burakumin, in its lands for centuries. During the Meiji Restoration, their class restrictions were abolished. However, discrimination against this group continued until and after the Meiji Period. Additionally, discrimination against Koreans started in the Meiji years. Even though Koreans and Korean culture were held in high esteem during the Tokugawa Period, they were excluded, like burakumin in the Meiji Period. These two groups have been subjected to similar humiliations and have been marginalized in Japanese society for years with similar prejudices. The isolation of the Japanese people for years, combined with the ethnocentric approaches that increased with the imperial policies, led the Japanese to exclude the Koreans both within its lands and in the neighboring peninsula. In this study, I compared the status of burakumin and Koreans and saw that both groups had been ostracized with similar prejudices in Japan during the Meiji Era. Both groups were labeled with the same insults as “filthy, idle, vulgar, immoral, primitive” and “unchaste.” Again, both groups were likened to animals and seen as less than human beings. Likewise, both parties were seen as violent and treacherous when they pursued their liberty during and after the Meiji Period. Lastly, both parties lived in isolated communities in Japan at that time and worked in similar disreputable jobs. One interesting point is that the start of segregation was different for each group. While burakumin was discriminated against by Japanese society itself for doing “unclean works,” Koreans were first alienated by Japanese authorities with imperial goals and by the Japanese public later.

Keywords

burakumin, Koreans, discrimination, The Meiji Period, Marginal groups in Japan

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