家制度とは、明治民法のもとで法制化された日本の家族制度であり、戸主を頂点とする家父長的な秩序を特徴としていた。家の存続こそが最優先事項とされ、個人の意思は家の利益に従属させられた。
The ie system was Japan’s family institution codified under the Meiji Civil Code, characterized by a patriarchal order with the household head at the top. The continuation of the house was treated as the highest priority, and individual will was subordinated to the interests of the house.
この制度のもとでは、長男が家督を相続し、家業を継ぐのが当然とされた。次男以下は分家するか、養子に出されるかのいずれかであった。女性に至っては、嫁ぎ先の家に入ることで初めて社会的な役割を与えられるという、極めて不平等な構造であった。
Under this system, the eldest son was expected to inherit the family headship and take over the family occupation; younger sons either branched off into new households or were sent out as adopted sons. For women, it was an extremely unequal structure in which they were given a social role only by entering their husband’s family through marriage.
婚姻は個人の恋愛感情に基づくものではなく、家と家との結びつきとして捉えられていた。見合い結婚が主流であり、当人同士の意向はおろか、感情すら二の次とされることも珍しくなかった。恋愛結婚など、家の秩序を乱すまじき行為と見なされていたのだ。
Marriage was not understood as based on the couple’s romantic feelings but as a bond between one house and another. Arranged marriage was the norm, and the wishes of the parties themselves—let alone their emotions—were often secondary. Love marriage was regarded as something that would disturb the order of the house.
第二次世界大戦後、新憲法の制定をもって家制度は法的に廃止された。個人の尊厳と両性の平等が明記され、家族のあり方は根本から変わった。しかしながら、制度が消えたからといって、その影響が一朝一夕に消え去るべくもない。
After World War II, the new constitution abolished the ie system in law. Individual dignity and equality of the sexes were spelled out, and the shape of the family changed at its roots. Even so, to say the influence vanished overnight because the institution disappeared would be wishful thinking.
現代の日本においても、長男が親の面倒を見るべきだという期待や、嫁姑関係の緊張は根強く残っている。墓や仏壇の管理を巡る問題もまた、家制度の残滓にほかならない。法律上は個人主義が確立されたとはいえ、意識の変革には世代を重ねてなお時間を要する。
In Japan today, expectations that the eldest son should care for his parents and tension between wives and mothers-in-law still run deep. Issues over managing graves and family altars, too, are vestiges of the ie system. Although individualism is established in law, changing consciousness still takes time across generations.
少子高齢化が進む中、家族の形態は多様化の一途を辿っている。核家族化、単身世帯の増加、事実婚の広がりと、かつての家制度からは想像もつかない変化が起きている。伝統的な家の概念に囚われることなく、一人一人が自らの生き方を選べる社会こそ、真に成熟した社会と呼ぶに足るのではないだろうか。
As low birthrates and an aging population advance, family forms are diversifying apace—nuclear families, more single-person households, wider acceptance of partnerships without legal marriage—changes unimaginable under the old ie system. A society in which each person can choose their own way of life without being trapped in a traditional notion of the house may be what truly deserves to be called mature.