Kawata

Japanese: かわた

... The demand for leather increased rapidly during the Sengoku period, but the feudal lords of each region competed to secure skilled workers, and in exchange for granting them privileges (monopoly of occupations and sales channels), they adopted a policy of confining them to the outskirts of their castle towns and isolating them from the general public in terms of status, occupation, and place of residence. They were commonly called "kawata," but the kanji characters "kawata, kawata, kawata, kawata" were used to refer to them because they were primarily engaged in leather production. This policy was maintained during the Edo period, and "kawata" also became another name for "eta." ...

From [Burakumin]

... The core of the discriminated communities in the Edo period were the eta, and the existence of people with that name was first confirmed in documents from the Middle Ages and the end of the Kamakura period, with the kanji spelling eta. The Edo Shogunate felt that a unified class system was essential to maintain its nationwide control, and based on the achievements of the Toyotomi government, such as the separation of soldiers and farmers, the Taiko land survey, household surveys, and the establishment of the Kawata class (see below), it aimed to realize a more thorough class system. This marked the beginning of the establishment of the eta = Kawata as the core of the discriminated people, but it took a considerable amount of time for this to become clear in terms of the system, and it gradually strengthened over the years, depending on the actual situation and uniqueness of each region. ...

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "kawata" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…　皮革の需要は戦国時代に急速に高まったが，各地の戦国大名は競って熟練工の確保に努め，彼らに特権(職業と販路の独占)を付与することと引替えに，城下町の周縁地域に緊縛して身分･職業･居住地ともに一般民と隔離する政策をとった。彼らは〈かわた〉と通称されたが，その呼称に〈皮田，革田，皮多，皮太〉の漢字が充てられたのは，彼らが主として従事した皮革生産に発している。この方針は江戸時代にも堅持され，〈かわた〉は〈えた〉の別称にもなった。…

【被差別部落】より

…　江戸時代における被差別部落の中核部分をなしたのは〈えた〉であったが，その名で呼ばれる人々の存在は，いちはやく中世，鎌倉時代末期の文献で〈穢多〉という漢字表記とともに確認される。江戸幕府としては，全国的支配体制の維持のためには統一的な身分制度が不可欠であり，兵農分離･太閤検地･戸口調査･〈かわた〉身分(後述)の確定等々をはじめとする豊臣政権の実績を基礎におきながら，いっそう徹底した形での身分制度の実現をめざした。そこで〈えた〉＝〈かわた〉が被差別民の中核部分として確定される端緒が開かれたのであるが，それが制度的に明確になるまでには相当な歳月を要し，各地方の実情･独自性ともかかわりながら，漸次，年を追って強化されていった。…

※「かわた」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

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