Okayama

Ian Skoggard

Okayama prefecture is located on the Inland Sea in southwestern Honshu. It covers an area of 7,114 square kilometers, and borders the prefectures of Hiroshima to the west, Tottori to the north, and Hyogo to the east. In 1950, the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan established a field station on the outskirts of Okayama City, which became a center for a multi-disciplinary research program. Ethnographic research focused on several villages, including the agricultural hamlet (buraku) of Niiike, eight miles from Okayama City. Niiike is representative of rice-growing communities in southern Japan and is the focus of this culture summary. The other communities studied were the coastal fishing community of Takashima and the upland community of Matsunagi, and are included in this summary to a lesser extent. Unless otherwise noted, the time coverage is the 1950s.

Okayama is part of the Core Zone of Japanese history and culture that includes the ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto, and the commercial center of Osaka. This area of Western Japan encompasses the Inland Sea, which provides 280 miles of protected passageways for domestic sea traffic, which was a spur to Japan’s development. The region is also distinguished by its ease of access to the rest of Asia, which has long had an influence on the development of Japanese culture and civilization. Okayama City has been a major urban and commercial center for hundreds of years, straddling land and sea trade routes along the Asahi River and the Sanyo (sunny side) road.

The Okayama alluvial plain is intersected by three major rivers, the Takahashi, Asahi and Yoshii, which rise from the Chūgoku mountain range and Kibi plateau. The region enjoys a comparatively mild winter climate, and rainfall is scant compared to the rest of Japan—the average annual rainfall for Niiike is 42 inches, at the low end of the national range of 40 to 120 inches. Rainfall is concentrated in two seasons: the “plum'' rains of late spring, and the typhoon season in the early fall. The mountain ranges to the north and west of Okayama and the island of Shikoku across the Inland Sea to the south shield the region from the most severe effects of seasonal monsoons and typhoons.

In 1950, at the beginning of the Center for Japanese Studies research program, the population of Japan was 90 million, of Okayama prefecture 1,661,000, and of Kamo village, where the hamlet of Niiike is located, around 3500 people. The population of Kamo village in 2003 was 5311. In 2020, the population of Japan and Okayama prefecture was 126,476,461 and 1,888,432, respectively.

People in Okayama speak standard Japanese, which is based on the Tokyo dialect. Locally, the Takashima dialect includes variations in some phonemes, colloquial words, and local idioms. Written Japanese includes two sets of syllabic signs, katakana and hiragana, and complex Sino-Japanese characters (kanji). Romanization (rōmaji) of Japanese words is also taught in the schools. By the end of middle school, students have learned 1,800 characters, which is enough to read a newspaper. English is taught in schools beginning in grade three.

The conquest opened the Kibi region to colonization by people from other parts of Japan. In 670, the region was divided into three provinces, Bingo, Bizen, and Bitchū; the latter being the most important at the time, containing a college, military outpost, and Buddhist monastery and convent. The Hofukuji monastery was one of the largest in west-central Japan, its estate drawing resources from eleven villages (mura). Beginning in the twelfth century, the power of the central government declined, ushering in Japan’s feudal age and the rise of powerful, militarized families that were centered on mountain fortresses and vied for control of local resources. With access to a seaport, Bizen eventually became the more powerful province, replacing Bitchū’s earlier dominance.

The Meiji Restoration beginning in 1868 implemented a series of political, social and religious reforms serving to dismantle the feudal system. It allowed for people to emigrate, implemented land reform, abolished the samurai class, conferred equal rights to the Eta outcaste, shored up primogeniture, mandated compulsory education, and imposed a Confucian hierarchical system. With respect to the latter, the feudal system of copyhold in which the shogun was the supreme proprietor of all the land was changed to a system of private ownership. The Meiji era also experienced rapid industrialization and growth in urban areas, which drew on surplus labor in the countryside. With the expansion of industry, markets, and a money economy, monetary wealth became the determining factor of social status. By the turn of the nineteenth century, Okayama lost its dominant position in the region to neighboring Hiroshima.

