Greetings at the Creation of the Suiheisha History Museum

¦The Museum was renamed "the Suiheisha History Museum" on 1 April 1999.

@The Zenkoku Suiheisha, sometimes translated as gNational Levelersf Associationh, was created on 3 March 1922 with the ringing voice for human dignity and equality, gLet there be warmth in human society, let there be light in all human beingsh. Although some seventy years have passed since then and the founders of the organization, including SAIKO Mankichi, SAKAMOTO Seiichiro, KOMAI Kisaku and YONEDA Tomi, have become historical figures, its Founding Declaration have been considered the first declaration of human rights in Japan and remained valid as the spiritual core of the Buraku liberation movement. Needless to say, the Zenkoku Suiheisha is the origin of the Buraku liberation movement, which seeks for the establishment of peace and human rights. The history and spirits of the movement have been nurtured through the struggle of the predecessors who devoted themselves to the Suiheisha movement.

@District improvement projects began in 1986 in Kashihara, Gose City, Nara Prefecture, which is the homeland of the Suiheisha. The resulting changes of the landscape led to concerns about the weakening of the Suiheisha spirits. Since nothing can be talked about the Suiheisha without referring to Kashihara, it was natural for the concerned people to be driven by the aspirations to preserve the history of the struggle waged in this place forever. Recognizing the importance of unearthing the fact that the founders of the Suiheisha and many other unknown predecessors have resisted discrimination in their lives and of preserving their footsteps, it was decided to establish the Suiheisha History Museum.

@Fifty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations, more and more attention has been paid to human rights at the international and national levels, reflected in the adoption of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and of the adoption on the UN Decade for Human Rights Education as well as the adoption by the Diet of Japan of the Act on the Promotion of Measures to Protect Human Rights and of the Act on the Promotion the Ainu Culture and on the Dissemination and Advocacy for the Traditions of the Ainu and the Ainu Culture. Defining the 21th century as gthe century of human rightsh, boosted by the momentum, and thinking that the Suiheisha has global historical significance in terms of its pioneering role in the promotion of human rights, we established the Suiheisha History Museum at Kashihara, Gose City, which is the birthplace of the Suiheisha and a homeland of the concept of human rights.

@The Suiheisha History Museum seeks to become the center of human rights information, aiming at the dissemination of information for the elimination of all kinds of discrimination.

1 May 1998

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