The Coal-mining Pariahs of Chikuhō. Assimilation or Over-Discrimination?
The Chikuhō region of northern Kyūshū remains strongly associated with coal-mining history. Much less well known, however, is the link between coal mining and the outcast burakumin communities, as post-war historical research has been relatively silent on the issue. And yet, Chikuhō has a particular...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cjs, |
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| Autore principale: | |
| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
| Pubblicazione: |
Cipango - French Journal of Japanese Studies
2023
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| Soggetti: | |
| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Riassunto: | The Chikuhō region of northern Kyūshū remains strongly associated with coal-mining history. Much less well known, however, is the link between coal mining and the outcast burakumin communities, as post-war historical research has been relatively silent on the issue. And yet, Chikuhō has a particularly high concentration of buraku communities, often living in close vicinity to disused mines. This paper will show a direct link between the buraku presence in Chikuhō and the coal-mining industry, essentially resulting from historical and social factors. The industrialisation of the mines at the end of the nineteenth century could have led to the integration of burakumin into the nascent working class. Instead, discrimination persisted within the mining proletariat and was even leveraged by certain industrial groups as a means of managing working-class populations. The issue of buraku specificity was also addressed within the labour movement, by the unions and in the strategies of the Japanese Communist Party. Relations between burakumin defence groups and the other mining unions thus fluctuated according to the shifting balance of power, ranging from solidarity and alliance to subordination. |
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