Japanese Family and Society

Words from Tongo Takebe, A Meiji Era Sociologist

Phil Barker, Teruhito Sako, Suzanne K Steinmetz

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781136776236
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sciences sociales
• Subtopic: Sociologie

An accurate, thought provoking translation of original work from sociologist pioneer Tongo TakebeToday's sociology education emphasizes multiculturalism, yet most of the views originate from Judeo-Christian perspectives that can limit insight and understanding. Japanese Family and Society: Words from Tongo Takebe, A Meiji Era Sociologis

PART I:
OVERVIEW OF JAPANESE HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY

I.1

Society and Family: A Brief Overview of the History of Japan

Suzanne K. Steinmetz

Theories of social development cannot be separated from the historical, political, social, and family influences that the theorist experienced.¹ As such, it is necessary to have some understanding of the forces that shaped Japanese thought, not just during the specific era during which the theorist lived, but also those events that became part of the psychic fabric of Japanese citizens prior to this era.

Although most American students and scholars have some background in western European history, our knowledge of Asian history and philosophy is woefully lacking. The Judeo-Christian belief system not only underlies European civilization, history, culture, and political views, it also shapes how Asian and other non-European history and culture are evaluated. Our Judeo-Christian background is so ingrained that it influences our ideas of societal development, modernization, values, and beliefs. Takebe, in his discussion of family, notes

… the basic historical assumption of Christian creation theory has been penetrating the Westerner’s mind, even the scholar’s mind. Their sociological theories of family reflect it… it is not acceptable for me that they look down on polygamy and polytheism as uncivilized customs, regardless of the fact that the ancient Grecian, their spiritual spiritual ancestor, practiced those. (Part IV: Family Organization, p. 169 of this book)

Regardless of one’s particular religious background or degree of religiosity, this perspective is part of the way that we view the world often without even realizing it.

For example, BC (before Christ) and AD (after Christ’s birth) are used worldwide to designate historical time. More recently, BCE (before common era) and CE (common era) for dates have been used. While this renaming adheres to political correctness, the dates still revolve around Christ’s birth. In Western societies, an indicator of modernization is the evolution from the family/clan as the primary unit to the nuclear family as the primary unit. The family as a unit of economic production becomes the family as a unit of consumption. However, this is not true in Japan where industrialization and modernization were not equated with a change in the primacy of the family lineage in all matters. This is best summarized by Kawamura’s discussion of an article by Kōzō Tsuda written in 1934. This quote emphasized the close connection between the emperor and the family system. In the article, “The Present State of Japanese Fascism,” Tsuda wrote

In the family-system principle of Japan, the keynote of society is not the demand for individual rights, as in the modern countries of the West, but service to the family as a whole. Socially, each family is an independent animate body, a complete cell. Our nationalism should be the extension and enlargement of this family-system principle. This is because our nationalism is nothing but the union of these families at the national level. The Emperor is the sovereign, family head, center, and general representative of the state as a united body. (Kawamura, 1994, p. 9)

Because Takebe (1871–1945) lived and wrote his study of society during the Meiji era which informed and influenced his most prolific period, this history also concludes with this period (about 1912). Later events such as World War I and II did inform his writing and changed his views, but these events had not yet transpired.

PALEOLITHIC JAPAN

Geology, Geography, and Archeology

The area that is now Japan was first mentioned in the chapter on the Japanese in Chinese Chronicles of Wei written during the Han dynasty in the third century CE.² The chronicles report that more than thirty Japanese states had been united under a queen and had established relations with China in 239 BCE (Churchill, 2005; Kasahara, 1988). The Japanese, however, did not write their own history until two expansive works appeared, Kojiki [The Record of Ancient Matters] written in 712 CE and Nihon-shoki [Chronicles of Japan] written in 720 CE.

However, the geological and archeological records tell us much about Paleolithic Japan, which was generally considered to be inhabited between 20,000 and 30,000 BCE (Schirokauer, 1993).³ During the last Ice Age, the islands which comprise the geographic area known as Japan looked very different. Because of the lowered sea level, the four main islands of Japan, Hokkaidō (the northernmost island), Honshu (the largest island where Tokyo, Kōyoto, and Ōsaka are located), Shikoku (located off the southeast coast of Honshu), and Kyushu (the southernmost island) were connected. Likewise, many of the over 3,000 small islands surrounding Japan, of which 600 are currently inhabited, were part of these land masses. Furthermore, the southernmost island, Kyushu, was connected to the Korean peninsula, and the northernmost island, Hokkaido, was connected to Siberia. Thus, Stone Age humans as well as plants, birds, and mammals crossed these land bridges, and their flint tools, remains of animals, and covered pits provide evidence of their habitation (Hooker, 1996; Schirokauer, 1993; Yamasa Institute, 2005).

