Men Are All Brothers

"Buraku" or "Buraku-min" are the terms used for ethnic Japanese people who are believed to descend from the pre-Meiji castes. Today, neither "Buraku" nor "Burakumin" exist anymore in terms of laws and social systems. However, many Japanese people still have a deep-rooted sense of discrimination towards people who descend from those families. Why does something that should not exist continue to exist? How did this discrimination begin in the first place? This film takes a variety of approaches to unravel the history of accumulated discrimination and its intricately intertwined context, from its origins and evolution, vividly depicting the structure of discrimination that often remains hidden from the public eye.

Interviews with Burakumin in Osaka, victims of discrimination

At the strong insistence of his father, Ushimatsu Segawa conceals his origins from a “buraku” area of low-class “untouchables,” leaving his hometown to serve as an elementary school teacher where he excels and is loved by his students. But he constantly struggles with the secret of his low-birth status and is disturbed by all of the discrimination levelled upon his class. It prevents him from pursuing a romance with Shiho, whom he meets at the temple where he resides, but who descends from a samurai family.

Ushimatsu's father told him never to reveal his lower-caste heritage; years later, he now contemplates confiding in an activist fighting against such discrimination.

In the Meiji period, a schoolteacher tries to hide his lower-class upbringing as he supports a visiting liberal intellectual.