During the wars of consolidation (1560-1600), the Kibi region was divided between two powerful contenders for national supremacy: the Mōri family based in Hiroshima and the Ukida family who controlled Bizen and parts of Bitchū. The Mōri and Ukida were originally unified against a third major contender, Oda Nobunaga, but then the Ukida allied themselves with Oda against the Mōri. In 1582, a decisive battle at Takamatsu castle between Oda-Ukido forces, led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and those of the Mōri occurred in a valley two miles east of Niiike. Holed up in their castle, the Mōri eventually negotiated a settlement and became a vassal of the Oda. The Ukida consolidated their power, building their famous castle outside Okayama City. Hideyoshi replaced Nobunaga as Japan's ruler, but after his death in 1598 his adherents lost control of the country. In 1600 at the battle of Sekigahara, the victorious Tokugawa Ieyasu became the undisputed leader (shogun) of Japan and founder of the Tokugawa (or Edo) shogunate (1603-1867). Fighting on the losing side, the Ukida and Mōri lost their power in the Okayama region and their domains were transferred to the Ikeda and Asano families, respectively. Niiike became part of the fief of the Hanafusa family, who were direct vassals of the Tokugawa and administered the region’s villages, temples and shrines, and collected the rice tax.

Flaked stone points and blades attest to postglacial inhabitants of the region. Sites of ancient hunting and fishing communities of the Jomon culture (>7000-500 BCE) dot the ancient shoreline. One of the more notable sites, Kasaoka is thirty miles southwest of Niiike. Wet-rice cultivation was introduced to Japan late in the period, but intensified and became truly characteristic of the succeeding Yayoi culture (500 BCE-350 CE). Archeological evidence suggests that during this period the region was settled by Korean and Chinese immigrants. The rise of chiefdoms marked the subsequent Tomb (Kofun) culture (ca 350-645 CE), bringing many cultural changes, including the emergence of the Kibi region as a political entity. There are 79 large burial mounds in the region. The giant Kamo-Tsukuriyama mound located near Niiike is 30 yards high and 365 yards long.

The Yamato kingdom (250-710 CE) rose on the Nara plain, extending its power across western Japan and establishing a centralized administrative organization based on a Chinese political system. A fable relating the establishment of the locally-ruling Kibi family tells of the Yamato emperor, Sūjin, who sent his army to conquer southwestern Honshu. His general, Prince Kibitsu-hiko, shoots an arrow wounding the local warlord, Ura, who escapes by turning into a pheasant. The prince then turns into a hawk to give chase. The pheasant dives into a creek and becomes carp, but the hawk then turns into a cormorant who finally dispatches him. (The creek where this is said to have taken place is five miles from Niiike and became a major shrine in the region.) The historical descendants of the legendary prince kept the eponymous Kibi region in close alliance with Yamato.

Traditional homes were built of wood, with paper windows and thatched roofs. Special woods were used for decorative panels and posts. More modern homes have glass windows, brick baths and stoves, and tiled roofs. Family members help construct their home with the aid of professional stonemasons, carpenters, plasterers, roofers, and astrologers. The interior consists of a main guest room (honza or zashiki), which contains an alcove (tokonoma) for scrolls and flowers. An outbuilding includes a bath and toilet. Houses are oriented according to zodiacal principles that influence good and bad luck, family fortune, and income.

The history of settlement in the region was gradual, as silt-bearing rivers extended the delta outwards at the same time that the land rose, making more and more available for cultivation. The reclamation of land in Kojima Bay began in the thirteenth century. Full-scale reclamation projects began in the sixteenth century. A twelve-village canal system was established allocating water to the surrounding fields. A private development corporation started to reclaim land at the turn of the nineteenth century. The national government continued the development after 1947. Dams controlled water flow and, later, provided electricity.

Niiike is a typical hamlet (buraku) in Japan’s productive rice-growing region. Niiike is one of thirty hamlets that form Kamo village (mura), collectively occupying an area of roughly one-square mile. Niiike hamlet is a small cluster of houses and outbuildings at the bottom of a low hill of pine trees and bamboo. The next hamlet is only a few hundred yards away. Paddy fields extend into the valley merging with those from the hamlets next door. All along the Okayama Plain lie hundreds of small hamlets such as Niiike, more scattered in upland areas, and newer on reclaimed coastal land. The average landholding of Niiike households, including houses, paddy and woodlots, is 2.7 acres.

