The burakumin: Japan's underclass.
From: Contemporary Review
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Date: 9/1/1993
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Author: Lamont-Brown, Raymond
The burakumin are a repressed group of people in Japan despite their right to legal equality under the Japanese constitutional law. This group is the lowest in the Japanese feudal system which is divided into rank tiers beginning with the Tenno Heika or the emperor. Historians believe that these people are the descendants of ancient tribesmen defeated in battle. The burakumin account for 2.5% of Japan's population and have mostly descended from leather workers, butchers, executioners and grave ...
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