The social structures in early-modern Japan concerning the family and succession

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K03251
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Fundamental law
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: KUWAHARA Asako 北海道大学, 大学院法学研究科, 教授 (10292814)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 近世日本 / 家 / 相続 / 社会構造 / 御家騒動 / 御家物 / 意識 / 比較

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to clarify warriors’ and townspeople’s views of the family and succession, and the social structures behind them, by analyzing “OIE SODO” (a family feud about a feudal lord’s succession) and “OIEMONO” (a drama about that story), which are characteristic of early-modern Japan. As a result, it has been discovered that “OIE SODO” was frequently promoted because of the warriors’ views, which attached greater importance to the succession of the lords’ families than to the lords as individuals, or fiscal disputes among vassals, while the fashion of “OIEMONO” after the mid-Edo period was closely related to the change of merchants’ management policies from venture-oriented to focused on steady family businesses. In addition, in comparison to early-modern French and Chinese literature, the conspicuous characteristics of Japanese social structures, such as the weakness of the solidarity of the bourgeoisie, have been demonstrated.

Free Research Field

日本法制史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究成果の主たる学術的意義は、法制史料に加えて文学史料の本格的な分析を行うという独創的な手法により、従来の御家騒動等の研究では十分解明されていなかった、近世日本の家や相続をめぐる武士や町人の意識の問題を、その通時的変化や変化の要因まで含めて実証的に明らかにしたことと、近世中国とフランスとの比較という広い国際的観点から近世日本の社会構造の特徴を浮き彫りにしたことにある。さらに、本研究が明らかにした意識や社会構造の問題は、同族経営企業の多さや組織の重視など、現代日本の社会構造に見られる問題にも通じており、その解明に資するという社会的意義も有するといえる。