Transformations of Dōzoku since the Modern Period

：A Case Study of Contemporary Dōzoku Group

Abstract

　　　Extending its analytical scope to contemporary rural dōzoku groups from the 1990s onward, this paper seeks to elucidate the transformations of a dōzoku group from the modern period to the present. The analysis divides this historical trajectory into three phases and examines how the dōzoku has changed in each period.

　　　In summary, the most significant transformation between 1915 and 1945, the end of World War II, was the loss of the dōzoku organization’s function as an economic management unit, accompanied by its reconstitution as a dōzoku group centered primarily on grave maintenance and social gatherings. This shift marks a transition from a dōzoku as an “organization” to a dōzoku as a “group.”From the postwar period through 1989, the principal development was the reorganization of grave management around the honke (the main household of the lineage), which also became the main agency for the management of the dōzoku group. The most notable changes from 1989 to 2025 include the admission of residents from outside the district who lack family graves, and the inclusion of members with different surnames.

　　　From the modern period to the present, the ie has transformed the modern family, more specifically, from co-residential household units to separate-residence arrangements, and further into networks of cooperation among close kin belonging to non-co-resident households. Some families of the dōzoku group have further fragmented into individuals whose social relations are constituted through networks of non-co-resident close kin. The dōzoku group has transformed into a social formation sustained by cooperative relations based on close kinship networks, such as parent–child and sibling ties, as well as broader kinship networks including cousins.