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Rosalie H. Wax University of Kansas

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Rosalie H. Wax University of Kansas THE ETA AS OUTCASTES AND SCAPEGOATS AMONG JAPANESE AMERICANS Rosalie H. Wax University of Kansas Introduction degree to the rough and ready mores which developed in this extremely crowded and public For manyhundreds of years the lowestposition environment.2. in Japanese social structure has been occupied We have here then data ona traditionallymis­ by the eta, a hereditary outcaste group which treated and scorned outcast group, obtained at a performed necessary but despised work. time when the majoritygroup was itselfsuffering The presence, in the United States, of a con­ from marked discrimination and ill treatment. siderable number of persons of eta descent was Following the simple psychological theory thata revealed rather dramaticallywhen the American group which is persecuted by another group too Government obliged the evacuated Japanese strong to resist will turn its aggression on some Americans to answer a questionnaire designed convenient and relatively helpless scapegoat, we to determine whether or not they were loyal to might expect that ill treatment of the m would America. When an attemptwas made to correlate be revived and strengthened in this situation. On affirmative or negative answers to the question­ the other hand, ifwe choose to viewhuman beings naire with place of residence before evacuation, as predominantly rational, wemighthypothesize it was discovered that evacuees coming from that because they themselves suffereddiscrimi­ certain California communities were almost nation, the Japanese Americans would become unanimously loyal to America and obviouslyhad more kindly disposed toward the eta. no desire to return or go to Japan. Later the In point of fact, the latterprocess did occur to possible reasons for this unanimity were inves­ some degree .. A much more salientphenomenon, tigated, and it was found that these sections of however, was the turning of anger on a relati vely California had been rather heavily populated by new scapegoat group, the informers - those Jap­ Japanese of eta descent. anese Americans suspected of reporting pro­ The data to be presented were collectedunder Japanese or anti-administrative activities to the rather peculiar circumstances/ The Japanese administration. The significance of this develop­ Americans had recentlybeen removed to reloca­ ment will be treated in some detail in the tion centers, an experience whichinvolvedgreat co~cluding section of this paper. hardship and discomfort to all of them and great Historical Background economic loss to most of them. Life within the centers tended to weakenthe socialand economic Ninomiya,3 in 1933, gave the eta population of distinctions which had existed before the evacu­ Japan as about 1,300,000. Fully halfof these were ation. All persons, regardless of their status, engaged in agriculture, to which in ruraldistricts were obliged to eatin crude, commonmess halls, they added the occupations of shoemaker and use the public latrines, and conform to a large disposer of dead farm stock.. In and near cities 175 they were chiefly butchers and tanners. Since 5.. ~ are forbidden to wear any footwear except other Japanese would notengage inmeatpacking, zori (sandals). 5 eta who entered this occupation sometimes became very wealthy. Following the social upheaval of the Meiji Ninomiya contends that the eta as a separate period, the government took formal steps to status group may be traced back to the pre­ improve the situation of the eta. In 1871, the Tokugawa period when theyfunctioned as artisan Council of State issued the following procla­ slaves, working as tanners, armor makers, and mation: saddle makers. Old sources indicate thatas early The titles of Eta and Hinin shall 'be as the 9th century certain villages were set abolished; and- henceforth--the people apart for persons who performed menial and belonging to these classes shall be despised work. The Shinto ideal of cleanliness treated in the same manner both in and the Buddhist repulsion to eating meat and occupation and social standing as the working with the flesh of animals probably con­ common people.s tributed to the opprobrium in which the meat eating, leather working eta were held. But, according to Ninomiya, neither this However, it was not until the feudal Tokugawa proclamation nor the activities of liberal mem­ period (1602-1863) with its extremely rigid bers of the upper classes resulted ina significant social structure, that the eta began to suffer improvement of the situation of the eta. In the extreme discrimination and humtlfation, The first quarter of the twentieth century, pro­ Tokugawa confined the eta to separate villages, fessors, generals, army officers, or conscripts and forbade them to 'marry out of their status of eta descent were insulted; the names of position or to enter the service of even a com­ soldiers of ~ descent were not placed on a moner as servant. The following incident which monument erected