The precipitation pattern peculiar to the Inland Sea region both hinders and helps agriculture. Dry winter air aerates and dries the paddy field to allow for a crop of winter wheat, barley, and rushes (Juncus effusus) for making mats. Because of the dry summers, the region is heavily dependent on water reservoirs and irrigation. Ponds also help to absorb floodwaters. Almost seventy percent of the total land area of Kamo village is arable. The Okayama plain is one of Japan’s most prosperous farming regions and is almost exclusively devoted to paddy in the summer, and to wheat, mat rushes, rapeseed and vegetables in the winter. Some of the vegetables grown include tomatoes, radishes, sweet potatoes, onions, leeks, and various kinds of beans.

Niiike was predominantly an agricultural economy focusing on rice cultivation. Surplus rice, grains and vegetables were trucked to surrounding urban centers. The surrounding region was also a producer of prized fruit, such as peaches, grapes, pears and mandarin oranges, which could be found in markets as far away as Osaka and Tokyo. Cotton was a major commodity before 1910. It was grown on upper terraces and supplied local spinning mills, which were among Japan’s largest. Rushes (igusa) for making tatami mats replaced cotton as a major cash crop. Grown as a second winter crop in drained paddy fields, the rushes are sold directly to dealers or woven into mat covers and sold at a greater profit. Some farmers buy and raise cattle for ploughing and fertilizer, and eventually to sell to slaughterhouses in Osaka and Kobe.

Basket-making was once a common skill; now baskets are bought in the local co-operative stores. Furniture and utensils are made of wood by local carpenters. A cooper makes wooden buckets. Baskets made of rice straw are used to carry rice or fertilizers, such as manure. Rice straw is also used to make sandals. Local tool-making artisans made and supplied a variety of utensils and implements for home use; such production is being replaced by factory-made items. One family in Niiike makes lacquerware.

Historically, Okayama’s location on the Inland Sea made it a trade center at the crossroads of the country’s main east-west land route, with a footpath until Meiji times, and a seaway for flat-bottom river boats. An illustrated scroll from the late thirteenth century shows the market town of Fukuoka in Bizen prefecture with stalls selling rice, fabrics, wine, foodstuffs, and metal goods. Markets were situated on the grounds of the great Shingon temple, Saidaiji Kannonin, on the banks of the Yoshii River. The main temple and its branches were supported by local merchants. In 1950, the people of Niiike shopped at two small general stores in the immediate neighborhood and at a larger shopping center in Takamatsu, just outside Kamo village. They also made occasional shopping trips to Osaka.

In the farming village of Niiike, all adult men and women and young adults past school age work in the fields. Men plough the paddy; transplanting and weeding is done by everyone. Women and young adults cultivate the dry fields. Men take responsibility for growing cash crops, such as mat rushes. Women use upright hand looms to weave mat covers for home and sale. Some adult men work in salaried or wage jobs in nearby urban areas, either year-round or seasonally. Some residents commute to work in a grain mill, government office, grammar school, or engineering firm. Women do all household chores, as well as farm work and gardening. Grandparents help with childcare. In the fishing community of Takashima, men fish and women farm and take care of the home. In households short of male labor, women join men in fishing.

Early land reform in the Nara period (710-784 CE) imposed public ownership of all cultivated land and reallocated land use rights to the tillers. Over time, ownership reverted to feudal lords and religious organizations. In the feudal system of copyhold, the shogun was the supreme proprietor of all the land and conferred investiture to his vassals, the provincial overlords (daimyo). The Meiji Restoration dismantled the feudal system of copyhold and implemented private ownership. After the Second World War, land reform redistributed land to tenant farmers. In Niiike, some land is held is common, including the cemetery, the village assembly building, and woodlots; also roads, paths, canals, and streams are considered public property. Legal rights to water go with land ownership. Water is managed at the village level (mura). Individual households own smaller ponds, while larger ones are owned and managed by village and prefectural governments.

