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A Guide for the Study of Kinship and Social Organization in the Amami Islands Sumie NAKATANI

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A Guide for the Study of Kinship and Social Organization in the Amami Islands Sumie NAKATANI KAWAI, K., TERADA, R. and KUWAHARA, S. (eds): The Islands of Kagoshima Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands, 15 March 2013 Chapter 9 A Guide for the Study of Kinship and Social Organization in the Amami Islands Sumie NAKATANI 1. Pioneering studies in the 1950s the Tohoku region of northern Japan, where dou- n the 1950s when the Amami Islands were re- zoku, a patrilineal family-kin network was domi- Iturned to Japan, a joint survey was conducted by nant. OYAMA’s study in Yoronjima Is. was finally the members of nine Japanese academic associa- published in the book “Nanseisyoto no Kazoku no tions (Kyu Gakkai Rengo). From 1955 to 1958, a Kenkyu (A Study of Family Systems in the Nansei total of 100 researchers participated in the survey Islands )” (OYAMA 1960). of five of the Amami Islands. Researchers in the In the 1950s, Japanese ethnologists were eager fields of ethnology and sociology were interested to identify the original form or roots of Japanese in kinship relations, locally called hara, haroji, culture. Rural communities of Amami were stud- and hiki, because they seemed to play central roles ied in comparison with those of mainland Japan. in the lives of the people of the Amami Islands. GAMOU, who did his fieldwork in Kikaijima Is. and Several papers based on the survey were focused on the kinship system called haroji, point- published in the journal “Jinrui Kagaku (Human ed out three characteristics of haroji. Science)” and in a book titled “Amami Shizen to 1: The membership of haroji could be traced Bunka (Amami: Nature and Culture)” (OYAMA bilaterally. Paternal uncles and maternal uncles et al. 1956, GAMOU 1956, 1959, SEKI 1957, SEKI were referred to by the same kinship term and et al. 1959). In these pioneering studies, OYAMA, played equivalent roles in many rituals. Brothers GAMOU, and SEKI discuss the kinship systems and and sisters were equally positioned. Their children their function in the communities they had stud- were addressed by the same kinship terms. There ied respectively in Yoronjima Is., Kikaijima Is., was no indication that the children of sons were Amami-Oshima Is., and Okinoerabujima Is. considered as a family members of own kin and Hara, haroji, and hiki characterized the social that those of daughters were seen as other kin. relations in the Amami Islands, although the terms 2: First and second cousins were addressed were used differently in each community. OYAMA, as “brother” or “sister.” There was no hierarchy based on a case study in Yoronjima Is., mentions among the people in the same generation. On the that hara was locally said to be a kinship group contrary, the difference of generations was clearly whose members gather at an ancestral ritual. He shown by the kinship terms and the marriage pre- explains that hara is a group of consanguine whose scriptions, that is, marriages between an uncle and members can be traced bilaterally, whereas hiki his niece or between an aunt and her nephew were consists of patrilineal descendants. An individual prohibited. This means that haroji is organized belongs to both maternal and paternal haras. He based on the generation and age of the individual attends ancestral rituals in his father’s house, members. Its principles contrasted with those of his mother’s parental house, his paternal grand- douzoku, a unilineal descent group that fixes hi- mother’s parental house, and his maternal grand- erarchical relations between a main family and mother’s parental house. The bilateralism of hara branch families based on genealogy. and its importance in the daily lives of people led 3: Haroji is a group that includes people of him to the inference that the village structure in three generations back and forth. An affiliation of the Amami Islands was much older than that in haroji is determined by a direct blood relationship, 54 The Islands of Kagoshima whereas that of douzoku is based on ie as a unit of collection of fees. cohabitation. SEKI studied rural communities in Amami- Regarding the functions of haroji, GAMOU sug- Oshima Is. and in Okinoerabujima Is. He explains gests that haroji worked as a joint labor organiza- that either hiki or hara was used for kinship re- tion in agriculture. For example, the processing of lations in the Amami Islands, and that haroji was sugar cane, a main product of Kikaijima Is., needs recognized as another category that coexisted with intensive labor and animal power. It had been con- either one. In Amami-Oshima Is., a kin group in ducted jointly by members of haroji. These days, which the members share a common ancestor was animals have been replaced by machines, which called hiki. Men’s wives were not included in their are also purchased jointly by the