農村における擬制的親子関係

神奈川県の一村落についての研究

抄録

This paper deals with fictions parenthood (a kind of ritual kinship) in a village in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Various forms of fictions parenthood are found in Japan, which are divided roughly into two types. The one type in which the house of the fictious parent is superior to that of the fictious child in the social stratification of the village community, and in which the fictious relation ship functions as one of the means to reinforce the feudalistic master-servant domination between these two houses. The other is the type in which the status of the house both of the fictious parent and of the fictions child is equal and no domimination-subordination relationship is established between the two houses, except some kind of personal master-servant relationship between the fictious parent and child.
These two types have heretofore been reported to be found in different villages, but in the village dealt with in the present research work, these two types are seen co-existing, which makes an outstanding characteristic of the community. The writer has tried to study specifically the way in which these two types of fictions parenthood co-exist in one village, the manner in which such fictions parenthood functions in relation to the hierarchical structure of the village community, and the situation in which the old custom of the fictious parenthood still lingers in spite of its more or less break after World War II.