Caste in Japan · extent, a well developed caste system with its characteristic features of...

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THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964 Buddhism is supposed to have been a reaction against Hinduism and its system of social stratification. Yet it is interesting that in Tibet, Korea, Japan and, possibly, China there has existed, and still exists to some extent, a well developed caste system with its characteristic features of endogamy, pollution and hierarchy. In Japan historians have attempted to show that some of the lower caste groups originated from emi- grant Koreans as early as in the thirteenth century. But it is clear that the majority of the lower castes are in fact Japanese, originating in the past from various occupational groups like fishermen, leather-workers, armourers, prison wardens, temple dancers, gypsies and cemetery attendants. The number of lower caste people in Japan is increasing in the rural areas, both absolutely and proportionately to the total population. Even so, the lower castes probably do not constitute more than 2 per cent of the total Japanese population. Since the War, the lower castes have tended to be divided into two sections, one seeking upward mobi- lity through the increased economic opportunities and a smaller section concerned with remaining as >t was and defending its traditional position. With continually rising standards of living, the economic differences between the lower castes and the rest of the population are getting blurred. In contrast, however, the political importance of the lower castes is increasing. A national organisation for the emancipation of the lower castes has been in existence since the War. This organisation is also powerful as a vote-catcher at the elections and both the Liberal Democrats and Socialists rival each other in wooing it. INDIA is such a large country covering such a large portion of the world's surface and with such a large population that the method by which it organises its people in- to different religious, territorial and economic groups has always been a fascinating field for ling- uists, anthropologists and culture historians. In the course of this study the emphasis has always been on the uniqueness or special fea- tures of Indian society to such an extent that similar social or histo- rical features elsewhere in the world have often been overlooked or not sufficiently emphasised. This applies especially to the field of caste stu- dies. In fact, the international maga- zine Current Sociology devoted one ci its issues to the study of caste and in the introduction it was as- sumed that since most of the stu- dies of caste have been made in India, it was hardly necessary to include examples from other parts of the world. About the only com- parative study of caste which has ever been made is the one publish- ed by the late A M Hocart "Les Castes" but even there the only ex- amples taken are from the Indian and Sinhalese side of Asia. Traditionally, Buddhism was sup- posed to have been a reaction against Hinduism and its system of stratification. Yet it seems rather interesting that in Tibet, Korea, Japan and possibly China ( i f one counts the discrimination against the Tanka people as caste discrimi- nation) there has existed and still exists to some extent a well deve- loped caste system with its usual features of endogamy, pollution and hierarchy. All these are countries which can be said to be Buddhist in the sense that much of their cul- ture is based on Buddhist forms. This seems unlikely to be an acci- dent. No Physical Differences It might be argued that the caste distinctions in these countries were a remnant of earlier races or reli- gions which became, so to speak, fos- silized, were it not for the Japanese situation. So in this short article I propose to deal with the Japanese situation with a few remarks why the situation in Japan is of import- ant theoretical interest to Indian students of sociology and politics. The first important point is that in Japan there is no national phy- sical distinction between people of different castes. Japanese physical anthropologists have been attempting for at least a hundred years to show that the bottom Japanese caste has distinctive physical characteristics which mark them off from ordinary Japanese (termed heimin). It can be said conclusively that within the limits of modern scientific know- ledge there is absolutely no physi- cal difference between members of Japanese castes. The second important point is that in Japan every family within the boundaries of the Empire has the names of its members inscribed in a Koseki (a family register) and this register is kept by the va- rious local offices within Japan. In fact if one were to define a Japa- nese, the best way to do so would be to state that a Japanese is a per- son who is registered as a citizen of some local unit within Japanese ter- ritorial boundaries. The Japanese nation from one point of view is a union of Japanese families registered by the local authorities. This defini- tion from a sociological point of view has a number of important consequences, but from the point of view of this article it means that it is possible to trace every single family in the patrilineal line often for several hundred years. Thus his- torical research in Japan is of an extremely high quality. An attempt has been made by various historians to show that some of the lower Japanese caste groups- originated from emigrant Koreans as early as in the thirteenth century. But it is also clear that the majo- 229 Caste in Japan William H Newell

Transcript of Caste in Japan · extent, a well developed caste system with its characteristic features of...

THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY ANNUAL NUMBER FEBRUARY 1964

Buddhism is supposed to have been a reaction against Hinduism and its system of social stratification. Yet it is interesting that in Tibet, Korea, Japan and, possibly, China there has existed, and still exists to some extent, a well developed caste system with its characteristic features of endogamy, pollution and hierarchy.

In Japan historians have attempted to show that some of the lower caste groups originated from emi­grant Koreans as early as in the thirteenth century. But it is clear that the majority of the lower castes are in fact Japanese, originating in the past from various occupational groups like fishermen, leather-workers, armourers, prison wardens, temple dancers, gypsies and cemetery attendants.

The number of lower caste people in Japan is increasing in the rural areas, both absolutely and proportionately to the total population. Even so, the lower castes probably do not constitute more than 2 per cent of the total Japanese population.

Since the War, the lower castes have tended to be divided into two sections, one seeking upward mobi­lity through the increased economic opportunities and a smaller section concerned with remaining as >t was and defending its traditional position.

With continually rising standards of living, the economic differences between the lower castes and the rest of the population are getting blurred. In contrast, however, the political importance of the lower castes is increasing.

A national organisation for the emancipation of the lower castes has been in existence since the War. This organisation is also powerful as a vote-catcher at the elections and both the Liberal Democrats and Socialists rival each other in wooing it.

I N D I A is such a large country covering such a large por t ion of

the wor ld ' s surface and w i t h such a large popula t ion that the method by which it organises its people in ­to different rel igious, t e r r i t o r i a l and economic groups has always been a fascinating f ield for l ing­uists, anthropologists and culture historians. In the course of this study the emphasis has always been on the uniqueness or special fea­tures of Ind i an society to such an extent that s imi l a r social or histo­r ical features elsewhere in the w o r l d have often been overlooked or not sufficiently emphasised. This applies especially to the field of caste stu­dies. In fact, the internat ional maga­zine Current Sociology devoted one ci its issues to the study of caste and in the in t roduc t ion it was as­sumed that since most of the stu­dies of caste have been made in India , it was hard ly necessary to include examples f r o m other parts of the w o r l d . Abou t the on ly com­parative study of caste wh ich has ever been made is the one publ i sh­ed by the late A M Hocar t "Les Castes" bu t even there the on ly ex­amples taken are f rom the Indian and Sinhalese side of Asia .

T r a d i t i o n a l l y , Buddhism was sup­posed to have been a reaction against H i n d u i s m and its system of s trat i f icat ion. Yet i t seems rather

interesting that in Tibet , Korea, Japan and possibly China ( i f one counts the d i sc r imina t ion against the Tanka people as caste discr imi­nat ion) there has existed and s t i l l exists to some extent a we l l deve­loped caste system w i t h its usual features of endogamy, p o l l u t i o n and hierarchy. A l l these are countries which can be said to be Buddhis t in the sense that much of their cu l ­ture is based on Buddhist forms. This seems u n l i k e l y to be an acci­dent.

No Physical Differences

It might be argued that the caste distinctions in these countries were a remnant of earlier races or r e l i ­gions which became, so to speak, fos­sil ized, were it not for the Japanese si tuation. So in this short ar t ic le I propose to deal w i t h the Japanese si tuat ion w i t h a few remarks why the si tuation in Japan is of impor t ­ant theoretical interest to Ind i an students of sociology and pol i t ics .