The line of descent reckoned through males is called [n/]kazoku[/n]. Lineages consisted of a main house (honke) and branch houses (bunke), which can number three to seven households. The small lineal-descent group has a distinct identity and status from affinal relatives and more distant agnatic kin. More common in other parts of Japan are fictive communal kin relationships (dōzoku). Adoption was widely practiced to ensure a male heir. An adopted son (yoshi), usually a nephew, would marry the eldest daughter and remain in the house. If there were no children, a couple would adopt a daughter and invite a husband (usually a junior son of a nearby household) to join her.

The Japanese kinship system is a bilaterally symmetrical system: all collateral and affinal relatives and relatives of the ascending generation are referred to by the same terms for both the paternal and maternal sides of the family. For example, the terms for uncle (oji), aunt (oba), cousin (itoko), nephew (oi), niece (mei), grandfather (ojii) and grandmother (obaa) are used for both husband’s and wife’s side of the family. In this aspect Japanese kinship terminology is similar to English kinship terminology. There is, however, one difference in that brothers and sisters are distinguished by age, as in the Chinese system. Older brother is ani; older sister, ane; younger brother, otōto; and younger sister, imōto. Such kin term distinctions reflect differential privileges and inheritance rights between siblings. The oldest son inherits the main house, and younger sons leave the home at marriage to form branch households nearby. All daughters marry out.

The main purpose of marriage is the continuity of the family line. Marriages are arranged by families through a go-between (nakodo). The preference was to find mates outside the hamlet (buraku) but usually within the village ward (oaza), or within the district of several villages—usually within a radius of five miles. With improved communications and transportation, this distance has increased. A prospective spouse’s health, financial welfare, personality, and family background are considered in the parents’ decision. Once a choice is made, an “accidental” encounter is arranged for a final look-over to clinch the deal. Romantic attachments can happen, and love matches do occur; however, they still require a go-between to assure the match is appropriate. While marriage with someone from a lower social status is acceptable, mixed marriage with a member of an outcaste group is strongly discouraged. Cousin marriages are not uncommon. Traditionally, people married around the age of seventeen for men and fifteen for women. This has changed to marrying once schooling is complete, pushing the age at marriage into the twenties. A bridal gift (yuinō) is determined by the groom’s family. The bride’s family provides dowry chests of clothes and other personal and household items, including sewing equipment. The wedding is set for an astronomically fortunate day. The bride dresses in an expensive kimono and the groom wears a formal suit.

The household group (shotai, ie, kazoku, or uchi) can consist of one or two conjugal families or a stem family. In Niiike (ca. 1950) there were a total of 22 households, averaging 5.5 persons per home. Nine households included two married couples and twelve were multi-generational stem families. New wives were subservient to their mothers-in-law and were responsible for cooking and serving food.

The Meiji constitution codified primogeniture inheritance rights regarding property, family name and the practice of ancestral rites. However, in rural areas of southwest Japan younger sons and daughters traditionally received part of the patrimony. In some cases, the youngest son inherited the family estate.

The love and affection between children and parents is strong. Parental efforts to raise and care for a child are reciprocated later by the grown child's care for their elderly parents. A strict status system both within and outside the home begins with parents and grandparents addressing children in polite forms. Boys are expected to doff their caps when addressed by an adult. In public school, a child learns to associate with other children who are not kin or neighbors. In school, new attachments are formed between age-mates and between students and teachers. In schools, students are regarded more as individuals than members of this or that family. In 1947, six years of elementary school and three years of middle school became compulsory. Prior to the Meiji era, young men came together to form informal men’s groups (wakashugumi), spending evenings together at a men’s house and venturing out to have clandestine trysts with neighborhood women. In general, women suffered a low status in Japan’s patriarchal family structure. However, in the less hierarchical and more bilateral kinship relations of southwestern Japan, women enjoyed a relatively higher status than women elsewhere in the country. Giri and gimu are important social values in rural areas that express Japanese concepts of duty and familial feeling. Giri is the obligation and expectation to honor and live up to the standards of house, rank and class. Gimu refers to the sense of duty and loyalty—not only to family but beyond, to job, country, etc.—associated with giri. Premarital sex is discouraged. Unmarried women do not travel alone. Sexual education in schools begins in high school. Youth also learn about sex from their peers, romance novels, and teen magazines.

