English Version
Do you meet your aunts, uncles, and cousins at New Year’s, Obon, weddings, or other family gatherings? Today, they are simply relatives: sometimes complicated, sometimes troublesome, but still part of the family.
In modern Japan, almost no one sorts uncles and aunts by birth order in a way that decides their entire lives. But until surprisingly recently, there was said to be a custom in Japan where a person’s fate could be determined by whether or not they were born first.
That custom was known as ojuroku and obasa.
A Custom Said to Have Survived Into the 20th Century
Ojuroku and obasa are said to have remained in parts of Japan into the 20th century. The custom is most often associated with what is now Nagano Prefecture, especially the mountain village of Kambara, today part of Tenryu Village in Shimoina District.
Japan is about 70 percent mountainous, and in the past, isolated mountain settlements could develop customs very different from those in the outside world. There were no modern communications, roads were poor, and cars and motorcycles were nothing like as common as they are today.
Kambara was one of these isolated communities, surrounded by mountains and rich in nature, but with very little farmland. Life was not easy. If many children were born, the village did not always have enough resources to feed and support them all.
According to accounts of the custom, this led to a grim idea: protect only the eldest son, the heir of the household.
From that way of thinking, the practice of ojuroku and obasa was said to have taken root.
If You Were Not the Eldest Son
In this closed, poor village, the eldest son was valued above all others. Those who were not the firstborn son could be treated not as independent family members, but as labor for the household.
Accounts describe ojuroku and obasa as people who lived out their lives doing farm work and mountain labor, sometimes in conditions compared to slavery. In family records, they were reportedly not treated as full household members in the ordinary sense, but were listed only as dependents or burdens. Marriage was generally forbidden.
Because they were considered important labor, they were not usually allowed to leave the household unless they were adopted into another family or married off under special circumstances.
In practice, they were treated as if they had no rights of their own. Their position in the household was said to be lower than that of the family head’s wife and children. In modern terms, an uncle or aunt could have a lower status than the eldest son’s wife, nieces, and nephews.
They might even be treated as servants by the children of their own older brother.
What would it feel like to be ordered around by your brother, your brother’s wife, and even your nephew? Ojuroku and obasa were often not allowed to take part in village events such as festivals. Because their contact with other households was extremely limited, many reportedly lived their entire lives without romance or relationships.
From birth, dreams, hopes, hobbies, love, and entertainment were taken away. They simply worked in fields and mountains for the sake of the family head.
Their sleeping quarters were sometimes separate from the main house, in rough huts, and their food, clothing, and shelter were kept to the bare minimum. It is said that a hardworking ojuroku might sometimes be sent to another family as an adopted husband, and an obasa might be married off. But this was not necessarily by their own choice. In some cases, it may have come close to the buying and selling of people.
It is almost impossible to imagine in Japan today, but accounts claim this was a real practice. By the Meiji period, there were reportedly 190 people identified as ojuroku and obasa. Even in the late 1960s and early 1970s, during the Showa 40s, three were said to still remain.
What Kind of People Did This Create?
If someone is treated from birth as a worker rather than a person with a future, what happens to them?
You might imagine that anyone in that position would become angry, complain, or try to escape. But reports about ojuroku and obasa often say the opposite: many did not run away, and many did not openly express dissatisfaction.
That does not mean their treatment was actually good. Rather, it points to the frightening power of education and social conditioning inside a closed community.
Ojuroku and obasa were described as people who did not answer when spoken to, who seemed unfriendly, and who avoided communication. Parents, too, had grown up in a world where it was considered normal for children other than the eldest son to become ojuroku or obasa. So when younger children were forced to work and treated like servants, the adults around them often did not see it as strange.
When a person grows up in such an environment, it can become their entire reality. They may never even be given the idea that they are allowed to object.
Raised in an isolated, depopulated village and taught those values from childhood, they came to believe, “This is normal.”