The first impor tant poin t is that in Japan there is no nat ional phy­sical d is t inct ion between people of different castes. Japanese physical anthropologists have been a t tempt ing for at least a hundred years to show that the b o t t o m Japanese caste has dist inctive physical characteristics which m a r k them off f rom ord inary Japanese ( termed heimin). It can

be said conclusively that w i th in the l im i t s of modern scientific know­ledge there is absolutely no physi­cal difference between members of Japanese castes.

The second impor tant po in t is that in Japan every f a m i l y w i t h i n the boundaries of the Empire has the names of its members inscribed in a Koseki (a fami ly register) and this register is kept by the va­rious local offices w i t h i n Japan. In fact if one were to define a Japa­nese, the best way to do so w o u l d be to state that a Japanese is a per­son who is registered as a citizen of some local uni t w i t h i n Japanese ter­r i t o r i a l boundaries. The Japanese nation f r o m one point of view is a union of Japanese families registered by the local authorit ies. This defini­t ion f rom a sociological point of view has a number of impor tan t consequences, but f rom the point of view of this ar t ic le it means that it is possible to trace every single f a m i l y in the pa t r i l i nea l l ine often for several hundred years. Thus his­tor ica l research in Japan is of an extremely high qua l i t y .

An attempt has been made by various historians to show that some of the lower Japanese caste groups-originated f r o m emigrant Koreans as early as in the thir teenth century. But it is also clear that the majo-

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r i t y of th is lower caste are in fact o rd inary Japanese o r ig ina t ing in the his tor ical past f r o m various special­ist occupational groups. Some of these occupational groups were: f ishermen, (the founder of N ich i r en Buddhism was supposed to have been such a fisherman), leather workers, armourers , pr ison wardens, temple dancers, gypsies or cemetery attendants. In add i t ion certain o rd i ­nary Japanese were sometimes de­mo ted to the status of a bo t tom caste as a f o r m of punishment by the daimyo.

Discrimination in Tokugawa Period

As far as can be gathered, du r ing the Tokugawa feudal per iod there were two m a i n dist inctions w i t h i n the bo t tom caste termed hinin and eta. Hinin means " N o t a f u l l per­son", and al though the e tymology of the word eta is obscure, it is usual ly regarded as meaning " d i r ­t y " . The eta were apparent ly a sort of aristocracy among the lower caste and remained permanent ly eta. Hi­nin were often made servants of eta but apparent ly under certain cir­cumstances could regain the status of a heimin, o rd inary Japanese, The upper and lower castes were rigo­rously endogamous and in Tokuga­wa it appears that hinin and eta in some areas were also endogamous among themselves. However today this dis t inct ion no longer exists and a general term, burakumin (mem­bers of a special d is t r ic t ) is used to apply to the whole of this lower group.

Up to about 1615, the end of the Chusei era, the ancestors of the burakumin were not discr iminated against p a r t i c u l a r l y ; i t was only du r ing the narrow-minded Tokuga­wa per iod that the d i sab i l i ty of be­ing burakumin became specially fel t . D u r i n g the Tokugawa, the people of Japan were organised in to various feudal classes w i t h sumptu­ary laws of various sorts against classes which t r ied to move up (or d o w n ) . The r u l i n g Bakufu govern­ment was increasingly faced w i t h certain internal difficulties towards the end of the per iod and it is thought that the deliberate empha­sis on d iscr imina tory measures against the eta tended to assist the government in m u c h the same way as the use of Jews as scapegoats in Europe also d u r i n g the later feudal per iod.

