Why so Few?: Women Household Heads in Osaka Chônin Families

Abstract

Women house heads were uncommon among Osaka chônin (urban ite) households. Despite the assumed importance of assuring family continuity, there were legal and customary barriers to women succeeding to family headships. Fifteen hundred seven records of household succession for Osaka in the period 1707-1872 include only twenty-two cases of female predecessors and thirty-seven cases of female successors. Given the number of households which disappear after failing to find a suitable successor, why were women generally excluded? Why were women less frequent than minor males as intermediary successors? Why were employees and distant male relatives more attractive than women as successors? Female househeads are less frequent after 1730 than before. The change resulted from fears of excessive business competition from branch households. This served to restrict the candidates for succession and increased the failure rate of Osaka merchant houses.