往時より現代に至る老年者処遇の変貌

―食老,殺老,棄老,隠居,老人福祉―

抄録

Previously, I have discussed the changes within the life cycle, or turning-points in life and their interrelationships and changes from the Tenpo era to the present. In another paper, the attention is focussed on the last phase of the life cycle, specifically upon the custom of abandonment of the elderly as reflected in various traditions and works of classical literature. Numerous sources exist, however reliable sources are limited ; thus the studies were limited from the Tenpo era to the present. During the research, I discovered the massive work "on Retirement" by Professor Muneshige Hozumi of the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo which examines numerous works of ancient Western, Chinese and Japanese literature. This work is the result of diligent effort and examines the handling of the elderly from a legal viewpoint. According to Professor Hozumi, Indian Holy Scriptures state, "Human life is divided into a student period, a "head of the family" period and a retirement period". This classification agrees with my model of the life cycle in some respects. The first edition of this book was published 95 years ago and already belongs to the historical literature. In order to provide a reference for the continued study of the senescence period of the life cycle, I have confirmed portions of the references cited in Professor Hozumi book at the National Diet Library, University of Tokyo General Library, University of Tokyo Faculty of Economics Library and Faculty of Culture Library. Using the materials obtained from this book as a foundation (references at the end), an overall treatise on the handling of the elderly was written using the custom of cannibalism which probably originated from victimization of the elderly as well as the custom of abandoning of the elderly with final supplement by my own opinion. The range of studies on the life cycle is extensive beyond the limit of any one science. What I have unearthed is only a shallow outline. Discovery of a basal structure of cultural and social life persisting through a long time span may be a contribution to the study of human ecology.