| NOTA |
((*)(trans. by Kenneth Strong) (★)(The humanist intention of ´The Broken Commandment´ is apparent from even a brief summary of its plot. A young schoolteacher, a member of Japan´s despised ´eta´, or outcast class, has achieved his present position by concealing his lowly origin, as his father had commanded him, all through his years in school and teachers´ college. The tension of having always to keep secret the truth about himself --of living a lie-- increases, till finally friendship with an older fellow outcast, who is fearlessly campaigning against the discrimination under which the eta have suffered for centuries, impels him, in a famous scene, to reveal his origin --to break his father´s commandment-- and accept the consequences of his decision to free himself from the burden of his inheritance. Officially, premodern Japanese society was neatly divided into four groups : samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants, in descending order of respectability. Below these recognized classes were the ´hinin´, or ´nonpersons,´ consisting of ´beggars, prostitutes, fugitives from justice, itinerant entertainers, mediums, diviners and religious wanderers who had fallen right out of the class system.´ Below them, at the very bottom of the scale were the eta. As the name ´eta [full of filth]´ implies, the members of this group were thought to be genetically impure ; they were confined for the most part to occupations that as the result of a fusion of Shinto and Buddhist ideas had from early times been considered ritually polluting.[from ´Translator´s Introduction´]) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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