MARRIAGE AND FEMALE INHERITANCE IN MEDIEVAL JAPAN

Abstract

This paper discusses the status of women in late medieval Japan through an examination of marriage and inheritance, in particular through the concept of ie (the household as a basic social unit). It casts a fresh view on the relationship between the ie and women, and in the process refutes the assumption of Takamure Itsue that the emergence of the ie prompted an oppressive form of marriage that deprived women of freedom, rights and a claim to property. Taking class distinctions into consideration, the paper reviews the legal, social and economic position of women. It shows that the ie was not an oppressor of women at its inception, but as time passed the independence of the ie was eroded from within and without, and in the process women were gradually excluded from positions of power. The paper also takes a close look at various patterns of marriage in different social classes and at inheritance. Even though primogeniture concentrated the ie property in the hands of the male heir, female inheritance continued well into the sixteenth century. The paper concludes that the position of women in modern Japan has its roots in the late medieval period, and criticizes Takamure for viewing the late medieval ie from a modern perspective.