The Batangan is a large pagan group, still unstudied, who numbers approximately 3, 000 persons. It is the primary purpose of this paper to raise problems about bilateral social organization which is found througout the Philippines. Batangan social structure is of considerable interest as it appears to provide a variant of cognatic societies. Although there are widespread similarities among the peoples who speak of themselves as Batangan, or Taobuid, there are sub-cultural and social distinctions. The initial work among the Batangan has been concerned with distinctions between two groups--Bayanan and Saragan--and their relationships with the larger Filipino society. And in this paper the writer is concerned with two specific problems : (1) the emergence of the formal leader and his household-line among them. It is the hypohtesis in this paper that these are equivalent ; and, (2) the social mechanism for inheriting ritual paraphernalia and the succession to magico-religious office.

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This paper aims to analyze the social organization of a Japanese hamlet called Shiraki, located in Tsuruga-Shi, Fukui-ken. The fundamental characteristics of this hamlet is the age-generation-grade system intertwined with branch-family (Bunke) control, retirement (Inkyo) customs and bilateral kinship (Shinrui). In short, all the inhabitants belong to specific groups according to the principle of agegeneration-grade system, such as young (Kodomo-renchu), young adult (Wakarenchu in the case of male, Musume-renchu in the case of female), middle (Oyajira for male and Kakara for female) and old (Jiisanra for male and Baasanra for female). Generally, in the case of male, young adults over sixteen belong to the young adult group, the middle age group consists of heads of families and the old age group consists of those over sixty-one. This social organization functions to sustain itself and insure the continuation of the Shiraki hamlet.

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