Portrait of a Tokugawa Outcaste Community ... - East Asian History

A TOKUGAWA OUTCASTE COMMUNITY107Interestingly, here Jin'emon is not just the village leader but the66 My thanks to Gerald Groemer for pointingout that Y oroku is not recognizable as a"governor" Csoryo /.(€) of Lower Wana village. The following informationfemale name used in the Tokugawa periodis also contained on the map about the history of the Suzuki family:in spite of the fact that the relevant passageOur ancestors of old from Lower Wana village lived in Wana village. on the map states that the person namedY oroku was female and bore three sons.For several generations there were hardships, and after consulting withSubsequently it may be more appropriate tothe officials, they spoke of their desire to move to this place withininterpret this passage as "the wife of Yorokuthe village. With their [Wana village's] consent, the characters Lowerbore three sons". Regardless ofYoroku's gender,however, it is still significant that she isWana village were designated and we were able to settle here. Ourearliest forefathers were called Suzuki Kazuma, Karoku, Jinzaemon, then singled out for attention as the progenitor ofYoroku-three men and one woman. Kyurozaemon, who succeeded the three sons who established the village.this house, had his second son branch off into a separate householdin middle kumi and he, Jinzaemon, became the founding father of themiddle kumi. The third son [of Kyurozaemon], Shirozaemon branched offinto a separate household in eastern kumi, and he became the foundingfather of eastern kumi. Addressing [the village elder with the title] Sehefrom generation to generation originates here. From [the generation of]Mataemon, households gradually broke away one after the other and wenow have everlasting prosperity.Several points of great interest surface in these passages. First, the narrativeof the Lower Wana village origins, as related by Suzuki Masanori,concentrates on the Suzuki family: the village was created, settled, andbrought to prosperity by the solitary efforts of Suzuki household forebears.They were not "outcastes", but former Upper Wana village residents,and the success of Lower Wana was also the story of the opulenceof the Suzuki family. Within this tale, the initial reason for moving to thevillage was "hardship," and the process of settling in Lower Wana villagewas one of "consultation" and eventual "consent," because the land originallylay within the boundaries of Upper Wana village. The documentdoes not explain who chose the characters for Lower Wana village, but it isnevertheless apparent that the Suzuki family perceived their historicalrole in Lower Wana as that of pioneer. Moreover, the initial nuance of theterm "Lower" did not necessarily denote a status-based inferiority to theoriginal Upper Wana village, but was in all probability based upon geographicalor topographical considerations. It is also significant to note,from the perspective of women's history, that women in the Suzukifamily played an important role in the establishment of the village, a factthat holds important ramifications for ideas about the status of womenin early rural Tokugawa society. A female ancestor named Yoroku g/\ became a local eta village leader within Lower Wana, bearing threesons that ensured the family could branch out and establish the kumi,or groups, that were to eventually become the structural foundation forvillage growth. 66