One of the most discriminated area in Kansai,Japan “Sujin district(崇仁地区)”

Kyoto is showing busy as a tourist city. There is a district where there was a discrimination area in the Kansai prefecture Kyoto, the place where it was a few minutes on foot from Kyoto station which is the entrance to the entrance. In Japan,discriminated area has been called Hisabetsuburaku(被差別部落).

Hisabetsuburaku is a settlement where a person of the status of a citizen lived in the status system of the Edo period.

Even now that people are coming and going back and forth between regions, the prejudice against Hisabetsuburaku  continues even though regionality is already being lost. Of course, the status system was abolished by the liberation order of the Meiji era. However, even now, there is no longer an unfair discrimination against employment and marriage for descendants and those living in the district.

It is remarkable especially in West Japan, especially in the Kansai region, which is a well-known fact among local people, that this is a district where there was a Hisabetsuburaku.

Meanwhile, in the Kanto district, where Kansai had divided its economic strength with Kansai, population growth and large-scale development projects make it difficult for discrimination tribes to be identified. In addition, one reason is that the Buraku that remained in the Showa era was small in the first place.

What kind of place is the vicarious district Buraku district? I will try to pick up the place called Sujin district in Kyoto. When dealing with such problems, some people show disgusting that they are bleaching acts, but since they do not give individual names, there is no legal problem.

In addition, there are Yanagihara Bank’s Memorial Museum, where the living and history of Takahito is displayed as discrimination bribes in the district. Therefore, even if it says that here was the former discriminated Buraku district, it will not become an exposing act. Also, the other day NHK E TV(NHKEテレ)  took up about that and I believe there is no problem.


On this day I decided to aim for local from Kyoto station. It was a few minutes walking from the south exit of Kyoto Station (Hachijo mouth), I saw a group of public housing. It looks like a pretty old apartment. Apparently this neighborhood seems to hit Sujin district.


After walking for a while, a blue retro building came into my eyes. This is the Yanagihara Bank Memorial Museum, the bank established by the only Hisabetsuburaku in Japan. The fact that there was a bank in fact has just been a few minutes’ walk from here, but now it has relocated to this place. This bank was a private bank established by local volunteers including Akashi Tomoji (Akashi Tamotsu) who was the town mayor of Takinin district in Meiji 32, it was difficult for the other financial institutions to obtain loans I was lending money.

Currently the memorial hall is open to the public, materials and photographs are placed on the details of Sujin district and the actual situation of non-discriminatory  district. I also visited this museum before, but the manager of Kyoto city kindly explained me about Sujin district.


In Yanagihara Bank Memorial Museum, pictures of Sujin district during the Showa period were posted. In the photograph was a dense building . However, due to the Dowataisaku project in Kyoto City, new clean apartments also began to be built like the picture below. Consequentry the living environment has improved for the moment.


These condominiums are called improved houses and were constructed to improve the living environment of the district. Currently, improvement houses are not limited here, there are improvement houses in Kansai Hisabetsuburaku . On the other hand, looking around, there are more vacant lots. There used to be a village where houses lasted in this place, but you can see that the outflow from the district and the migration to the condom have progressed.


Takase River flows throughout the district. Once domestic wastewater flowed, there was a problem in hygiene, but now it is well maintained. There were river fish , the water quality was also good. It is a good environment as a place for residents to relax.


What is this? There seems to have been a Foundation of Jizo because swastika mark on it or there is a little Shinto shrine.


The vacant lot grew grass and seemed to be a little devastated. In the past, it seems that houses were lined up in vacant lot.


But now it is a long time ago. In the old building the trace is gone, just grass is spreading. The site is strictly enclosed with a fence and a barbed wire.


Next I went to the area north beyond Shioogurodo Street. In the north is Seichi-dori, the south is Hachijo-dori, the west is Takakura-dori, the east is the area surrounded by the Kamogawa ichi area.


There were many empty lots on the northern side from Shiokoji street, but there were areas where quite old houses remained as it was.


Also, many shops related to leather skins are found in the district. Discrimination The main living industry of Buraku people is related to the life and death of people and animals, so many leather shops dealing with animals’ skin are still seen.


Currently, there are few old buildings in the district, but around here there are old buildings and the scenery of the time is still felt slightly.


Although it seems to be greatly improved as a living environment, it seems a bit lonely to be able to see the old days only by photographs, but this is also a change in the times.


Beyond the old houses you can see new and improved houses.


Today Kyoto city is about to relocate Kyoto City University of Arts to Sujin district, but at that time it is about to demolish the old improvement house to make a campus. Kyoto City plans to make Sujin district the center of culture and art. The cityscape of the Sujin district is about to change again, and perhaps an era may come when the fact that this was a discriminated tribal area was forgotten.

Hisabetsuburaku is regarded as taboo in Japan, but since it is close to Kyoto Station which is the gateway to Kyoto, it is appropriate to bring up a problem about discrimination tribes problem, because there is a memorial museum in Sujin district It may be a place.

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