Who owned swordsmith lines?

[Peter Bleed]

We are all familiar with the several long “lines” of swordsmiths that operated – mainly – during the Edo era. Tadayoshi, Yoshimichi, Tanehiro, and – dare I say it – Kunikane. The usual approach to these long lines is that they reflect respect or loyalty to family or tradition or something like that. And that when an heir was “adopted” he had to forego his natal home and willingly take over leadership of the “line.” Who arranged those adoptions? And what happened to extra sons in these families? I am aware that some of the Sendai lines had multiple sons, but lots of times there seems only to have been one heir. And if there were multiples, what happened if the oldest boy wasn’t the best?

We have all read about samurai values and all that. Oliver Statler’s Japanese Inn presented that narrative very clearly on the commoner level (and it is still a great read). But I have many questions. At least, it would be interesting to know how this system worked. Who oversaw all this continuity? How was it handled when an heir was need quickly? And – more cynically – what was really at stake. Were heirs recruited to carry on a line? Were they found because they were NEEDED? Or were they somehow sold a franchise to a brand? And if it was the latter, who got the value?

Is there any literature on these sorts of issues?

Peter

[John A Stuart]

In Japan it was considered dutiful to ensure continuation of the family Ie (家) line. I think it is the koseki that registers the adoption of males to continue a line and is known as tofugu. Here is a link which may have some info. http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/a ... ations.pdf

John

[Peter Bleed]

John,

Thanks, This is an interesting article.

PETER

[John A Stuart]

Peter, if you look up 養子縁組 or 末期養子 or 入家 there should be a lot of data. John

[Baka Gaijin]

Thank you John,

 

A very interesting article, particularly the Chinese proverb “wealth  shall  not  pass  to  a  third  generation”.

 

There is a similar saying in parts of the U.K. "Muck to money and back again".

 

Small World, astute observation...

 

Cheers

[Peter Bleed]

Thanks again for these insights. And let me say how wonderful google translate is! Indeed, I am familiar with the official explanation/description for adopted heirs in Japan. Maybe I am being cynical, but I wonder how they actually worked and how they were arranged, selected, and managed. I wonder if there were institutions outside of the official "family" that oversaw these matters. Did places like Hizen or Sendai, or Osaka have formal or informal associations of swordsmiths that could contribute to these decisions? And if they did that, did they also oversee technical traditions etc.? I wonder if Kunikane got together with Yasutomo and the other guys once a year to drink, sing, gossip, and arrange marriages, apprenticeships and charcoal deliveries.

Peter

[John A Stuart]

I think they employed a yenta from the missing thirteenth tribe which we all know settled in Japan. Joking!! I bet, some functionary of the buke beaurocracy did it, if not the women of the clan. John

[Guido]

My mother-in-law has an older and a younger sister, but no brothers. Her father – my wife's grandfather – run a successful company. When my mother-in-law's older sister was in her early twenties, some young men with a suitable background in the same type of business as her father were introduced to her o-miai style (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miai). She got married to one of them, he was adopted (including taking the family name), and took over the family business after my wife's grandfather passed away; the other two sisters didn't inherit anything.

 

This happened in the fifties, but I suspect it was the same in the Edo period.