Keally (1991) has suggested that Early Paleolithic in Japan is defined as human artifacts that are older than 30,000 years. This “Pre-Ceramic” period experienced immigration from the Eurasian continent about 20,000 years ago (Schirokauer, 1993; Yamasa Institute, 2005). Tools and the remains of prehistoric animals that were similar to those found on mainland Asia have been found in archeological sites. Cooking stones and fishing traps such as the “Yana” have been dated to the Paleolithic period (Diamond, 1998; Yamasa Institute, 2005).

Roughly 10,000 to 13,000 years ago, sea levels began to rise as the average temperatures around the world increased, heralding the end of the last Ice Age. This resulted in the land bridges submerging, and eventually the land bridge to Korea became submerged making it impossible to reach Japan via land. Contact with other lands ceased because Japan was now 110 miles from South Korea, 190 miles from mainland Russia, and 480 miles from mainland China.

During the earliest times, the inhabitants of Japan were hunters and gatherers. However, as a result of the availability of rich resources in the sea and on land these inhabitants were a sedentary rather than a nomadic people. The early development of pottery is one indication of a sedentary people because carrying large pots would not be practical among nomadic people. The gradual warming of this area resulted in migration to coastal areas.

MESOLITHIC JAPAN

Who Are the Japanese?

Identification of the ethnic lineage of the contemporary inhabitants of Japan and their language has been controversial and the subject of considerable investigation. Anthropological evidence suggests that based on structural characteristics, the Yayoi (immigrants from southern Korea) were a different ethnicity from the earliest Jomon inhabitants. Advances in technology, such as DNA analysis, and archeo-logical evidence support the belief that the early stone-age inhabitants called the Ainu and described as proto-Caucasian with long beards, were distinct from contemporary Japanese who share genetic characteristics with the inhabitants of the Yayoi period (Diamond, 1998; Schirokauer, 1993; Yamasa Institute, 2005).

It appears that Jomon period inhabitants spoke an Austronesian (Papuan, Malayan, and Pacific Island) language. During the Yayoi period, roughly 900 BCE to 250 BCE, the language of the South Koreans (an Altaic language group spoken by Koreans, Mongolians, and Turkish) was merged with the indigenous Austronesian language. Research indicates that the Austronesian language spoken by the Jomon was markedly changed after contact and introduction of the Altaic language (Diamond, 1998; Hooker, 1996).

As a result of this fairly intense contact between the South Koreans and Jomon inhabitants not only does the contemporary Japanese language contain remnants of both cultures, but DNA analysis also indicates a sharing of genetic traits. However, the Ainu who lived on Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, remained isolated until relatively recently, and they have a distinct genetic makeup and language (Diamond, 1998; Schirokauer, 1993).

The Jomon Period: The Earliest Inhabitants

Around 15,000–11,000 BCE and lasting until about 300 BCE, these Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age people, developed a culture that was named after the pattern on their pottery, the oldest known pottery in existence. Discovered by Edward Morse, a nineteenth century American zoologist, the pottery was named jomon (“cord marks”) to describe the patterns pressed into the clay (Yamasa Institute, 2005). Although these Mesolithic hunters and gatherers were living in small tribal groups, they engaged in Neolithic practices such as making pots and figurines suggesting ancient goddess worship. Although the Jomon period produced pottery without the potter’s wheel (MetroMuseum, 2005) unlike most other world cultures during the Neolithic period, there is no evidence of weaving technology or monument building (Hooker, 1996). The pottery fragments that were discovered in Kyushu were highly decorated and considerably older than known fragments found in China. Totem related to fertility, safe childbirth, and religious rituals dating from the middle Jomon period were also found (Schirokauer, 1993).

What was most unique was that the pottery predated the development of agriculture, which is contrary to the accepted beliefs that pottery making is associated with sedentary cultures, not with with hunters and gatherers. Evidence of large pottery, heavy stone tools, and the remains of substantial houses in villages of fifty or more dwellings clearly documents that Jomon inhabitants had a sedentary culture. The access to rich food resources as a result of an extensive coastline and fertile lands covered with a variety of natural foodstuff resulted in the inhabitants being called “affluent foragers” (Pearson as cited by Schirokauer, 1993). Although there was no need for the development of agriculture, pots for cooking the food (increasing the variety of foods which could be eaten) and storing the food were needed. The Jomon period has been divided into six eras described below.

Incipient (15,000–8000 BCE) and Initial Jomon (8000–5000 BCE). Pottery fragments from this earliest period in Japan indicate that these represent the first ceramics in human history, predating Mesopotamian ceramics by over two thousand years. Initial Jomon is distinguished from the earlier period by the availability of nearly complete pots, instead of just fragments.

