Dowa populations in 1985

In six regions and fifteen prefectures

By William Wetherall

Compiled and computed Fall 1990
First posted 7 February 2006

The dowa-area population data came from the following book.

Murakoshi Sueo and Miwa Yoshio (editors)
Konnichi no buraku sabetsu
(Kakuchi no jittai chosa kekka yori)
[Buraku discrimination today
(From results of a survey of conditions in each locality)]
Osaka: Buraku Kaiho Kenkyujo, March 1986
[Sold by Kaiho Shuppansha]
x, 4, 227 pages, softcover

A condensed English version was published the same year.

Sueo Murakoshi and Yoshi Miwa (editors)
Discrimination Against Buraku, Today
(Illustrated by Charts & Tables)
[from the research results on the reality in each prefecture]
Osaka: Buraku Liberation Research Institute, 1986
[Sold by Liberation Publishing House]
8, 4, 145 pages, softcover

While the same figures appear on the same page in both editions, the headings of the two editions are significantly different.

Double standards in population descriptions

Japanese version                    English version
[ actual translation ]

dowa chiiku su                        Number of Buraku
[ dowa areas, number ]

dowa chiiku jinko                     Total population
[ dowa areas, population ]

dowa kankei jinko                     Burakumin population
[ dowa-related population ]

dowa kankei jinko ritsu               Rate of Burakumin population
[ dowa-related population rate]       (Dowa population rate)
[ dowa-related population, percent ]

In all the pages of the Japanese version, "burakumin" appears only once, in a part of the introduction that was not translated in the English version. None tables of data speak of "buraku" or "burakumin".

The double standard is compounded by sloppiness in control of key words. Each "dowa area" has a "population" that includes everyone who resides in the area, and a "dowa related population" that includes only individuals who are identified as "related" to the area, apparently because of descent, though this is not clearly discussed.

However, in many instances in the English translation, the restrictive term "Burakumin" is used where the Japanese version refers to the general population or number of households in a "buraku" or "dowa chiiku" -- rather than to only "dowa kankei" residents or households. [ For example -- the members per household data presented in Chapter 2: Setai to jinko / Buraku Households and Population ]

The term "buraku jumin", which means "buraku residents", refers to all residents in a buraku. Again, the English translation sometimes reduces this term to "Burakumin" -- though in the population tables, "Burakumin" has been restricted to "dowa related" residents. [ For example -- The data on the number of "sickly persons" (byojakusha) in buraku, presented in Chapter 4: Kenko / Health ]

The English version of Chapter 10 (Marriage Discrimination" begins "Marriage-related discrimination is one of the most severe cases of discrimination against Burakumin." Yet the Japanese version of Chapter 10 (Kekkon sabetsu) translates "Among [the various kinds of] buraku discrimination, marriage discrimination is one of the most serious problems." And the data distinguish only between whether or not a spouse was born inside or outside a buraku. The term "dowa kankei" (i.e., "Burakumin") does not enter into the picture. In other words, "buraku origin" means only that one was "born in a buraku" -- and is no where equated with being counted as part of the "dowa kankei" (or "Burakumin") population.