Stem family and lineage businesses

Businesses in Tokugawa Japan were generally family businesses. This chapter examines and discusses the organization of Tokugawa enterprises on the framework of the Japanese stem family and lineage and the labor hierarchy within this organization. It begins with a description of the stem family, followed by a description and discussion of the stem family business and its variations for smaller and larger enterprises and artisan stem family and lineage businesses. Businesses in Tokugawa Japan were organized on the framework of the Japanese form of the stem family and lineage. One of the rules of the Japanese stem family in many regions was that married siblings with children would not live together in the same household. Inheritance and adoption practices gave the Japanese form of the stem family a flexibility that was easily adaptable to business.