Be that as i t may, w i t h the M e i j i restorat ion in 1868 a l l residents of Japan were supposed to be given equal treatment by the government as subjects of the Emperor and a l l famil ies had the r i g h t to acquire surnames, a r i g h t previously reserv­ed only to certain classes. At the t ime of their legal emancipat ion in 1871, 300,000 of the burakumin l i v i n g in special distr icts were enu­merated. Since this tota l included o n l y people in the special areas, the numbers were cer ta in ly much lar­ger in the whole of Japan. Since 1871 it has been i l l ega l to count them, register them or to d i sc r imi ­nate against t h e m ; but it is certain that today the number is much larger. In 1915 it was about 800,000; today the best reports indicate at least L5 m i l l i o n . Burakumin are found p r i n c i p a l l y in the K i n k i dis­t r i c t of Japan (Hi rosh ima , Yama-guchi and Okayama) and also in Fukuoka, Shikoku and the area around Nara , the ancient Japanese cap i ta l . Accord ing to Professor J i ro Suzuki (Orient West, Ju ly 1961, vo lume 6, No 7, p 9 ) , of 4,925 known special residential distr icts more than h a l f contain fewer than 20 households, wh i l e in those con­ta in ing a popula t ion of more than 500, found only in large cities, there are less than 0.3 per cent of the total estimated number. B u t this is only guesswork in the absence of a census.

Incorporation into Urban Life

I t is my personal convict ion based on a snap survey in two Japanese provinces (ken) that the numbers of burakumin are increasing in ru ra l areas both absolutely and propor­t ionate ly but certain other experts in the field deny this and c la im that a gradual process of incorpora t ion is taking place into the wider Japa­nese society.

There is no doubt that t ins Japa­nese lower caste is mobi le in the same sense as one can talk of an Ind ian subcaste being mob i l e as a group. The number of burakumin are being reduced by death and by incorporat ion in to urban l i fe . Owing to poverty and bad l i v i n g conditions for the most part , i t seems l i k e l y that the age of death is lower than for the Japanese in general. More­over in certain urban areas where the Japanese are n o t so to speak,

very caste-conscious, the fringe set­tlements are disappearing in to ordinary slums and certain t radi­t iona l occupations such as shoe re­pa i r ing and manufacture tend to be dominated by ordinary Japanese. Tokyo is one such city where the burakumin are probably being ab­sorbed. There are probably not more than a few thousand known buraku­min in Tokyo, a city of ten m i l l i o n popula t ion .

On the other hand burakumin are increasing by b i r th and recruitment f r o m other m ino r i t y elements in Japanese society and as a result of absorption of ord inary Japanese who prefer to be burakumin. No person as far as I am aware has ever t r i ed to work out an all-Japan burakumin index of f e r t i l i t y and I w o u l d not even l ike to make a w i l d guess.

Koreans, a Separate Group

But I was very interested in visit­i n g a certain vil lage about 50 miles f r o m K y o t o in order to observe a smal l communi ty of Koreans l i v ing separately f r o m the v i l lage who had been brought to Japan du r ing the war as labour and who were not able or w i l l i n g to return to Korea, The chi ldren spoke Japanese as their pr incipal language and in the school were segregated f rom the Japanese. The Koreans were not regarded as belonging to the ma in tonari (neigh­bourhood system) of the village and were not represented in the v i l lage council by households but had one delegate representing the whole sub taste. They were not allowed to be bur ied in the vi l lage soil after cremation but their ashes were stored in the local Buddhist temple on the pretext that they w o u l d eventually be returned to the family vaults in Korea. The) were also a to ta l ly separate com-mensal and endogenous group treated by the other vil lagers as a sort of infer ior burakumin group.

I have also visited one burakumin settlement in which one of the v i l l ­agers after describing certain disabi­lities from which they suffered stated that even though they were not regarded as having the f u l l rights of Japanese, nevertheless they regarded themselves as better than , Koreans who were a t o t a l l y sepa­rate group. These groups are potential lower caste recruits.

