ABSTRACT
The Japanese family in the past was an example of the patriarchal extended family system. With this family system, the paramount emphasis was on that group called “ie” The patriarch was the governor and delegate of this family group. Since the eldest son alone was, as a rule, entitled to succeed to the patriarch’s position, he was, as prospective patriarch, ranked highest next to the present family head both inside and outside the family. In spite of the principle of male dominance, the second and subsequent sons received lukewarm treatment in their daily round of life as hiyameshi-kui (“cold-rice eaters,” or dependents who deserve to eat leftovers). Rarely did they share the inheritance with the eldest son. Needless to say, with this family system, all women were held in an even more submissive position. Thus, the family traditionally was not an agent to guarantee the equal happiness of the individual members but rather a group that forced them to render service and sacrifice for itself and for the patriarch. Since the ie was to perpetuate over generations to come, parents, children, and grandchildren lived together under one roof, and this resulted in various forms of the extended family under different living conditions.
