Showa, Men Had It Tough 16: About the Clan (1)

This is the story of Tsugio (my father), who was born in a farming village in Kagoshima in the early Showa period and lived out his 82-year life there as a farmer.

Following his birth year and birthplace, I described his family, including his father Kichitaro (my grandfather), his mother Haru (my grandmother), and their marriage, as both were remarrying. I also touched on Haru's childbirth, and the origin of the name "Tsugio" given to their only child born later in their lives.

Now, I have been writing about the family structure of "parents and an only child" as if it were a matter of course. In fact, these three were the ones living in the house that Kichitaro bought in his lifetime.

However, the family register that recorded Kichitaro and his wife's marriage in Showa 3 (1928), as well as Tsugio's birth at the same time, contains as many as 21 names (!).

In Kichitaro's story, "The Meiji Era Without Written Records," I frequently touched upon the Kichitaro family register. After the register was created in the Meiji era with Kichitaro's father, Gen'emon, as the head of the household, his eldest brother Chutaro succeeded him as head after his death, and after Chutaro's death, his other brother, the third son Shotaro, succeeded as head (the second son is not listed in the register itself). I, Fumi, the daughter writing Tsugio's story, am currently looking at the register after Shotaro became the head.

Excluding duplicates and those removed from the register, there are 17 members. Of Kichitaro's six siblings, three—excluding the eldest brother who passed away, the sister who married into another family, and the youngest brother who was adopted as a son-in-law—are still in the same register, and everyone other than the head is listed as a "younger brother."

The younger brothers' wives are listed as "younger brother's wife," and their children as "nephew" or "niece," based strictly on their relationship to the head of the household (Shotaro). Naturally, Haru is listed as "younger brother's wife" and Tsugio as "nephew."

Therefore, this register has a complex structure where the households of the head, the fourth son (Gentaro), and the fifth son (Kichitaro)—to use modern terms—are all mixed together.

I wrote that it was complex, but perhaps this level of complexity was normal at the time. The number of siblings, six, was not exceptionally high; if anything, it was on the lower side. Since some of the siblings died young or were adopted out, one could say it was contained within three households.

In the first place, Kichitaro was physically "independent" the moment he had his own house. As far as Fumi understands, the fourth son, Gentaro, also had his own separate house. In other words, regardless of the family register, the married men were each the master of their own domain.

However, looking at it from another perspective, even after having a family and a house, the clan remained united (or, one could say, under the management of the head) with the head of the household (the father, eldest son, or the man equivalent to them) at the center.

Incidentally, the buildings for these three households were close to each other. The houses of Shotaro and Gentaro were almost adjacent, with the feel of a main house and an annex, and Kichitaro's house was close enough that you could call out to them from the gardens of the other two. Other relatives with slightly more distant blood ties also lived in several houses in the vicinity.

When I wrote that "female relatives in the neighborhood likely helped" when Haru gave birth to Tsugio, I wrote it as a matter of course.