members. Haroji hiki; however, the wives were recognized as ha- still plays a central role in uniting different fami- roji. SEKI makes a distinction between hiki and ha- lies and households. Another important aspect is roji. The former is a category of people lineally the frequency of intra-haroji marriage, such as related to a common ancestor, and the latter is a cousin marriage. In Kikaijima Is., it was a custom- category which centers ego and traced bilaterally. ary practice for a daughter to be given a piece of The former is recognized as a group that practices land as a dowry when she married out. Marriage ancestor worship; the latter, as a group for joint between cousins was probably preferred because it labor in agriculture. In Okinoerabujima Is., hara would prevent the land from passing into the hands were used in place of hiki. In the community SEKI of nonkin. In cases of cousin marriage, land was studied, the social status and authority of an indi- given to a different family in the same haroji. Then vidual were mainly derived from his hara, but the it did not create any inconvenience in terms of aggregation of haras and the formation of power- work and labor because the cultivation was jointly ful groups were not observed. SEKI explains that done by members of the haroji. GAMOU argues that, the reasons for the nonhierarchical relationships as a result of repeated intra-haroji marriages, there among different haras are partly related to eco- was no hierarchy between families within the ha- nomics: there was little difference in terms of land roji, and that the haroji was aggregated into a rela- ownership among families. In addition, the nature tively closed group. of the relationships is also related to a local prac- According to GAMOU, the rural society in tice: the practice called Ichiju-ishho, which means Kikaijima Is. was characterized by the equality a tired food box and a bottle of wine, was widely between families, each of which was independent. observed in the Amami Islands and all participants, There was no obligation forcing families to bond on several occasions, brought food and drinks for with other families. They, however, voluntarily eating together. Such occasions solidify the social united and worked together in joint ventures, such relations in the community where all members as sugarcane cultivation, re-thatching of straw have equal rights and obligations, regardless of roofs, and rituals and festivals. The mobilization one’s family and kinship status. of people for joint ventures is in most occasions These pioneering studies explored kinship sys- based on haroji. GAMOU concluded that we could tems and their important functions as social, eco- not know about the rural community without un- nomic, and religious organizations in the Amami derstanding haroji. This is very different from the Islands. Based on these studies, two questions can social system found in mainland Japan, where be posited. in some villages, solidarity is based on the verti- 1: What does bilateralism mean? Although cal family network of douzoku; whereas, in other it was discussed as a special characteristic of the villages, people of the same age are horizontally kinship system in Amami, its definition remains united into a particular group: for the young, for ambiguous. Bilateral descent does not have a fixed women, or for the old. In both cases, participa- boundary, and members’ statuses change accord- tion in joint ventures was facilitated by a certain ing to situations. How does bilateral kinship work mechanism, such as the authority of a leader or the in daily lives? 55 Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands 2: Can we consider the characteristics of the of hiki in Amami gave NAKANE a broad perspective kinship systems observed in relatively closed com- in terms of comparing kinship systems between munities as original forms of Amami culture that mainland Japan, Okinawa, Korea, and China were unaffected by the Ryukyu and the Shimadzu (NAKANE 1972). colonization. How can we understand the regional After the joint survey in the Amami Islands, differences in kinship systems observed in differ- the main focus for kinship studies shifted to ent communities of the Amami Islands? Okinawa. Numerous studies on the patrilineal clan called monchu have been conducted in Okinawa, 2. Comparative studies in the 1960s and while the study of kinship in Amami had to wait the 1970s for the second wave of intensive research in the AKANE’s (1964) study on hiki in Amami- late 1970s, after an interval of twenty years, when NOshima Is. can answer the first question. She joint research by nine academic associations was analyzed a genealogy recorded by a man and found again conducted. The book “Amami: Shizen Bunka that among all the names, in total, 1,723 people Shakai (Amami: its Nature, Culture and Society” were members of a hiki traced from an ancestor published as a result of the joint survey, explains called Ijiro OHARA.
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