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The other method of recrui tment to the burakumin caste is f rom the Japanese themselves. A l t h o u g h this is not very common in the country­side, in most b i g cities in the Osaka and K i n k i area one w i l l f ind that in the burakumin settlements there are always substantial numbers of Japanese w h o are not burakumin by b i r t h bu t who l ike l i v i n g in the area. This question has not been investigated very deeply as yet a l though a study is being under-taken by George de Vos and Wagat-suma of the Univers i ty of Califor­nia f r o m a social psychological viewpoint . But it seems to me that wi th indust r ia l i sa t ion and increasing upward m o b i l i t y , the m o r a l con­f o r m i t y to class values one stage higher than one's parents' is tend­ing to give a sort of competi t ive a t t i tude to an i n d i v i d u a l (men especially) wh ich it is difficult for a person to resist. Being at the bot­t o m of the caste/class scale enables one to be freer and to relax and to do only those things which one wishes to do and the caste solida­r i t y of the burakumin at the bot­t o m has a positive qua l i t y about i t l acking i n ju s t s l u m dwellers .

Enviable Lot of Lower Castes Speaking as a foreigner, when I

enter a Japanese house I am con­stantly conscious of Japanese e t i ­quette: coughing gent ly when I approach a house in case the occu­pant is asleep and using special ver­ba l forms unless I know the person to w h o m I am speaking very we l l indeed. B u t in an average buraku­min c o m m u n i t y the people say what they th ink b l u n t l y , tell you to go away if they do not want you , and chi ldren seem to be pour ing through a l l the houses in a conti­nuous rough and tumble much more l ike a Polynesian household than a t rad i t iona l Japanese house, I can­not help feel ing that much of the Japanese c r i t i c i sm of and hos t i l i ty to the burakumin in their mids t is a sort of jealousy against people who so c lear ly do not care for the same things as an o rd ina ry Japanese w i t h the corresponding feeling that i t serves them r i g h t to be at the bot-tom of the economic scale. In an ar t ic le some years ago in the Ame­rican Anthropologist Kathleen Gough compared the posi t ion and freedom of women among a low caste l abour ing commun i ty and in a B r a h m i n household, w i t h an un­

wr i t t en conclusion which seemed to come na tu ra l ly out of the article that it was much better to be a w o r k i n g woman free to work side by side w i t h your m a n and free to change h i m if one wanted to than to be a w e l l kept, w e l l b rought up Brahmin woman cont inua l ly kept as a sort of proper ty . To be hungry sometimes was w o r t h i t . The num­ber of such ord inary Japanese who wish to become burakumin must be qui te considerable in my opin ion . I t is my bel ief that these second group of factors are at present more powerful than the first so that the burakumin popula t ion is p robably increasing,

Two Groups Since the end of the war a ten­

dency has been visible for the var i ­ous local burakumin communit ies to divide into two sections, one seeking upward m o b i l i t y as a result of increased opportunit ies and a smaller section concerned w i t h remain ing as it was and de­fending its t r ad i t iona l posi t ion. This usual ly took the f o r m at the begin­ning of special improvement associ­ations in which the r icher members t r i ed to persuade the poorer to clean

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up the i r houses, stop hav ing d runk-en parties, etc. The argument was tha t one reason why burakumin were despised by o rd ina ry Japanese was that they were spendthrifts and d i r t y in their habits and the sooner they started to behave proper ly the better for them.

At the beg inn ing this usual ly re­sul ted in various quarrels between the two sections w i t h an attempt by the u p w a r d l y m o b i l e section to t r y to deny their or igins . Bu t w i t h the cont inua l ly r i s ing Japanese standard of l i v i n g this separation in to two factions seems to have become weaker. Even those at the bot tom can easily find manual or other w o r k so that a l l are beginning to be inspired w i t h the same competi­t ive sp i r i t as o rd inary Japanese. W i t h this g radua l ly increasing weal th , we have a g radua l weaken­ing of the interests of the buraku­min in the i r caste association and an increasing po l i t i ca l importance of the association itself.

