Burakumin and Shimazaki Toson’s Hakai : images of discrimination in modern Japanese literature

220 Pages·2000·4.13 MB·English

by  Andersson

Burakumin and Shimazaki Toson's Hakai: Images of Discrimination in Modern
Japanese Literature
Andersson, René
Published: 2000-01-01
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Citation for published version (APA):
Andersson, R. (2000). Burakumin and Shimazaki Toson's Hakai: Images of Discrimination in Modern Japanese
Literature Institutionen för Östasiatiska Språk,
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Burakumin and
Shimazaki T(cid:244)son(cid:146)s Hakai:

Images of Discrimination

in Modern Japanese Literature

RenØ Andersson

1
Published by:
Dept. of East Asian Languages
Lund University
P.O. Box 713,
SE (cid:150) 220 07 Lund
SWEDEN
Tel: +46(cid:150)46(cid:150)222(cid:150)9361
E-mail: [email protected]

ISBN: 91-628-4538-1
TO MY FATHER
AAGE
3

TTTTAAAABBBBLLLLEEEE OOOOFFFF CCCCOOOONNNNTTTTEEEENNNNTTTTSSSS
ACKNOWLEDGMENT...................................................................................III
CHAPTER 1........................................................................................................9
IIIINNNNTTTTRRRROOOODDDDUUUUCCCCTTTTIIIIOOOONNNN............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................9999
A genealogy of silence.........................................................................................................9
Hakai(cid:151)a synopsis..............................................................................................................11
The sociological vantage point.........................................................................................13
CHAPTER 2......................................................................................................19
GGGGEEEENNNNEEEESSSSIIIISSSS OOOOFFFF DDDDIIIISSSSCCCCRRRRIIIIMMMMIIIINNNNAAAATTTTIIIIOOOONNNN AAAAGGGGAAAAIIIINNNNSSSSTTTT BBBBUUUURRRRAAAAKKKKUUUUMMMMIIIINNNN........................................................................................................................................................................................11119999
A filthy world......................................................................................................................20
The Hebrew theory............................................................................................................22
The Sakhalin theory...........................................................................................................23
The Korean theory.............................................................................................................24
Religious and occupational factors..................................................................................25
The political factor.............................................................................................................29
New beginnings..................................................................................................................31
Inflexible Tokugawa..........................................................................................................34
Edo(cid:150)Information Central.................................................................................................37
In the end, all is politics....................................................................................................39
CHAPTER 3......................................................................................................45
SSSSHHHHIIIIMMMMAAAAZZZZAAAAKKKKIIII TTTT(cid:212)(cid:212)(cid:212)(cid:212)SSSSOOOONNNN――――AAAA NNNNEEEEWWWW LLLLIIIIFFFFEEEE................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................44445555
On a traveled road.............................................................................................................46
A Tokyo education............................................................................................................49
The influential Kitamura T(cid:244)koku....................................................................................53
Literary magazines.............................................................................................................55
The influence of Kimura Kumaji....................................................................................56
A burgeoning coterie.........................................................................................................62
CHAPTER 4......................................................................................................69
TTTTHHHHEEEE NNNNAAAARRRRRRRROOOOWWWW RRRROOOOAAAADDDD TTTTOOOO HHHHAAAAKKKKAAAAIIII(cid:146)(cid:146)(cid:146)(cid:146)SSSS IIIINNNNTTTTEEEERRRRIIIIOOOORRRR................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................66669999
Earliest appearance of Burakumin in modern literature..............................................69
Fukuchi (cid:212)chi and egalitØ..................................................................................................72
The Haiku of Masaoka Shiki............................................................................................78
Tokutomi Roka sets the mood........................................................................................86
Tokuda Shßsei brings gloom............................................................................................89
Shimizu Shikin(cid:146)s feminist perspective.............................................................................93
The socialism of K(cid:244)toku Shßsui.....................................................................................98
i
Oguri Fßy(cid:244), Hirotsu Ryßr(cid:244) and others........................................................................101
Building on a literary underpinning..............................................................................108
CHAPTER 5....................................................................................................113
(cid:212)(cid:212)(cid:212)(cid:212)EEEE IIIISSSSOOOOKKKKIIIICCCCHHHHIIII(cid:151)(cid:151)(cid:151)(cid:151)MMMMOOOODDDDEEEELLLL FFFFOOOORRRR HHHHAAAAKKKKAAAAIIII............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................111111113333
Upbringing and education..............................................................................................114
From student to teacher(cid:133)............................................................................................116
(cid:133)back to student(cid:133).......................................................................................................117
(cid:133)to teaching teachers....................................................................................................121
Career crowned as principal...........................................................................................123
CHAPTER 6....................................................................................................133
SSSSUUUUIIIIHHHHEEEEIIIISSSSHHHHAAAA,,,, HHHHAAAAKKKKAAAAIIII AAAANNNNDDDD LLLLIIIITTTTEEEERRRRAAAARRRRYYYY SSSSTTTTRRRRUUUUGGGGGGGGLLLLEEEE................................................................................................................................................................................................................................111133333333
Hakai as confession.........................................................................................................133
Revisionist dichotomy....................................................................................................135
Nordic development.......................................................................................................136
T(cid:244)son(cid:146)s intellectual incantation.....................................................................................138
Hakai as social novel.......................................................................................................140
Ending the problem........................................................................................................141
A Burakumin reading......................................................................................................143
Post-Hakai commotion..................................................................................................144
Organized discontent......................................................................................................146
Establishing Suiheisha....................................................................................................147
T(cid:244)son under attack.........................................................................................................149
Buraku critique and alternative interpretation............................................................151
Putting Hakai on the agenda.........................................................................................155
T(cid:244)son(cid:146)s new beginnings.................................................................................................156
Terminating publication.................................................................................................158
Hakai(cid:146)s metamorphosis..................................................................................................159
Conclusion........................................................................................................................163
GLOSSARY....................................................................................................168
INDEX.............................................................................................................179
NOTES............................................................................................................191
BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................203
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
In the mid 1980(cid:146)s I spent three years as a so-called Monbush(cid:244)* student at
Yokohama National University working on a Masters degree in economics.
Together with many of the other foreign students I lived in a special dormi-
tory set aside specifically for ryßgakusei (cid:134) (foreign students) that was located
in a part of Yokohama known as Gumy(cid:244)ji. One of the things I enjoy when
arriving in a new place is taking long strolls exploring the area where I live;
Gumy(cid:244)ji was no exception. After about two months I decided to take a
longer hike along the (cid:212)oka River that flowed nearby. Walking about 40 min-
utes I encountered a tributary that seemed to flow towards the nearby heights,
since this was an area that I still had not explored it only seemed natural to
follow the small stream.
Continuing another 15 or 20 minutes along the narrow path on which I
was walking it suddenly became decrepit with big cracks in the asphalt and
the rock lining on the riverbank disappeared. I found myself surrounded by a
cluster of one-story wooden houses (almost all private homes in Japan are
two-story houses) that most likely had never seen a coat of paint, inasmuch as
there were wide cracks and at places holes the size of tennis balls in the board.
Nor did it seem as if these houses were equipped with any kind of plumbing,
because the stench was reminiscent of a public toilet in a very busy subway
station. At this time, I had spent a total of more than two years in Japan, but
this was my first encounter of wafß poverty. Over the two years, I had grown
quite accustomed to the Japanese proclivity to focus on and emphasize dif-
ferences in the inevitable comparisons with the West.
One of the cherished myths, and one that I took a particular keen interest
in since I was an economics student, was that the whole nation was just one
big happy middle class. If the people living in those houses were included in
the middle class then surely Japan must have stretched the definition of that
term to the nonsensical. In the dormitory where I stayed was a small office
with a staff that would receive phone messages and our rent payments and
they were always willing to lend us a hand or give us some advice when we
encountered something in Japan that we did not understand. So when I re-
turned back I mentioned where I had been and asked what it was I had en-
countered. The silence was deafening. Usually the staff was quite talkative and
seemed to enjoy the curious questions that foreign students would submit
them to on a daily basis. This time however, I got the Japanese version of
stonewalling. That was the second first on the same day.