The household and family are the core of a person's loyalty and affections, and family status continues to be a primary social value. While kinship and pseudo-kinship relations predominate in northeastern Japan, in the southwestern part of the country non-kin communal organizations predominate. In villages such as Niiike, unrelated families cooperate in times of disaster and to manage problems of irrigation and farming. Small, informal, voluntary groups (kumi) also cooperate in lending money, or in sharing water wells, communal bathhouses, and farm equipment.

Status differences are more pronounced in some villages than others. For example, the coastal village of Takashima is divided between old timers (honko) and outsiders or kiryū (literally, “sojourners”). Kiryū could very well have lived in the village for over fifty years, but lack access to land and take up other professions, such as fishing. They are excluded from cooperative work groups. The Honko are themselves divided into descendants of the historical warrior class and commoners. Members of each class tend to stick together in respect to cooperative work groups, burial assistance, and political affiliation. Traditionally, social rank determined house size, which is still apparent, with warrior class homes larger than commoners and commoners larger than outsiders. However, because fishing is a more lucrative occupation than farming, outsider families sometimes have more luxurious homes. The status and class system includes a pariah class called Eta or Burakumin. Although given equal rights under the 1871 Emancipation Edict of the Meiji Restoration, they have remained outcastes, living in separate residential enclaves and marrying within their own group.

The local land and administrative system was established in the Nara period and revised in subsequent periods. During the Meiji Restoration, the Law on the Organization of Cities, Towns, and Villages of 1888 reorganized territorial units, consolidating rural settlements into larger units and renaming them. The main territorial units remaining today include prefecture (to, dō, fu, or ken), cities (shi), townships (chō), and villages (ōaza). While not a formal legal administrative unit, the buraku is a small rural settlement whose inhabitants share a strong sense of group identity. (The term buraku is not to be confused with the same term pejoratively used to refer to settlements of the Eta or Burakumin outcaste.) The village is the smallest legal administrative unit and consists of a village assembly and mayor, directly elected to four-year terms. The major responsibility of the village government is to enact ordinances and regulations drafted by the prefectural government. A village household registry (koseki) keeps track of all demographic information, such a births, marriages, changes in residence, and deaths. The prefectural government provides grants and technical advice to maintain the irrigation system, funds for disaster relief, and public assistance for the aged, indigent and invalids.

The National Rural Police are responsible for maintaining the peace. A community council has the authority to sanction extreme behavior by ostracizing any recalcitrant member, prohibiting them from normal contact with the rest of the community and depriving them of the general support of kin and neighbors in times of crisis.

Some conflict can occur between communities over access to water, especially in times of drought, with communities at the tail end of the irrigation canals receiving less water. Flooding also causes problems, as too much water can damages crops. People upriver are blamed for keeping gates open to drain their fields, letting the excess water flood lower fields. Because there are no codified laws regarding water rights, each dispute can devolve into an expensive lawsuit.

The two main religions are Buddhism, which arrived via China and Korea, and native Shintoism, a predominantly animistic religion. At the local level, the two religions merged into a common set of practices. In Shintoism, kami is a magical force or power residing in objects or places; it does not have a form by itself, although because of Buddhist influences it can take on gender and personality. During the Meiji era, Shintoism severed its ties to Buddhism and became a state cult undergirding imperial rule. After World War Two the imperial cult was disbanded. Confucianism was also imported from China early on, serving to support familial and feudal obligations and, later, the imperial system.

Inside the home, a cupboard (butsudan) holding the ancestral tablets (ihai), and is a place to make food offerings and for storing ceremonial implements such as bells, incense, and prayer books. Shelves in the anteroom and kitchen are used for offerings of incense and rice to protective Shinto spirits. Members of a buraku (hamlet) usually follow one of several different Buddhist sects and meet monthly for prayer meetings hosted by households on a rotating basis. In the meetings, members share a collective meal and discuss local affairs.

