Editing Burakumin (section)

== End of the feudal era ==
[[File:Jiichiro Matsumoto.JPG|thumb|right|upright=0.9|The most famous official of the [[Buraku Liberation League]], [[Jiichirō Matsumoto]] (1887–1966), who was born a {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} in [[Fukuoka prefecture]]. He was a statesman and termed "the father of {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} liberation".<ref>[http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss12/reber_old.shtml Buraku Mondai in Japan: Historical and Modern Perspectives and Directions for the Future] – Emily A. Su-lan Reber</ref>]]
The feudal caste system in Japan ended formally in 1869 with the [[Meiji Restoration]]. In 1871, the newly formed [[Meiji Era|Meiji]] government issued the {{Nihongo3|'Low Caste Abolishment Edict'|{{ill|賤民廃止令|ja}}|Senmin Haishirei}} decree, giving outcasts equal legal status. It is currently known better as the {{Nihongo3|Emancipation Edict|{{ill|解放令|ja}}|Kaihōrei}}. However, {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}} were deprived of the exclusive rights of disposal of dead bodies of horses and cattle.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 20, 2004 |script-title=ja:明治初年における斃牛馬処理制とと畜業 -兵庫の事例から |title=Meijishonen ni okeru heigyūba shori-sei to to Chiku-Gyō – Hyōgo no jirei kara |trans-title=The Slaughtering System and the Slaughtering Industry in the First Year of the Meiji Era: A Case of Hyogo |language=ja |website=Buraku Liberation and Human Rights Research Institute |access-date=October 6, 2020 |url=https://blhrri.org/old/kenkyu/project/ishin/ishin_00016.html}}</ref><ref name=naid120005847717>{{cite journal |author=桐村 彰郎 |date=December 1, 1989 |title=Buraku kaihō hantai ikki ni miru minshū ishiki no shosō |script-title=ja:部落解放反対一揆にみる民衆意識の諸相 |trans-title=Phases of Popular Consciousness in Riots against the Buraku Emancipation |language=ja |journal=Nara Law Review |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=1–30 |id={{NAID|120005847717}} }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=OBA |first=Yoshirō |date=March 25, 2013 |script-title=ja:北海道炭鉱汽船(株)百年の経営史と経営者像(三) |title=Hokkaidō tankō kisen (kabu) hyaku-nen no keiei-shi to keiei-sha-zō (san) |trans-title=On Business History of Hokkaido Coal Mining and Shipping Corporation(3) |url=http://hokuga.hgu.jp/dspace/handle/123456789/2262 |journal=北海学園大学学園論集 |volume=155 |issn=0385-7271 |access-date=October 6, 2020 |language=ja}}</ref> The elimination of their monopolies of certain occupations actually resulted in a decrease of their general living standards, while social discrimination simply continued.

During the early Meiji era, many anti-{{transliteration|ja|Kaihōrei}} riots ({{Nihongo3||{{ill|解放令反対一揆|ja}}|Kaihōrei-hantai-ikki}}) happened around the country. For example, in a village in [[Okayama prefecture|Okayama]] when "former {{transliteration|ja|eta}}" tried to buy alcohol, four men were killed, four men were injured and 25 houses were destroyed by [[commoner]]s.<ref name=naid120005847717/> In another village,  as part of an anti-Government riot,<ref>{{cite web |last=畑中 |first=敏之 |script-title=ja:「穢多狩」について |title='Eta kari' ni tsuite |trans-title=A new aspect of the word "etagari": rethinking it in a context of history |language=ja |website=立命館大学経済学会 |id={{NAID|40016155268}} |url=http://ritsumeikeizai.koj.jp/koj_pdfs/57103.pdf |access-date=October 8, 2020}}</ref> 263 houses were destroyed and 18 former {{transliteration|ja|eta}}s were killed.

The practice of eating meat existed even during the Edo period,<ref>{{cite web |date=November 8, 2017 |script-title=ja:日本人は江戸時代にも｢肉｣を愛食していた 肉食を忌避していたとの通説があるが…  |title=Nihonjin wa Edo jidai ni mo 'niku' o ai shoku shite ita nikushoku o kihi shite ita to no tsūsetsu ga aru ga… |trans-title=There is a common theory that the Japanese ate "meat" in the Edo period and avoided eating meat... |language=ja |website=Toyo keizai Inc. |access-date=October 8, 2020 |url=https://toyokeizai.net/articles/amp/196315?display=b&amp_event=read-body}}</ref> but the official ban of the consumption of meat from livestock was ended in 1871 in order to "Westernise" the country. Many former {{transliteration|ja|eta}} began to work in [[slaughterhouse|abattoirs]] and as [[butcher]]s, as they were thought to be experienced with the handling of dead bodies.<ref name="Harada 1993"/>

Slow-changing social attitudes, especially in the countryside, meant that abattoirs and their workers were often met with hostility from local residents. Continued ostracism, the decrease of living standards and the development of modern construction and city sprawl resulted in former {{transliteration|ja|eta}} communities becoming slum areas. Prejudice against the consumption of meat continued throughout the Meiji period. In 1872, a group of {{transliteration|ja|[[Mitake-kyo|Yamabushi]]}}, who objected to the Emperor's consumption of meat, tried to enter the [[Tokyo Imperial Palace]] and four of them were killed. They claimed that gods would leave Japan because the Japanese had eaten meat.<ref name="Harada 1993"/>

There were many terms used to indicate former outcastes, their communities or settlements at the time. Official documents referred to them as {{nihongo3|'former {{transliteration|ja|eta}}'|旧穢多|kyu-eta}}, while the newly liberated outcasts called themselves {{nihongo3|'new citizens'|新平民|shin-heimin}}, among other terms.

[[Nakae Chōmin]] was a late 19th century statesman who worked for the liberation of {{transliteration|ja|burakumin}}. He transferred his resident registration to {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} and denounced the discrimination against them when he campaigned during the [[1890 Japanese general election|election of 1890]] from Osaka and won.

The term {{Nihongo3|'special hamlets'|特殊部落|tokushu buraku}}, now considered inappropriate, started being used by officials during the 1900s, and resulted in the meaning of the word {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} ('hamlet') coming to imply former {{transliteration|ja|eta}} villages in certain parts of Japan.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

Attempts to resolve the problem during the early 20th century were of two types: the {{Nihongo|'assimilation'|同和|dōwa}} philosophy which encouraged improvements in living standards of {{transliteration|ja|buraku}} communities and integration with the mainstream Japanese society, and the {{Nihongo|'levelers'|水平社|suiheisha}} philosophy which concentrated on confronting and criticising alleged perpetrators of discrimination.