Worse Off After Emancipation Afte r the legal emancipation of

the burakumin in 1871, it was not clear exact ly what was going to happen. B u t the general feeling appears to have been that the gov­ernment had solved the caste sys­t em which was incompat ib le w i t h a modern industrialised country and that the whole p rob lem should solve itself. In a par t i cu la r v i l lage in Nagano ken wh ich one of my students studied, the burakumin l i ved outside the v i l l age , they cou ld not use the services of the Buddhis t priest and used to b u r y their dead wi thout anvir i tes , , they had o n l y a very s m a l l area of land and the site on which their houses were b u i l t , and their m a i n duty was to bu ry dead animals and beggars (who were common du r ing the pea­sant riots at the beginning of M e i j i ) . In exchange they were ent i t led to certain specified quanti t ies of g ra in f r o m the harvest of each household. Before the 1871 act they were mem­bers of the v i l l age albeit in a very infer ior posi t ion. But as the coun­t r y became more cont ro l led the vi l lagers tended to neglect even the few responsibil i t ies they had to the burakumin and the valuable forest land, the product of wh ich should be shared propor t iona te ly by a l l the vi l lagers, was in fact on ly shar­ed by the heimin. The burakumin were admit ted to the temples, but

their posi t ion was in some respects worse after emancipat ion.

The s i tuat ion var ied in different parts of Japan bu t b road ly speaking in those areas which could be deve­loped by capi ta l , o rd ina ry Japanese tended to enter and to exp lo i t the t ied labourers, often burakumin, who cou ld not move ou t of the area as a result of social d i sc r imi ­nation s t i l l practised by the majo­r i t y of the Japanese. Thus i t was cheaper to employ burakumin than the o rd ina ry Japanese r u r a l farmers who were swarming i n t o the cities f rom the countryside. In shoemak-ing , for example, the posi t ion of the burakumin p revious ly guaran­teed by the Tokugawa laws was lost under M e i j i , and the burakumin f rom lack of capita! and opportu­n i ty d id not find it easy to enter the fields of o rd ina ry heimin.

Between 1871 and 1900 an un­easy truce existed in which i n d i v i ­dua l landlords and others t r ied to help the low caste people for rea­sons of nat ional pol i t ics and a num­ber of novels were wr i t t en deal ing w i t h the Japanese caste p rob l em. But in 1902 a nat ional burakumin emancipation movement was laun­ched by the burakumin themselves in Okavama-ken w h i c h soon spread to the K i n k i and Chugoku districts. In 1905 the movement dissolved i tself in view of the patr iot ic feel­ings created as a result of the Russo-Japanese W a r but in 1912 the movement was resurrected. In 1918 pub l i c attention was drawn fo rc ib ly to the movement w i t h the so-called " r ice r i o t s " of 1918 wh ich were believed to have been pa r t i a l ly inst igated by the burakumin move­ment.

Census by the Police ! In 1922 the first nat ional conven-

t ion of the Suehei Sha (Water Level Movement , i e, water finds i ts own level whatever the uneven-ness in the bo t tom of the pond) was he ld in K v o t o and meet ings were held annual ly u n t i l 1929 when the movement collapsed as a result of (a ) the increasingly nat ional tendencies of the Japanese govern­ment ( b ) in ternal differences bet­ween a radica l , al legedly Commu­nist, w i n g and a more moderate e lement ; and (c) systematic at­tempts by the Japanese police to p lan t pol ice spies inside the leader­ship so that the leaders w o u l d "not

trust one another. Several members of the executive committee were on the police p a y r o l l , D u r i n g this per iod the movement tended to be more and more po l i t i ca l and i t is significant that about the on ly real at tempt that has ever been made to make a census of the burakumin since the last century was by the Japanese police in 1922; the police made a secret and unpublished re-cord of the d is t r ib i r t ion of buraku-min in the t rad i t iona l "special d is t r ic ts" .

