2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Research and Study in the Folklore Based upon the Inquio Custom and the Retirement system for the Aged in Aging
| Project/Area Number |
15520532
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Cultural anthropology/Folklore
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| Research Institution | National Museum of Japanese History |
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Principal Investigator |
SEKIZAWA Mayumi National Museum of Japanese History, Folklore and Folklife depart, Associate Prof. (00311134)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
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| Keywords | Inkyo system / retirement / aging society / salaried company employees / period of rapid economic growth / passing down of know-how / generational handover / sense of belonging |
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| Research Abstract |
This study first considers the question of the generational handover from the elderly and the transmission and continuation of folk customs in traditional society. There is no inkyo (retirement) system for persons who work in shrines. This raises the question of how their previous work experience is passed on to the next generation when an individual recognizes the approach of old age. In order to answer this question, the author observed the Kodensai festival held at Sada Shrine in Sadamiyauchi, Kashima-cho, Yatsuka-gun, Shimane Prefecture and conducted successive interviews with participants in the festival. One shrine employee who is currently over seventy made an effort to pass on all the knowledge he had acquired in his 50-plus years of service to the young person who was to be his successor. Two important themes to come out of this case concerning the handing down and continuation of professional knowledge were the "passing down of know-how and the passing down of a certain menta
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lity" and the existence of "the teachable and the unteachable".
The second subject of this study was the "sense of belonging" of retired salaried company employees from urban areas. Most of the men were born in the 1930's and once they had graduated from university were engaged in the steel, shipbuilding, automobile, electrical appliance and petrochemical industries. These men experienced both good times and bad as their companies moved ahead during and after Japan's period of rapid economic growth. The study revealed the diversity of the activities of these men, now in their seventies, during their retirement years. They include working as senior volunteers for the Japan International Cooperation Agency, advisory work in which they utilize their specialist knowledge and experience, hobbies such as the game of go, golf and tennis, involvement in apartment building associations and experiencing rural life. As for socializing after retirement, regular gatherings of their university contemporaries or gatherings of university club members were not uncommon. This study showed that the men sought a sense of belonging from their alma mater rather than from the companies for which they had worked for many years. Less
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