Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Orginal Publication Date
1983
Journal Title
Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Volume
3
Issue
ess/vol3/iss1
First Page
19
Last Page
20
Abstract
Joy Hendry uses a social anthropological examination of one community, the village of Kurotsuchi on southerly Kyushu Island, to illuminate the pivotal role of marriage in Japanese society. Marriage from pre-Meiji times to the present, she points out, has been crucial to the continuation of the ie, that union of the genealogical family and household/property. Marriage establishes the house head as an integral member of the village associations for governance, tax collection, care of the shrines, road building, and mutual aid. Moreover, it brings together Shintoism and Buddhism in a harmonious blending of rituals concerning birth and death.
Rights
Copyright, ©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1983