The authors carried out a field study and a questionnaire targeting chiefly the former town of Kaifu in Tokushima Prefecture, which has low suicide rates, to make a comparison with neighboring towns and regions with high suicide rates. They identified five factors unique to Kaifu: loose social bonds, a low sense of clannish loyality, less resistance to help-seeking, assessing another person on the basis of their character, and positive political participation. The town has another element that is not found elsewhere: a mutual aid-organization originating in the Edo Period, called Hobaigumi. For the purpose of accurately understanding the characteristics of Hobaigumi, a similar organization, the Wakamonogumi in Town A, was analyzed. A comparison between the two groups revealed several differences in operational principles and rules, despite structural similarities. The Hobaigumi ha, an innate mechanism that eases stress. Among the characteristics of the organization, loose bonds, little tendency towards exclusion, and assessing another person on the basis of their character coincided with the peculiarities of the community in Kaifu town. The findings of the study, which is that the Hobaigumi, which belongs to an area with low suicide rates, has several characteristics in common with the community, supports the hypothesis that the lower stress on Kaifu residents compared with residents elsewhere helps lower the risk of suicide.
