Husband and wife relationship in the Edo period
Once households of the Japanese military class achieved permanent recognition of their relative status and their domains after the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, the marriage system along with other matters of private life became subject to many rules and regulations to preserve the status quo. These marriage-related regulations aimed at inhibiting unions that could pose potential dangers to the existing order. The shogunate required all domains to report marriages that households were contemplating, in advance of any marriage ceremony. A central repository of all data on its populace was prepared by each domain for the central government as well as for the domain administration as well.
These registries fixed the status of each household by the titles to which it could aspire, as well as by the marriages it had managed to make. Later, marriages had to be approved through officials in each residential unit, and their legitimacy confirmed by go-betweens. Only the children born of registered, equally-ranking, primary marriages seem to have inherited their father’s titles.
The households of all classes were registered, allowing to trace how well the population complied to those strict regulations. Although marriages between cousins were sometimes restricted, they appear to have occurred frequently in rural areas and among households of high noble rank. Strict endogamy (marriage among a very limited number of households) was an indication of both low, practically unranked status and of high and protected status.
An elaborate system of permanent ranks and titles established by the bakufu in the seventeenth century required go-between and ensured that both households were equal and the marriage stable. In cities, commoners such as artisans and shopkeepers seem to have followed the monogamous marriage pattern employing go-between and guarantor; their marriages were carefully scrutinized by officials. In rural areas, however, villagers continued the aristocratic patterns of multiple relationships, including “night-visiting” (夜這い yobai, lit. night-crawling), use of “young people’s lodges” (若者宿 wakamono yado) and dormitories, and similar institutions. Sometimes younger sons remained unmarried, unable to establish households of their own, and unable to inherit the households of their birth. The idea of marriage was clearly tied to the existence of an ie (household). Even when marriages were formally recognized, it was often after the birth of one or more children. This reflected not only the wider choice of mates from equal households available to villagers but their greater distance from official registry offices. In some areas, it was considered acceptable for the wife to remain for some years at the residence of her parents even after the formal registration of a marriage.
These registries fixed the status of each household by the titles to which it could aspire, as well as by the marriages it had managed to make. Later, marriages had to be approved through officials in each residential unit, and their legitimacy confirmed by go-betweens. Only the children born of registered, equally-ranking, primary marriages seem to have inherited their father’s titles.
The households of all classes were registered, allowing to trace how well the population complied to those strict regulations. Although marriages between cousins were sometimes restricted, they appear to have occurred frequently in rural areas and among households of high noble rank. Strict endogamy (marriage among a very limited number of households) was an indication of both low, practically unranked status and of high and protected status.
An elaborate system of permanent ranks and titles established by the bakufu in the seventeenth century required go-between and ensured that both households were equal and the marriage stable. In cities, commoners such as artisans and shopkeepers seem to have followed the monogamous marriage pattern employing go-between and guarantor; their marriages were carefully scrutinized by officials. In rural areas, however, villagers continued the aristocratic patterns of multiple relationships, including “night-visiting” (夜這い yobai, lit. night-crawling), use of “young people’s lodges” (若者宿 wakamono yado) and dormitories, and similar institutions. Sometimes younger sons remained unmarried, unable to establish households of their own, and unable to inherit the households of their birth. The idea of marriage was clearly tied to the existence of an ie (household). Even when marriages were formally recognized, it was often after the birth of one or more children. This reflected not only the wider choice of mates from equal households available to villagers but their greater distance from official registry offices. In some areas, it was considered acceptable for the wife to remain for some years at the residence of her parents even after the formal registration of a marriage.
Written by 'Japan Reference' on the 4th March 2013, this article was obviously created for anyone wanting to know information about marriage in the Edo period, whether it be adults or students. It is communicating that a marriage and private life between husband and wife underwent many rules and regulations, before being perfect. Many of these rules were designed to prevent any groups of people breaking up their society by having unacceptable relationships. Some of the rules of marriage in the Edo period included reporting any thoughts of a couple being married before the ceremony, having information kept on the area for the central government and approval of officials after the marriage. The amount of money left for someone when they died also had to be recorded and the children born from families who followed the rules got their fathers title. The secondary source is showing that marriage was a significantly large part of any persons life in the Edo period and that marriage rules changed slightly in different areas. Marriage between cousins were restricted, but still happened frequently in areas of high ranking. In the Edo period marriage normally occurred after one or more children had ben five birth to. It was also alright for a woman to stay at her parents for a few years after she has been married. The source tells us this to give us an idea of how different marriage was like in the Edo period compared to now. It is showing that a family was much more of a commitment back then. This source is an article that has been written on a Japanese website and it is conveyed with lots of detail and emotive language. It gives examples and shows marriage and relationships from different perspectives. The source is reliable because the information has been gathered from many other websites and resources, proving that more then one person has stated that the information is true. The source is useful for a historian investigating a relationship between husband and wife because it explains in intricate detail how their marriage and family is put together not by themselves but by the society and government.