Early Jamon (5000–2500 BCE) and Middle Jomon (2500–1500 BCE). Global warming at the end of the last Ice Age played a role in the development of agriculture during the Early Jomon period. Not only were the land bridges connecting Japan to Siberia, China, and southern Korea submerged, the coastline expanded and fertile lands were increased. These rich resources enabled the growth of settlements into larger villages and cities. This period is identified with the building of large pit-houses (the floor is built about a foot below ground level), and the production of large clay figurines representing the first Japanese sculptures. Middle Jomon is characterized by increasing sophistication of the clay statuary depicting animals and stylized figurines of humans, known as dogu.

Late Jamon (1500–1000 BCE) and Final Jomon (1000–300 BCE). These periods were characterized by the neoglaciation stage in modern climatic history—it got colder! In the third century BCE inhabitants from northern China migrated to Korea and from south Korea they migrated to the more temperate southern areas of Japan. This increased contact resulted in the intermingling of the people (primarily of South Korea, with some Chinese influence) and their languages with the inhabitants of Japan. The immigrants from the Korean peninsula introduced metal working into the culture. In about 660 BCE, the production of heavy female figurines suggests that they practiced a goddess religion. According to Japanese mythology, Jinmu (divine warrior), the first legendary emperor of the Yamato Court of Japan, was seen as descending from the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami, who is credited with establishing the empire (Kasahara, 2001; Reischauer, 1970).

NEOLITHIC JAPAN: CROSS-CULTURAL CONTACT AND A WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Mesolithic Jomon culture thrived in Japan from the eleventh century BCE to the third century BCE, when it underwent an extensive cultural transformation as a result of waves of immigrants from the Asian mainland, primarily South Korea. The Yayoi had come from northern China, which had experienced a lack of rainfall resulting in the once rich forests and streams becoming the Gobi desert. The original inhabitants of this area immigrated into Korea displacing the indigenous population, and later waves of immigrants from northern China arrived on the Japanese islands.

The Yayoi Period: Contact with China and Korea (300 BCE-250 CE)

The name of this period, Yayoi, is the name of the area in Tokyo where wheel-turned pottery, evidence of habitation by Chinese and Koreans, was discovered. Rice cultivation and bronze and iron metal working was further evidence of increased contact. The Wei Chih [Chinese Chronicles] (220–264 CE) report that more than thirty Japanese states had been united into a federation known as Yamatai under Queen Himiko, after a period of civil conflict (Kasahara, 1988; Schirokauer, 1993). In 1999, excavations on Tsushima Island (midway between the Korean peninsula and Kyushu Island) discovered the remains of the capitol of the Tsushima-koku kingdom which was noted in the Wei Chronicles during the Yayoi Period (Yamasa Institute, 2005). Schirokauer (1993, p. 10) noted “The most profound change that occurred during the Yayoi period was the development of wet-field rice cultivation,” because it increased economic resources and encouraged population growth and geographic expansion. A Chinese colony established by the Han dynasty began to exert its cultural influence on Japan. Excavations discovered glass beads, bracelets, bronze tools, iron tools, and decorated bronze bells that were produced during this period (Schirokauer, 1993).

An early religion, which later developed into Shintoism, emerged. In this religion, each clan was associated with a god (Kami) who was responsible for all things that occurred in nature. The clans (uji), whose patriarchal head was both a priest and chief warrior, developed into small states that were engaged in conflict with other uji. During this period, Japan developed a centralized government based on the principles of Confucianism. It was also during this period that the importance of family and family lineage became strongly embedded in the culture and remained a critical component of political organization until the Meiji Restoration.

Yamato Period: Beginning of the Empire (250–710 CE)

This period is named after the fertile Yamato plains in the south of the island of Honshu where the first Japanese kingdom, the basis of future Japanese civilizations, arose. The Yamato kings located their capital at Naniwa (modern day Osaka). Increased contact with Korea and China resulted in wars and led to the Yamato subjugating the Koreans and forcing them to pay tribute. The existence of weapons and Kangou shuuraku [settlements surrounded by moats], suggest that this was a period of internal conflict (JAANUS, 2005). Impressed with the accomplishment of China, Japan began to redefine itself as an empire with the clan leaders being considered as kings on an equal footing with China. Reischauer (1970, pp. 21–22) reported that “Prince Shotoku even dared to phrase a letter to the Chinese Emperor Yangdi as coming from the Emperor of the Rising Sun to the Emperor of the Setting Sun.”

About 405 CE, the Japanese court officially adopted the Chinese writing system and calendar, followed by the official arrival of Buddhism from Korea in 538 CE. From this period on, Shintoism, Japan’s original religion, and Buddhism, a newly imported foreign religion, coexisted in a unique manner.

Through wars and kinship ties resulting from marriage, the Yamato clan was able to increase their control over other clan leaders, thus increasing their wealth and political power. However, the Yamato court began to de...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the Editors
• Foreward
• Preface
• Collaboration and Acknowledgments
• PART I. Overview of Japanese History and Sociology
• PART II. Theoretical Introduction
• PART III. Historical Introduction
• PART IV. Family Organization
• Notes
• References
• Index