* Macrons designates long vowel sounds in the Hepburn transliteration system used for Japanese words, the only
divergence from this application is in common names, i.e. Tokyo and not T(cid:244)ky(cid:244).
(cid:134) It is inevitable that a text on Japan by someone dedicated to studying the language will be teeming with Japanese
terms. I recognize that not all readers are familiar with Nihongo. Should you require more elaboration than the
context provides a glossary is provided at the end.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The next day, when a different staff was on duty, I tried again. This time I
was luckier, in the mornings only one person was on duty since most of the
students were leaving for their classes and it was generally quiet in the dormi-
tory until lunchtime. So I told my story again, this time putting more empha-
sis on my own surprise and the fact that the Japanese government was
actually paying me to learn more about Japan. The lady on duty took one long
look at me and then she said: (cid:147)Anta wa buraku ni haitte kita yo.(cid:148) I had visited
a buraku(cid:151)an abode for Japan(cid:146)s neglected social outcasts.
This made me realize that Japan was by far a more diverse society than
generally believed, and that this diversity was not obvious even to long-time
foreign residents. Although the Japanese themselves were off course aware of
this minority(cid:146)s presence they did their utmost to avoid the subject and few
things arouse one(cid:146)s curiosity as national countenance. From that curiosity
grew a desire to find out more about the people living in a buraku. A task that
I could not have accomplished without the helpful efforts and support of
other people that shared in my curiosity.
The English metaphysical poet John Donne made the words (cid:147)no man is
an island(cid:148) immortal. Almost 400 years later, we are still using them to remind
ourselves of the intricate web of dependencies we rely on for even the sim-
plest everyday task. The compilation of a monograph in the humanities is of-
ten considered solitary work(cid:151)the lone scholar poring over books in a
cramped office is a cherished image(cid:151)however, writing this volume, I have
frequently been reminded of Donne(cid:146)s words as the fortunate beneficiary of
helpful suggestions, stern criticism, creative outbursts, stimulating seminars,
thoughtful discussions and much more from people half a globe away in both
western and eastern direction. Without their attentive insight and enthusiastic
support for this project it would never have come to its fruitful completion(cid:151)
a civil-engineer would have talked about (cid:147)on time and under budget(cid:148) if the
project was a bridge. That seems an appropriate simile for this project, being
an attempt to construct an intellectual bridge between Japan and the West(cid:151)
in this case, primarily from a Swedish vantage point(cid:151)in a field hitherto
largely unexplored.
Analysis of minority discourse in the modern novel requires us to use and
borrow tools from disparate, at times seemingly incongruous, academic fields
such as sociology, literary history, text analysis, semiotics and social history. It
is beyond a single individual to master all these fields, but with the aid of de-
termination, benevolence, attentiveness and involvement from scholars in
these fields it is possible to bridge an intellectual divide and hopefully reach a
more thorough understanding of a Japanese minority and the discrimination
against them as portrayed in the modern novel, here represented by Shima-