Since the last war an organisa­t ion called the Zenkoku Buraku Kaiho Domei (Na t iona l Association for the Emancipat ion of burakumin) has been formed to conduct po l i ­t ical activities aimed at a t tacking caste d i sc r imina t ion and obta in ing benefits for burakumin communi ­ties. This organisation is also powerful as a vote collector at elec­tions. I ts secretaries sometimes receive their salaries through a grant f r o m prefectural government funds, and L ibera l Democrats and Socialists r i v a l one another in wooing its support , especially where the two parties have a rough ly equal representation in a prefectu­ra l assembly. This organisation bears a marked resemblance to cer­ta in caste movements in I nd i a , and, it arises, I believe, f rom the same cause: the a t tempt to obtain po l i ­t ical advantage f rom an increasingly centralised po l i t i ca l system on the grounds of special pr ivi lege. Through­out the accounts of nearly every local government in Janan are found funds marked as educational or scholarship or typhoon damage assistance which are in fact ear­marked for d i s t r ibu t ion to buraku­min in areas where they are l i k e l y to be p o l i t i c a l l y inf luent ia l . For example, in one area in the coun­tryside wi th which I am fami l i a r one can snot a burakumin house­hold by the fact that each house has a special desk g i v e n to it by the education department for the ch i ldren to work at their lessons.

Wooing the Lower Cases These gifts are not given on the

grounds of poverty alone but also of caste posit ion. A l t h o u g h as a communi ty throughout Japan the burakumin are today poor and underpr ivi leged, in certain areas they are not the poorest section of the c o m m u n i t y ; but whereas the

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poor people have not been able to organise themselves p o l i t i c a l l y , burakumin have through their caste consciousness been able to create a sense of sol idar i ty . Up to now the Kaiho Domei has been definitely left w ing in outlook and has always succeeded in re turn ing certain re­presentatives to the Upper House (which is chosen by voting in a national electorate). W i t h i n the last few years however wi th the in ­creasing standard of Jiving in Ja­pan, it has become increasingly difficult for the Kaiho Domei to organise its members. A l though the annual fees are extremely small , often as low as Y 90 per family (where a day labourer can easily receive Y500 per d a y ) , nevertheless there has been a fall in active mem­bership. Moreover the year before last the conservative Libera l Democ­rat ic Party gave a special "research grant" towards this problem of burakumin which w i l l take the form of assisting burakumin in po l i t i ca l ly uncertain rural areas.

Different from Indian Castes

Although upto this point in the article I have compared the Japa­nese burakumin w i t h Ind i an lower castes, there are a number of im­portant differences. These differ­ences are:

(a) In Japan there are on ly two castes, heimin and burakumin wi th the latter not more than 2 per cent of the total Japanese populat ion. Some I n d i a experts claim that depri­ved castas in Ind ia could be regard­ed as high as 60 per cent of the Ind ian populat ion.

(b) There, are no degrees of r i tua l impur i t y in the Japanese society. One is either burakumin or one is not, whereas even the lowest caste in India always regards itself as superior to some other.

(c) Before the war there used to be a system in Japan known as the oyabun-kobun system of relat ion­ship between families. This is some­times translated as fictitious par­ent-child relationship. Al though in certain respects it was s imi la r to the jajmani system in India , there are also certain fundamental differ­ences which prevent an exact paral ­lel being; drawn. But in modern Japan this oyabun-kobun relat ion- . ship in the countryside is r ap id ly disappearing but caste has not dis­appeared as a result.

(d ) Caste is found more or less a l l ewer Ind ia but in Japan there are strong regional differences wi th caste being strongest in the older settlements of Japanese civi l isat ion in the west and in the more ancient cities. Thus the fo rm of caste in Japan is regional ly much more various. For example in Tokyo there is no feeling against anyone who wishes to become a shoemaker and there is no close correlat ion between leather work and being a burakumin. But in some areas such as around the edges of Lake Suwa one can almost be sure that any bootmaker one sees is a burakumin. There is no Japanese national philo­sophy of caste. But in Ind ia a Brahmin is a Brahmin whether he is found in the south or the nor th .

