Burakumin (部落民, "hamlet/village people", "those who live in hamlets/villages") is a former untouchable group in Japan at the bottom of the traditional social hierarchy. Burakumin were originally ethnic Japanese people with occupations seen as kegare (穢れ, "defilement") during Japan's feudal era, such as executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, or tanners. Burakumin became a hereditary status of untouchability and an unofficial caste in the Tokugawa class system during the Edo period. Burakumin were victim of severe discrimination and ostracism in Japanese society, and lived as outcasts in their own separate villages or ghettos. Burakumin status was officially abolished after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, but the descendants of burakumin have since continued to face stig