What were the Eta class of Japan?
(UY Vol 3, #6) The Eta was a restricted class. Their professions were usually concerned with death, the disposal of animal carcasses, with their skins and the leather goods made from them. But it was not an economic class, as some of them were quite wealthy. They lived in assigned areas of town or in separate settlements in the country. They were not allowed to marry outside their class and it was a crime for them to conceal their status. A law in 1871 removed class stigmas; however, the Eta have not really disappeared, though the term is no longer used except historically.