to honor soldiers returning occurred in 1859 indicates the extent of eta from service in Siberia; eta were discriminated degradation: against in schools; eta teachers could not find positions; ~ often were not allowed to rent In a quarrel between a young eta and houses among other Japanese and were discrim­ several heimin (commoner) youths, the inated against inbusiness; tragedy oftenfollowed former was beaten to death. Danzaemon eta intermarriage with persons classed as (chief of the ~) petitioned the City heimin or "common people." Magistrate of Edo to apprehend and In 1922 the eta themselves first took up the punish the guilty persons. He was given battle against discrimination. They formed an no answer and againpressedhis request, organization of considerable power, the Suihei The City Magistrate then handed down Undo (Equality Movement), but their method of the famous decision that the life ofan eta dealing with discrimination, which consisted of was worth only one-seventh of that of an a "thoroughgoing censure of offenders," brought heimin and added that if Danzaemon ona series of conflicts with the police. In 1929 should still demand that the guilty beput the authorities suspended the convention of the to death he must bring six other m Suihei Undo and, atthis point, Ninomiya's narra­ slain. 4 tive ends. .As late as 1870 the following list ofregulations In recent years two factors not mentioned by regarding conduct of eta was issued in the Waka­ Ninomiya probably had some effectinmitigating yama feudatory: di~criminatory treatment of the eta in Japan. The first was national conscription and conscious­ 1. When meeting people on the street, step off ness on the part of the military authorities that the road. continued prejudice against the eta would injure 2. Eta are forbidden to wander around in cities the solidarity of the Japanese Army; the second and towns, except from sunrfse to sunset. was the fact that suchdiscrimination againstany 3. Eta are forbidden to eat and drink in the city. oriental group was not compatible with the 4. Eta are forbidden to use any headgear except Japanese Government's policy of" Asia for Asia­ in rainy weather. tics." That the latter factor has had some 176 influence is indicated by the statements of his future place of residence, Japan or the United Japanese American informants (cases 4, 5) who States, the data can perhaps be bestpresentedas insist that prejudice still exists although the short case studies, giving the informant's back­ Japanese Government does not approve of it. ground along with his verbatim statements on the "Of course, you don't speak of these things eta.s because they are now forbidden by the Japanese Government; but the people still remember in statements ofIssei: first generation Japanese their hearts." Americans born in Japan The Data 1. Mr. Aft This study of the eta was not undertaken primarily to add to social scientific knowledge Mr. A. was an Issei, about 50 years old. He but rather because informants were unwillingto graduated from the University of California and talk about those subjects on whichI was supposed was respected and influential in pre-evacuation to get information. In desperation I invented days, having served as an officer of the Japanese studies of a social scientific nature, partly in Association. At the outbreak of the war he was order to become better acquainted with inform­ interned by the Department of Justice, but was ants and partly to have something to do. later released to join his family in a .relooatton Collecting attitudes on the eta was not, of center. Of the three Issei Interviewed, he was the course, a particularly tactful choice of investi­ only one who had not made up his mind definitely gation, since requesting information on senti­ to stay in the United States. ments held toward a despised group couldeasily It will be noted that he regrets his prejudice give offense. Indeed, the Japanese Americans against the ,eta butexplains thatitis not a matter did not like to talk about the eta. Though I which can be controlled by reason. He states interviewed hundreds of informants during two that he would not allow his daughterto marry an years of field work, the eta were only once eta. Like most informants he contends that com­ referred to without specific inquiry on my part. munity interest in persons of eta descent has In the interests of good form, I began the declined since the evacuation. He is aware of conversation with a reference to the samuraior but does not necessarily share the common folk ~}~~zoku, as the old warrior status group is now belief that eta are afflicted with diseased, red called: Only after contemporaryattitudes toward eyes. individuals of samurai7 descent had been ob­ tained and discussed, did I refer to the eta. "The shin-heimin, that is serious, espe­ Often the informant, ifquestioned aboutthe social cially when it gets to Nisei marrying. structure of feudal Japan, would himself make First they must look up their family some reference to the ~ and the subject could history.
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