This is the last photo in the gallery for now. This picture is of a gravestone with a discriminatory posthumous name on it. Japanese people get a Buddhist posthumous name when they die, but Buraku people were unfortunately often given posthumous names by Buddhist priests that were discriminitory, and they managed to get away with it because Buraku people were often illiterate. There has been a purge of these kinds of gravestones during the last century, and such gravestones as this one are still being found.
The discriminitory aspect of this one is on the right where the caracters kawa-onna can be seen - meaning "skin-woman", due to the association between Burakumin and skinning meat, which is regarded as spiritually polluting according to Buddhist belief. |
