Retirement, Inheritance, and Intergenerational Conflict in Preindustrial Japan

Abstract

The timing of inheritance is important in preindustrial peasant societies both because it is part of a mechanism which links fertility to mortality levels and because it provokes intergenerational conflict. Population registers covering a Japanese village from 1671 to 1871 show that the heir's inheritance and his mar riage are not precipitated by the death of the household head, but by his retirement. Retirement occurs not at the behest of the junior generation in response to the heir's maturity or his attainment of the age of marriage, but at the behest of the senior generation, when the household head reaches the age of 60. This age is culturally marked and widely observed. Since both father and son can anticipate this event, conflicts over its timing are minimized. Deviations from the standard tempo result from the early death of the household head, the lack of an heir, or from the heir's immaturity. However, authority rests in the hands of the elder generation, and in a few cases a recalcitrant household head delays both his own retirement and his son's marriage.