Abstract
This article analyses the K. Aruga's dozoku theory by comparison with that of S. Kitano. Between these two scholars there existed a great disagreement in notion of the rural sociology in Japan.
Aruga, one of the most important forerunners in the Japanese rural sociology, investigated the social structure of villages in Japan in terms of the conjunction of households. As a result, he insisted the existence of the same structural principles between village communities and the rest of Japanese society.
It was S. Kitano who proposed one of the most important critiques on Aruga's theory. According to Kitano, Aruga could not distinguish between dozozoku and oyakata-kokata relation, and eventually his theory shows theoretical and methodological deficiencies.
Here it may be important to re-examine the Kitano's deizoku theory in view of the availability for doing empirical research. In the analysis on this line, the focus would be on rethinking the notion of 'kezfu' the relationship between a stem household and a branch household in a dozoku group.
