The Pre-modern Peasant Family and its life Cycle Pattern

Abstract

In discussing the household composition of the modern Japanese family it is a prerequisite to have a clear understanding of the family composition in the pre-modern era in Japan. This is because in modern Japanese society the structural transition from the extended to the nuclear family has been steadily progressing, and at the same time the family still clearly maintains its traditional nature. Local official documents called “Documentation on the Religious Affiliation” (Shumon Ninbetsu Aratamecho) were kept from the middle of the 17th century when the Tokugawa Shogunate initiated the censorship of the people's religious affiliation. These documents now serve as a valuable source of information on the population, the household, family composition and change during the feudal period in Japan. This article attempts to clarify empirically the changing pattern of family composition of the households in a farming village, Yamazaki, presently a part of Isawa Town, Yamanashi Prefecture, approximately 130 kilometers west of Edo (present-day Tokyo). The data were obtained from the Documentation on the Religious Affiliation in Yamazaki vii I age from 1802 to 1861, a period regarded as the terminal stage of the feudal Tokugawa Shogunate. Four major findings emerged. First, under the dominant extended family system in pre-modern Japanese society, as many as half of of the households in the village adopted forms of the nuclear family. Secondly, a basic pattern of the developmental cycle in the Japanese family was recognized. This family life cycle is as follows: “Household with collateral relatives”→“Household with lineal ancestors and descendants”→“Household with unmarried children”→“Household with married children.” Thirdly, the length of one family life cycle in the parent-child-centered extended family system tended to last for approximately 23 to 24 years. Fourthly, the analysis of the living capacity index revealed that each family experienced decay and prosperity during its family life cycle. For a full understanding of the modern family system in changing Japanese society, we should be aware of the contextual differences accompanying the phenomenal similarities between the two popular orientations of the family system in Japan: the one the extended and the other the nuclear family system.