OF all the people in Asia, the Japanese have displayed the

strongest w i l l and capacity to l i m i t births to the number parents feel they can adequately support and educate. Whi l e we are proud of this achievement, abortion and to some extent steri l ization have been important means towards this end. W i t h the tatter we are far less con­cerned than w i th the former because, while both are surgical procedures, steri l ization is a one-time affair. In our steri l ization survey we learned that the increase in sterilizations, from under 6,000 in 1949 to over 44 000 by designated doctors in 1956. resulted not from an increase in serious diseases but from an in­creasing disposition to regard steri­l izat ion as a contraceptive device.

W i t h abortions rising in the coun­try from a level of about 100.000 a year in 1949 to over a m i l l i o n a m t r by 1953. excluding unreported operations, we had reason to be seriously concerned wi th the possi­ble effect of this method on the health of the mothers. The resear­c h w e made o n this subject i n 1952 disclosed two important find­ings. One was the association wi th abortion of a high incidence of van"-ous diseases, ranging from l ight anaemic symptoms to serious bacte­r ia l infections. We found that about 47 per cent of a l l those undergoing operations were suffering f rom some

I have greatly over-simplified the issues in Japan for the purposes of w r i t i n g this ar t ic le but I hope I have shown how impor tant it is for students of Ind ian caste to look outside the boundaries of his own country to see social mechanisms of this sort in operation in what is becoming a h igh ly industrial ised economy. To some extent caste problems in Japan now are the sort of problems of caste that India may have to face in the next fifty years. A n d of course in Japan there is no H indu i sm, and budd­hism has been r ap id ly losing ground dur ing the last f if ty years as a social and religious system. W i l l caste in Japan adjust itself to the pol i t ica l and social system of a rap id ly industr ia l is ing society or w i l l i t disappear w i th the gradual mechanisation of the countryside?

f o r m of one or other of these diseases. The second f inding was the high p robab i l i ty of another pregnancy fo l lowing induced abortion : 43 per cent were pregnant again w i t h i n six months of the abort ion and 73 per cent w i t h i n a year. We are happy to say there were no deaths among the women in our survey, which covered only marr ied women.

Al though our studies were made from a medical and not f rom a socio-economic or socio-psyehologi-eal viewpoint , our information has led to the realization that abort ion is neither a convenient nor an i n ­expensive method of control l ing bir ths because the operation usually has to be performed repeatedly.

Abor t i on continues to be a major problem in Japan. Too l i t t l e is known about the medical conseauen-ees of repeated abortions. Some doctors are of the opin ion that ecto­pic pregnancv, i r regular i ty in men­struation, and miscarriage are more frequently encountered in women who have experienced induced ab­or t ion. I have found recently that repeated abortion is a cause of s ter i l i ty . A fol low-up study on a wider scale is now being planned.

— From paper submitted to the Asian Populat ion Conference by Yoshio Koya of the Family P lanning Federation of Japan, Tokyo,

Population Control in Japan

234

ANNUAL NUMBER FKBRUARY 1964 T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y

SHANKAR'S WEEKLY J u l y 8, 1951

--SHANKAR'S WEEKLY J u l y 8, 195

Howlers I

Everyone saw, Dr. Lohia , w i t h heavy dossier. Saying Ta ! Ta !

Going to 'Merica, tough as tapioca, almost l ike Karaka, Saying " Eureka !'"'

He w i l l speak freely, mou th very mealy, very, very eell j Almos t l ike a l i l y ,

Speaking on a l l fours, w i t h o u t any remorse, he w i l l not of course,

Let down the T h i r d Force !

I I

L i k e Empedocles at Etna, f rom Satna and Datna,

They met at Patna, What K r i p a l a n i said, the l i v i n g and the dead, heard in be-

Only Ranga fled. Y o u must be hearty, very very ar ty, even ta r ty

To f o r m a par ty . When K r i p a l a n i spoke, every wheel had a spoke, son

hearts brok There was smoke !

III

Everyone is free to lend his knee and carefully Plant a tree !

Is is a cul t , not cant, you can even chant, to give a slan To every plant .