Burakumin family names

[toykimura]

Hello,
Are there any commonly known burakumin
family names? I am writing a story about
discrimination, and wish to employ a family
name which reflects a character's burakumin
heritage, yet I don't wish to target any who
might have the same name and wish to hide
their background.
Thanks.

 

[caster51]

I think threre is no common name.
today thery are stonger than ordinarily ppl.

Are there any commonly known burakumin
family names?

You might be sued to the human rights group.
Not knowing might be better at times.

 

[nice gaijin]

today thery are stonger than ordinarily ppl.

Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by "stronger," and secondly, what do you mean by "ordinary ppl?" There are no genetic differences between burakumin and other Japanese; the entire label is a fabrication of a caste system long since done away with.

 

[epigene]

Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by "stronger," and secondly, what do you mean by "ordinary ppl?" There are no genetic differences between burakumin and other Japanese; the entire label is a fabrication of a caste system long since done away with.

This is what @caster51 is suggesting:

http://www.nara-np.co.jp/n_all/061020/all061020a.shtml

http://www.saitama-np.co.jp/news11/01/13x.html

 

[Ewok85]

Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by "stronger," and secondly, what do you mean by "ordinary ppl?" There are no genetic differences between burakumin and other Japanese; the entire label is a fabrication of a caste system long since done away with.

"ordinary ppl" would be those who haven't been labled burakumin and "stronger" means accepted, I guess. I don't understand the whole "burakumin" concept but it sounds pretty outrageous to me, but might fit into nihonjinron somewhere.

 

[nice gaijin]

well it was essentially just a lower caste that took care of the "unclean" jobs, similar to India's untouchables. As a result of their lines of work, they were sequestered into small isolated communities. There are no differences between burakumin and any other Japanese native, except that they were born into historically disadvantaged conditions (wasn't there a problem of discrimination based on one's koseki address?).

 

[ricecake]

Aren't there some specific native Japanese family names can trace one's ancestor ancient profession ?

That was what I read from a Chinese-language article described it as one of origination sources for Japanese surnames.

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

Now I live in hisabetsu buraku.☝
Early period of Showa, father moved to here.
BURAKUMIN cannot be distinguished by the family name.

Because they did not have a family name until the Edo era ,
They obtained the family name at the Meiji era .

 

[caster51]

Aren't there some specific native Japanese family names that can trace one's ancestor ancient profession?

Yes, some of them..

for example 服部 （famous ninja clan) they had special knowledge of machine use..(making clothes) 呉服
機織 in Japanese（hataori) you can imagin 秦＞Hattori
and there are many name of shinto musician雅楽、blacksmith's name..so on

 

[caster51]

most of farmer and commoner could not have a surname until Meiji
kamon was a kind of surname from ancient

B-ppl were not alowed to have a surname

 

[Ewok85]

There's apparently a "list" of sorts that has suspected burakumin people listed, along with people of Korean heritage, which is used to do background checks for those two subjects. I believe its called a Hisabetsu Buraku Chimei Sokan -

部落問題 - Wikipedia

ja.wikipedia.org

 

[caster51]

I believe its called a Hisabetsu Buraku Chimei Sokan -

Two weeks ago, 2ch tricked them.....that was a lie of 2ch. mass media was hooked...
there are no moral classes of that (同和教育) in the school of my prefecture
so, I did not know at all about them.
after I entered university, I read "Hakai"

The Broken Commandment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

However, I could not understand at all what he is talking
there is no word of 'eta" in a dictionary :relief:
that is why we did not have such discrimination in my childhood.
Not knowing might be better at times.

 

[caster51]

I believe its called a Hisabetsu Buraku Chimei Sokan

after that, I knew their places in my city
It was a district with the oldest shrine in my prefecture.
Were they persecuted by Buddhism? 不殺生
I feel they are real Japanese of ancient....meishi
The Buddhist defeated them in the fight .....era of sudoku.

 

[epigene]

I didn't know about hisabetsu buraku, etc., at all until I grew up and read about it. I've never heard or seen anybody being discriminated for being such a thing. I've never met a person who is one (or at least someone who are believed to be so) in my entire life. Neither do my parents nor my husband. It must have been such a taboo to talk about it that the general population knows nothing about!

Seriously, I'm curious to know more about it, other than what I see in places like Wikipedia and in the printed media.
What kind of discrimination do they actually suffer or purportedly suffer?
The only bit I can say I think I know is that the background check companies do on prospective employees is to probably see if they come from hisabetsu buraku. :?

