Outcasts and marginals in medieval Japan

Abstract

This chapter explores outcast and marginalized people in late classical and medieval Japan, focusing on such issues as status, stigma, organization, and control. One theory on origins links late classical and medieval outcasts to craftsmen subordinated to government bureaus in the Chinese-style ritsuryō state. The work performed by outcasts might not have seemed terribly desirable but it was absolutely necessary to the functioning of society. Groups such as hinin formed their own mini-societies that interacted in various ways with the larger social system. The position of shirabyōshi and other female entertainers in the Kamakura period, like that of hinin, has been debated by Japanese scholars. The chapter examines the scholarly debates, concentrating on postwar and contemporary historical analyses. The debate focuses on the early medieval period, since most scholars agree that from the late thirteenth century, discrimination against such occupational groups intensified and was applied to additional groups as well.