That is why, according to these accounts, they often did not complain even when they were unable to marry and forced to work their whole lives. After being treated as servants for so long, their spirit may have been broken. They became apathetic and indifferent, like machines carrying out the tasks given to them.
Researchers and observers described ojuroku and obasa as people who rarely communicated, showed little expression, did not greet others, had no hobbies, and only worked. One account even claims that when a researcher tried speaking to them and received no response, a sedative or hypnotic drug was used, after which their facial expressions improved.
A Dark Custom Remembered in Modern Japan
Ojuroku and obasa are said to be one of the darker customs that survived in Japan until the 20th century. If those people had been born today, perhaps they could have gone to school, studied, fallen in love, and lived ordinary lives.
Customs born inside closed communities often remain hidden for a long time. Japan’s history contains other frightening examples of village isolation, social exclusion, and local practices that outsiders rarely saw. Some have even suggested that the infamous Tsuyama massacre, one of the most terrifying incidents of the Showa period, may have been connected to village ostracism.
It is easy to think that such customs could not exist in modern Japan. And certainly, ojuroku and obasa is not a practice travelers will encounter today. Still, not every human rights issue has disappeared, and stories like this remain unsettling reminders of how cruel a closed society can become.
For travelers interested in dark history, Tenryu Village and the mountains of southern Nagano are real places with living communities. If you visit the region, be respectful, do not enter private property, and remember that these stories are part of a painful local past, not a horror attraction.
Japanese Language
みなさんは、お正月やお盆、結婚式などでおじさんやおばさんと会う機会がありますか?。おじさんやおばさん、いとこは大切な親戚。いろいろと面倒ないざこざもあるかもしれませんが、それでも、何かとかかわりを持つことが多い人たちですよね。今では、おじさんやおばさんを生まれてきた順番で区別する…そんなことはほとんどないでしょう。ですが、ほんの少し前まで、 日本には生まれてきた順番だけでそのあとの人生が決まってしまう風習 があったんです。それが 「おじろく・おばさ」 です。
公開日：2019年9月15日 更新日：2020年1月13日 。おじろく・おばさは20世紀まで日本に残っている習慣だった。。おじろく・おばさが風習として残っていたのは、現在の長野県。山あいの自然に恵まれた小さな集落のひとつ「神原村」というところ( 現在の下伊那郡天龍村神原 )でした。日本の国土の約7割が山林…つまり、山で隔離された集落などでは独特の文化が根付きやすかったのです。当然、今のような通信システムはありませんし、道路も整備されていない…車やバイクも今みたいにはたくさん走っていません。
