Anti-Emancipation Edict Uprising

... However, the government did not take any concrete measures to accompany this Emancipation Decree, namely measures to guarantee the right to live for the residents of discriminated communities, and this led to the impoverishment of discriminated communities amid the rapid trend towards modernization, which in turn made discrimination against these communities even more serious. The "ordinary people" were not happy that the "eta" and "hinin" had been raised to the same status as "commoners," and instead felt that they had been demoted to the same status as the "eta" and "hinin." Not to mention the blatant harassment, in particular in various parts of western Japan, they took violent action (uprisings against the Emancipation Decree) to oppose the emancipation of the "eta" and "hinin," attacking discriminated communities and causing collective harm. Although this was due to traditional class consciousness, in the domestic situation at the time, discriminated communities were chosen as a way to vent their dissatisfaction with the contradictions that the policies for modernization were bringing to the lives of the people, and were made the target of persecution. ...

*Some of the terminology used in reference to the "Anti-Emancipation Edict Uprising" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　しかしながら，政府の施策としては，この解放令にともなうべき具体策，すなわち被差別部落住民の生活権の保障にかかわる諸施策がまったくなかったために，急速な近代化の傾向のなかで被差別部落の貧困化を助長し，そのことがまた部落差別をいっそう深刻なものとしていった。〈一般民〉は，〈えた〉〈非人〉が〈平民同様〉の身分に引き上げられたことを喜ばず，逆に，〈一般民〉が〈えた〉〈非人〉と同じ地位へと格下げされたのと同然であると解し，露骨ないやがらせはいうまでもなく，とくに西日本各地では〈えた〉〈非人〉の解放に反対する激しい実力行動(解放令反対一揆)を起こして被差別部落を襲撃し，集団的危害を加えた。伝統的な身分意識によることではあったが，当時の国内状況においては，近代化のための諸政策が民衆の生活にもたらしていた矛盾への不満のはけぐちに被差別部落が選ばれ，迫害の対象にされたのである。…

※「解放令反対一揆」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報