地主の家

Abstract

"Ie" in this paper means a living unit which not only includes the kinship and at times non-kin relationships, but also shares a surname, property and occupation. In general, "ie" pursues the permanent continuity by the transmission of its surname, occupation and property through one of the children. These are the general characteristics of the Japanese "ie," but it has different structures and functions according to its class or social stratum. In another paper I have proposed two types of "ie"; "holding ie" and "cooperating ie."（"Presidential Address of Japan Sociological Society: Rethinking ‘ie’ and Japanese Society," Japanese Sociological Review, Vol.56, No.1, 2005.) The "holding ie" is a type which lives on the gains of land tenure, and the "cooperating ie" is a type whose livelihood is based on the cooperation of the members of "ie" as might be found in agriculture. Shonai region in Yamagata Prefecture is one of the most prominent rice-producing districts. In the days before the postwar land reform it was famous for its large scale landowner-system which had developed from the middle-Edo period (1603-1867), and flourished in the Meiji era (1868-1912). The Matsuzawa family discussed in this paper had belonged to the samurai warrior class in the early-Edo era, but thereafter became farmers in the Shonai region, working hard and accumulating more and more land. As a result, the Matsuzawa family became a large landowner possessing about 100 hectares in the Meiji era. Therefore, the "ie" of the Matsuzawa family in the Meiji era was transformed into the "holding ie." However, the Matsuzawa family had continued to live in the rural community, and cultivated the field by their own management, and in that sense it can be said that the Matsuzawa family in the Meiji era also had the character of the "cooperating ie." This paper aims to clarify the structure and function of the Matsuzawa family, a large landowner's "ie," specifically the status and roles occupied and played by the members of "ie," including men and women, for the continuance and the prosperity of the Matsuzawa family.