June 19, 2020
This document is linked to :
info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2260-7706
This document is linked to :
info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/1164-5857
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess , https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Garance Ducros, « Le trousseau à Nagoya : réévaluer l’importance de la dot dans le Japon du xxe siècle », Cipango, ID : 10.4000/cipango.4077
In the second volume of The History of the Family, Patrick Beillevaire wrote that “the notion of dowry itself has been a stranger to the Japanese family system from time immemorial”. However, some regions are famous for the great expense that parents bear when marrying their daughter. That is the case in Nagoya and its surroundings where it is said that “if you have three daughters, the ridge beam of the roof will fall”. Has the importance of the dowry thus been underestimated? The aim of this article is to understand to what extent it is possible to speak of dowry in Japan and to evaluate its scale, by analyzing the results of fieldwork conducted in Aichi prefecture as well as documents pertaining to the area. The notion of dowry is presented in the introduction. Secondly, I explain the main features of the custom of the trousseau (a form of dowry) in this area and discuss its economic aspect. Finally, the article considers the possible new forms that dowry might take in present-day Japan.