An illuminating analysis of how Buraku discrimination shaped nation-building in Japan and how resistance movements have challenged the ongoing domination of Buraku people.
Applying universal themes, this book analyzes the discrimination faced by and the (re)construction of the Buraku people during Japan’s modernization. State and capital have created the ongoing plight of the Buraku. This book demonstrates that Buraku discrimination has been a springboard for domination, both during and after Japan’s colonial rule in Asia and has been an important function of governance in Japan. Buraku discrimination is reproduced in both cities and towns, forcing many Buraku people to suffer silently. To combat this situation, there are Buraku resistance movements, studied in depth here.
Publication date: October 30, 2026
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations and Tables
Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors
Prologue
Akira Kobayakawa
1 Burakumin as a Strategic Minority: Buraku Discrimination and Nation-Building in Modern Japan
Hideo Aoki
2 Constructing and Reconstructing Buraku in Military Cities: State, Capital, Violence, and Subjectification of Power
Akira Kobayakawa
3 Buraku Liberation Movements and Denunciation
Eiji Okada
4 The Imperial System and the Buraku Issue as Mental Structure
Midori Kurokawa
5 Buraku Discrimination in Postwar Japan Reorganized by Administrative Power, and Dowa Policy in Postwar Japan Constructed through Exclusion
Risa Kumamoto
6 Buraku Liberation and Literacy Movement: Memoir against Discrimination
Shinji Sakamoto
7 The Entrenchment of Disparities in Buraku Areas and De-problematization
Shingo Tsumaki
8 Stagnation and Silence in Small Buraku: Elimination of Existence and Violence
Akira Kobayakawa
Epilogue
Akira Kobayakawa
Appendix: a Photographic Story of Japan’s Buraku
Index