そんな環境の中で生まれ、20世紀まで残っていた習慣がおじろく・おばさなのです。。。長野県神原村は、まさに 外の世界と隔離された孤立した集落 でした。自然は豊かなのですが、周り山に囲まれていて耕作面積が少なく、決して生活は楽ではありませんでした。つまり、たくさん子供が生まれても食べさせていく余裕がこの村にはなかったという訳です。ですが、子供は生まれてきます…そこで、大切な跡取りである長男だけを大切にしよう！。そんな恐ろしい文化が生まれてしまったのです。
。長男に生まれなかったら奴隷だった！おじろく・おばさの戸籍は「厄介」。。閉鎖的で貧しい村で「長男だけ」を大切にする発想から生まれたおじろく・おばさ…。この習慣の元では、長男以外は力でしかなくただ奴隷のように働かされて一生を終えていました。まず、おじろく・おばさには戸籍がありません。戸籍には、 「厄介」 と記載されるだけで、結婚も原則禁止されていました。。大切な労働力ですから、養子に出ることでもない限り結婚することが許されていなかったんです。
。おじろく・おばさには人権などありません。家の中での地位は、家長…つまり自分の兄の子供や妻よりも下でした。今でいえば、長男のお嫁さんや甥っ子姪っ子より、おじさんやおばさんの地位が低いということです。そして、自分の兄の子供である甥っ子や姪っ子からも奴隷として扱われます。。自分の兄や兄嫁、甥っ子から奴隷として扱われる…どんな気持ちだったでしょうか。おじろく・おばさは祭りなどの村のイベントにも参加できません。他所の家の人との関りが極端に少ないので、 おじろく・おばさは一生、男女交際をすることがない人も多かった のです。
。夢、希望、趣味や恋、娯楽の一切を生まれたときからすべて奪われて、田畑や山でただ働き続ける…すべては家長のために…。寝室は母屋とは別の掘っ立て小屋で衣食住は最低限のものだけ、よく働くおじろくは時に、他所の家に婿養子に、おばさは時に嫁に出されることがあったといいます。とはいっても当人の自由意思ではありません。もうこうなると、人身売買に近いものもあったことでしょう。。。今の日本ではとうてい考えられないことですが、これが現実だったのです。明治の時点ではなんと190人のおじろく・おばさが、そして昭和40年代に入っても3人のおじろく・おばさが残っていたのです。
奴隷として扱われ続けたおじろく・おばさはどんな人たちだったのか。長男でなかったというだけで、奴隷になってしまうおじろく・おばさですが、生まれたときから奴隷として扱われて働くことを当然としていたら…人ってどうなると思いますか?。普通なら「ふざけんな！」と不平を持ったり、逃げ出したりしたくなりそうですが、おじろく・おばさとして働きつづけた人のほとんどが「逃げることも」せず、「不満を持つこと」もしなかったそうなんです。。でもそれは、おじろく・おばさとしての待遇が実はそう悪くなかったから…ということではなく、 閉鎖的な社会が生んだ教育の恐ろしさ なのです。
おじろく・おばさは「 話しかけても返事をしない 」「 無愛想 」「 コミュニケーションを取ろうとしない 」だったのです。そして、親も、長男以外はおじろく・おばさとして育ってるのが普通だったので成長していく過程で長男以外の子供が働かされて奴隷のように扱われていてもなんとも思わなかった…。こういう環境に子供のころからいると、それが当たり前になってしまって不満を持つという選択肢すら与えられないまま一生を終えてしまうのです。。過疎の閉鎖された村で育ったこと、そして、その場所で教育を受けたことで価値感が固定されてしまって 「これが当たり前」 と思うようになってしまったのですね。
だから、結婚できなくてもずっと働かされても不満がなかった…。つまり、奴隷として扱われ続けることで心が壊れてしまって無気力で無関心に…ただ与えられた仕事をこなすロボットになってしまったのでしょう。実際、おじろく・おばさはコミュニケーションをとろうとする人が少なく、無表情で挨拶もせず、趣味もなく、ただただ働くだけだったといわれています。実際に、 おじろく・おばさの調査をした人が何を話しても返事をしてくれないので、催眠鎮静剤を使用してみたところ表情が改善された …とか。
「おじろく・おばさ」に関するまとめ。。20世紀まで日本に残ってたおじろく・おばさ…彼らがもし、今の時代に生まれていたら…学校に通って勉強をして、恋をして楽しく過ごすことができたのかもしれません。日本の闇に残る風習。今回紹介したのは「おじろく・おばさ」と呼ばれた日本の闇とも呼べる悪習の1つでした。こういった閉鎖された空間で風習として根付いたものはなかなか表に出る機会が少ないものです。あの有名な昭和史上もっとも恐ろしい 「津山三十人殺し」事件 も、村八分が原因だったのではないかと言われています。
「現代の日本ではそんな風習はないだろう」、と考えがちですが、未だに人権問題の全てが解決された訳ではありません。恐ろしい風習、、、、日本にはまだまだ深い闇が残っているのです…。オカルトオンラインでは、他にも 地方の怖い風習 について紹介しています。東北では、飢饉のときに子殺しや人肉食を行っていました 。でくわしく紹介していますので、。人肉に子殺し！東北の飢饉の惨状「わらす河原」【地方の怖い風習】 。戦国武将はみんなやっていた?!乱妨取りが怖い
