Various forms of filial piety and subject formation in urban families in the transitional period to modern times

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K02262
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of thought
• Research Institution: Mejiro University
• Principal Investigator: HAYAKAWA Masako 目白大学, 社会学部, 教授 (70212305)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 孝 / 看取り / 高齢者 / 報恩 / 幕末維新期 / 人別帳 / 四谷塩町一丁目 / 自己責任

Outline of Final Research Achievements

By analyzing the database of ninbetsucho(the population register)which remeind in the Yotsuya district of Shinjuku City and interpreting the literature, we disclosed the actual situation of urban families and various forms of filial piety at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration, and clarify the life strategies that were devised for filial piety.
①Only a few wealthy people can inherit the continuation of the family. It is a task to be achieved by gathering all the power of the family, and all the actions to achieve the continuation and succession of the family are filial piety. ② Parents' end-of-life care is such a large financial burden that it is established in exchange for being unmarried in the lower layer classes. ③ We can detect consciousness to stare at the root of own existence namely self-consciousness in people practicing filial piety.

Free Research Field

人文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

学術的意義としては、①孝行の現実的な諸形態という観点から孝の思想や孝の意義を解明する研究は、思想史研究における新たな試みである点、②民衆思想史研究の分野から人別帳データベースを分析する研究は、人別帳データベース活用方法の可能性を広げるという点を挙げることができる。
社会的意義としては、近代家族の原型ともいえる幕末維新期の都市住民家族における孝の研究は、現在における家族や家庭教育の意義を検討するための学術的観点を提供する点である。