zaki T(cid:244)son(cid:146)s Hakai The Broken Commandment. Without their effort and
interest my own labor would have been restricted to that of the jungle guide.
It might have been possible to slash a pathway and make a few interesting
discoveries along the newly trodden path. However, although the machete is
iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
a sharp instrument it cannot be used to open up a wide and panoramic view.
Such a view is necessary if we are to reach the goal of deeper understanding.
Thus, whatever redeeming value this volume may present is largely due to
those efforts provided by others, either in financial, written or oral form.
I would therefore first like to express my appreciation for the incessant
support that my academic advisor, Prof. Keiko Kockum, has provided
throughout this process. Her keen sense and familiarity with the creative
process during its various stages has enabled her to provide the proper mix
between being an active promoter of analytical considerations and displaying
passive patience(cid:151)the latter infinitely more difficult(cid:151)during the arrangement
and adaptation of those ideas. Her door was always open, to me a symbol of
the open mind she displayed during the years this volume was in the making.
Many of the Japanese textual resources utilized predates World War II and
are filled with(cid:151)at least from the vantage point of the student that has learned
modern Japanese(cid:151)obsolete words, archaic expressions and phrases as well as
social and cultural references that are beyond those of us belonging to the
post(cid:150)VCR generation. Prof. Kockum(cid:146)s encyclopedic knowledge and instant
recognition of these obstacles has considerably shortened the access road to
the abutment of this bridge.
Research regarding Burakumin in Japan is concentrated to two non-
governmental research institutes. The Buraku Kaih(cid:244) Kenkyßjo (Buraku Lib-
eration Research Institute) in Osaka is the largest and have some impressive
resources at its disposal, while the Buraku Mondai Kenkyßjo (Buraku Prob-
lem Research Institute) in Kyoto focus much of its attention on the cultural
aspects of discrimination. I am deeply indebted to Honda Kazuaki, chief li-
brarian at the Buraku Kaih(cid:244) Kenkyßjo, for letting me satiate myself fully of
the documentary feast he prepared and for granting me access to the enor-
mous archives he has accumulated over time. I am equally grateful to Oku-
yama Mineo, executive director of the Buraku Mondai Kenkyßjo, who went
out of his way to accommodate even the most vagarious idiosyncrasies that a
curious(cid:151)and at times confused(cid:151)scholar presents. During my short-term
stays in Kyoto I could always count on having office space, unlimited access
to the library and a never-ending supply of o-cha, a supreme beverage when
one needs to stay focused. Mr. Okuyama also kindly introduced me to Tsuda
Kiyoshi, Japan(cid:146)s preeminent expert on Burakumin as they appear in Hakai.
Mr. Tsuda, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bombing is sadly no longer
among us, but despite his frail health, he always displayed exuberant enthusi-
asm for research on Shimazaki T(cid:244)son, Burakumin and Hakai. He opened up
his home in the mountains of Nagano and offered the resources of his mag-
nificent private library on Burakumin in modern literature. Mr. Tsuda also
graciously introduced me to a Kenkyßkai(cid:151)the omnipresent Japanese re-
search seminar(cid:151)on Burakumin and modern literature that enabled me to
discuss my findings, theories and conclusions, with some of Japan(cid:146)s most
prominent and active scholars in this field. Without the reinforcements pro-
v