 

[ricecake]

There is apparently a "list" of sorts that has suspected burakumin people listed, along with people of Korean heritage, which is used to do background checks for those two subjects. I beleive its called a Hisabetsu Buraku Chimei Sokan -

This one online interview article link I've just finished reading,there was a reported scandal involved Buraku background check and those Buraku directories had been computerized.

Yeah,I've known Koreans were specifically targeted by local Yamato population for many decades as they're shunned as marriage potentials.

Yukio Mishima had Buraku origins.

 

[ricecake]

Blood registries can also expose eta and hinin plus non-desirable subgroups in Japan,fall into the icky-icky keep them away from us category.


Criterion release of Akira Kurokawa's " Tengoku to Jigoko " ( USA title : High and Low ),the DVD comes with notes about the movie,and explain what Japanese audiences understand tacitly,an important plot element which isn't spoken in the film: that actor Toshiro Mifune's character is Burakumin works in an untouchable ( leather ) industry.

 

[Ewok85]

there is no word of 'eta" in a dictionaly

More than likely, it is an old reading of something that is no longer in dictionaries - 死語

It's not a made-up problem. It did exist and continues to exist now. Being ignorant is not an excuse.

 

[toykimura]

Thank you very much for your information interest.

Here is a very interesting article I found online:

calbears.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010211/ai_n14370589

For more information about the Burakumin,
see the Buraku Liberation League's web site:

国連文書・訳文

Here is a 2002 report on the current climate:

国連文書・訳文

A TV program that hints at the discrimination problems in Japan, and which displays the current climate of acceptance and integration is the metaphorical anime "Petto Petto San". Very sweet.

 

[caster51]

Yukio Mishima had Buraku origins.

I don't think so at all.
Nonaka is famous.

野中は自身が被差別部落出身者であることを公言しており、野中の人生は徹底した差別との闘いでもあったと本人は語っている

野中広務 - Wikipedia

ja.wikipedia.org

TIMEasia.com 12/21/98

see the Buraku Liberation League's web site:

They are making the discrimonations by themselves today.
That is, as victims.
they will shout eternity
" we are victims" " we are victims". "we are discriminated"
They are very advantageous.
They dont work.. because of victims.
That is why they are storinger than us.

 

[Ewok85]

Isn't it very Japanese to victimise yourself though? Even 60 years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki we still get more and more people announcing themselves to be hibakusha...

 

[epigene]

野中は自身が被差別部落出身者であることを公言してお り、野中の人生は徹底した差別との闘いでもあったと本 人は語っている

So, Nonaka Hiroo is open about his buraku background. I read the Wikipedia article and found he is from a certain locality in Kyoto Prefecture.

I recently read a post in a website roughly equivalent to Yahoo! Answers where a person was asking what legal action is possible against a company who had hired him but abruptly refused to do so (this taking place after he sold his home and transferred his children to new schools to relocate to the new job that was expected to provide him career advancement). This supposedly was due to his buraku background. His prospective employer received an anonymous letter, threatening to disclose his background to the public and therefore impact the company's business operation and sales.

The person in question had had a respectable position in the IT division of a major company in Tokyo and thought little about his background until he was headhunted and invited to relocate to the new job (in Nara Prefecture). In addition to the legal question, he was asking whether there is greater discrimination against hisabetsu buraku in Kansai more than in Kanto (because Tokyo is today basically a mixture of people from various part of the country).

Is this true, I wonder? :?

 

[caster51]

His prospective employer received an anonymous letter, threatening to disclose his background to the public and therefore impact the company's business operation and sales

sometime, they make it themselves because of money

 

[Ewok85]

sometime, they make it themselves because of money

Come off it already, you cannot deny that there are bad things that happen regarding discrimination of burakumin, hibakusha and those of korean heritage.

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

It is right that caster51-san says.
Because because I live in Hisabetu-buraku.

 

[Ajinomoto]

It's not something people talk about much, naturally. Many Japanese who emigrated to Hawaii as laborers were Burakumin, so surnames there will tell you something. I mentioned my Godfather's name, Tanimoto, to my Japanese teacher, a Tokyo native now in her 80's, and she said, "I can tell by the name" - implying that he may have had Burakumin origins. With the WWII internment camps, families were split up and some of the oral tradition was lost.