Abstract
This paper studies the theory of ancestor worship suggested by M. Fortes et al. According to him, ancestor worship is the ritualization of filial piety which compels sons to accept fathers' jural authority, metamorphosing it into ancestors' mystical authority. Ancestor Worship is inextricably tied to the patriarchal family structure. This discussion will center on two points : 1) the interdependence of successive generations (fathers and their eldest sons) in the rites for the dead : 2) the correlation between ancestral rites and agrarian family structure.
The data is from Kurosawa, a village in Yamagata Prefecture. This analysis reveals the following things :
1) The temple Choushuji has a folk ritual in which the pictorial votive offerings of marriage are given for the unmarried dead children. If these are not given, it is believed, one who does not have any legitimate successor cannot attain ancestorhood and will become a ghost muen-hotoke. The research of genealogical relations between the dead and the dedicator, indicates that eldest sons were dedicated by their fathers, while siblings by their mothers or elder siblings. This reveals the mutual dependence between a father and his eldest son, which goes with the fact that today, as in the past, an eldest son exclusively has a preeminent right of inheritance, especially due to his status as a household head and a citizen of the village.
2) In contemporary Kurosawa, the rites of ancestor worship are practiced more frequently in agrarian families than in wage-earning ones; in stem families than in conjugal ones; in a household of higher rank than in a one of lower. And the greater the number of generations in a household's history, or the more a household retains a patriarchal filiation, the more ancestral rites are practiced.
In short, it is validated in quantitative analysis that ancestor worship still closely related to some of the characteristics of patrilineal family structure.