One of the great Zen Buddhist monasteries of west central Japan, Hōfukuji, is in Okayama. Buddhist priests are active in the community, attending meetings, visiting homes, leading prayers at New Year’s and Bon (or Obon) festivals, conducting funeral and memorial services, and acting as marriage brokers. Both Shinto and Buddhist priests practice exorcisms to cure sick farm animals and humans.

The three biggest festivals in Okayama are New Year’s, Bon and the Fall Festival. National holidays include New Year’s, Fall Festival, Cherry Blossom Day, Bamboo Day, and Girl’s (Doll) Day. New Year’s is both an official and a religious holiday. It is an opportunity to renew community ties, pray for family well-being, and to honor the ancestors. The holiday lasts fifteen days and involves visits to local shrines and the homes of neighbors and in-laws. During the Fall Festival, young adults erect an arch across the main road and adorn it with candles and banners. A portable shrine is carried on poles and paraded around the hamlet to the accompaniment of drums and shouting. Each household is expected to make a monetary donation. Families illuminate their homes with lanterns and entertain their neighbor with food and drink. The Buddhist holiday of Bon is a time when ancestral spirits return to the household and are venerated. Families tidy their homes and gravesites, and make food offerings at both. They light small fires to welcome the spirits. Some families celebrate Buddha’s birthday by offering sweet tea at the local temple where a priest blesses it. The tea is later drunk by household members as a protection against sickness and evil. Millet cakes also are prepared for the occasion.

During the holidays and ceremonial occasions the family alcove (tokonoma) in the home is decorated with fresh flowers and a scroll of either a painting or calligraphy that is suited to the season. Feasts may end in singing and dancing. At harvest time, a religious drama in dance and verse is performed that depicts the legend of the god Susano’s victory over Izumo. In the fishing village of Takashima, figurines of the gods of good fortune, Daikoku (esp. wealth) and Ebisu (incl. fishing) are found in homes. Paths outside have stone sculptures or reliefs of the guardian spirits Daishisama and Jizo. In a central area of the hamlet is a phallus-stone representing the earth god Jijin, symbolizing fertility. Temples have stone sculptures of famous Buddhist priests, such as Kōbō-Daishi (774-835 CE), the deified founder of the Shingon sect.

Residents of Niiike rely on a modern medical healthcare system with clinics, hospitals and drugstores. Home remedies are no longer practiced, although families might consult an acupuncturist to cure children’s muscular and intestinal ailments. Elderly persons might offer a sprig of flowers or a few grains of rice to the fox-spirit, who is thought to have power against certain diseases. Households keep basic first aid supplies of adhesive tape, gauze, aspirin, iodine and patent medicines. For serious ailments, residents go to the Kibi Hospital in the town of Takamatsu or to the Okayama University Hospital in Okayama City. The village sponsors a midwife who visits expectant families. The town has two dental offices. Schoolchildren are vaccinated against smallpox, tuberculosis and diphtheria. Intestinal disorders and poor teeth are not uncommon.

Cooperative work groups of six to twelve households assist in burial ceremonies. They prepare the death feast, dig the grave, and carry the funeral bier to the community graveyard. Kin from the region gather to pay their respects and bring small gifts of money. A Buddhist priest, reciting from the sutras, leads the service and helps lead a procession to the crematory. Members of the village voluntary organization are first in the procession, carrying paper lanterns and banners; the priest follows banging the ground with his staff to mark the tempo; then follow close relatives of the deceased, carrying lanterns and food offerings; friends and distant relatives bring up the rear. Memorial services are conducted every seven days until the forty-ninth day after the burial, and thereafter on specific anniversaries of the death up to the fiftieth anniversary. The soul of the deceased first finds its place in the spirit hierarchy (hotoke), and eventually merges with the Buddha (Hotoke-sama). Shintoism, which focuses on the phenomenal world, has no doctrine of the afterlife or belief in the ancestors.

The Okayama culture summary was written by Ian Skoggard in January, 2022.

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