Surprising Edo-era Caregiving: Samurai and Men Leading Parental Care
People in the past all seemed to live a quick death life, and there wasn’t much caregiving. (From “Samurai’s Caregiving Leave,” Illustration by Kensuke Okazoe)Did samurai in the Edo period have caregiving leave?
“In Edo-period Japan, there was actually a caregiving leave system called kambyo kotori that allowed samurai to request time off for caregiving duties.”
This is what is said by Masayuki Saki, a writer who has long been involved in the field of caregiving and welfare, and who published Samurai’s Caregiving Leave (Kawade Shobo Shinsha) on October 22. This alone is an astonishing fact, but the reality of caregiving in ancient times is even more fascinating. What kind of caregiving lives did our ancestors lead? Let’s hear more about it right away (below, all quotes are from Mr. Saki).
“In the case of the samurai, if necessary, they could apply for leave from their domain by submitting a caregiving leave request, and this system is documented in historical records. Since there were no modern caregiving services like insurance, family care was the norm. This was common for both samurai and commoners.
The specific methods of physical care were similar to those used today, primarily involving assistance with eating and toileting. As for bathing, modern care facilities offer services like portable bathtubs or home visit bathing, or even mechanical baths for those who can bathe lying down or sitting up. However, in those days, body cleaning was typically done using a hand towel for wiping down the body.”
There were no nursing homes or similar facilities in the Edo period. However, one should not underestimate the situation. A caregiving system was actually in place within the local communities.
“If there were no cohabitants, or if the family alone could not bear the burden of care, it is believed that people relied on their neighbors. In the case of commoners, the ‘Gonin-gumi’ played a significant role. Originally, the ‘Gonin-gumi’ was a system where people monitored whether others paid taxes or contributed to the land levy and whether they practiced religions like Christianity, which was considered a foreign faith. However, when someone fell ill, they were also responsible for helping each other.
This is also mentioned in a book called ‘Nōka Kankō’ (Farmers’ Customs), which outlined the duties of village officials. If the ‘Gonin-gumi’ was unable to provide support, historical records show that a hierarchical system was in place, where the entire village would step in to provide care.”
50 years old is considered elderly, and 60 years old is celebrated as the longevity celebration.
During the Toyotomi regime, the “Five-person group,” which was originally for the samurai, later became primarily used for the control of commoners during the Edo period, and samurai were generally excluded from it. In samurai households with well-established family businesses, a strong sense of belonging was likely felt, and the responsibility for caregiving was mainly undertaken by the eldest son in the family.
“People might imagine that in wealthy samurai families, the high-ranking person would leave the caregiving to the wife or servants and do nothing themselves. However, in the Edo period, it was the men, not the women, who took the lead in caring for their aging parents. The philosophy of filial piety encouraged by the Tokugawa shogunate had a significant influence on this.”
Of course, life expectancy and healthcare have improved in modern times, but at what age were people in the Edo period considered to be in need of care, and what diseases or conditions did they suffer from?
“From historical records regarding retirement in the Edo period, it seems that people were regarded as elderly from around the age of 50, and reaching 60 was considered a milestone for celebrating longevity. The pharmacist and Confucian scholar Kaibara Ekken stated that 60 was the lower age of life, 80 the middle age of life, and 100 the upper age of life.
Therefore, by the age of 50, people began to experience the decline associated with aging, which likely led to an increase in diseases and injuries that required caregiving. One historical document that sheds light on the diseases causing caregiving is the ‘Kogiroku.’ This document records individuals who were rewarded by their lords or samurai for their filial piety, such as caring for aging parents. In a study of the Sendai domain’s ‘Sendai Kogiroku’ by Keiko Kikuchi (pen name: Yanagiyan) at Tohoku Gakuin University, data were gathered focusing on those who were rewarded for caregiving their parents.
According to the study, the most common causes of caregiving during the Edo period were chufuu (stroke), cataracts and other eye diseases leading to blindness, and dementia. However, dementia was not recognized as a specific condition at the time, and it was often treated as a natural part of aging, with people saying everyone becomes senile as they get older. Thus, dementia-related causes were not fully understood or recorded as a distinct illness, but it is believed that there were some cases.”
Today, caregiving is a more diversified role, with family members and professional caregivers involved. So what motivated caregiving in Edo society?
“Both samurai and commoners felt a sense of familial duty, and there was an awareness that they needed to properly care for aging parents and grandparents. One key influence was Confucian education.
The Tokugawa shogunate began promoting public education widely during the time of the 5th shogun, Tsunayoshi. From the Kansei period onwards, Confucianism and Zhu Xi’s teachings were taught at official schools set up by the shogunate, domain schools established by the lords, and even private schools attended by commoners. These teachings emphasized the concept of filial piety, and when parents aged and needed care, the mindset was that caring for them took precedence over all other duties.”
Saki also traced the caregiving practices of ancient and medieval Japan and found that, in stark contrast to the Edo period, there was a chaotic and tragic past in those times.
The belief that death = impurity.
“In modern times, we hear of tragic events such as abuse and murder in elderly care settings. Was Japan better in the past? Actually, from this thought, I began to research past caregiving practices, but I found that it wasn’t necessarily better back then. In fact, in ancient and medieval times, the chaos of caregiving can be seen.
In ancient and medieval times, there are frequent stories of elderly people being abandoned or neglected. Due to the belief that death was considered impure, elderly people nearing death were often expelled or left to die alone, unless they were family. Stories of ubasuteyama (abandoning the elderly on a mountain) are found in many medieval texts, and since Confucianism had not spread as widely as in the Edo period, views on the elderly were much more varied.
Of course, there was care from family members driven by love, and Buddhist teachings stated that if you didn’t show filial piety, you would fall into hell. Also, the stories of ubasuteyama typically end with the abandoned parents being saved and living happily, suggesting that these stories don’t necessarily reflect actual neglect. However, it is undeniable that elderly people were often treated worse in ancient and medieval times than in the Edo period.”
Saki reveals that his starting point was his own concern about contemporary caregiving issues. So, what should we discover when comparing the past and the present?
Learning from the Five-Man Group System for Community-Based Care
“In modern times, there are civil law provisions regarding parental support and a long-term care insurance system. However, these systems require financial resources, which come from taxes and long-term care insurance premiums paid by the younger generation. While people in circumstances that would have been impossible to support in the past can now receive care, Japan’s financial resources are becoming increasingly strained. To control social security costs, we must avoid relying too much on public services and instead care for individuals within families and communities. However, if too much reliance is placed on family care, the burden on the younger generation increases, leading to a rise in caregiving-related job resignations.”
One breakthrough could be the concept of community-based care from the Edo period. The government is still promoting the spread of community-based care systems today. However, while modern concepts of community care imagine an area where care can be provided within 30 minutes, the Edo period relied on much smaller units.
“In the Edo period, groups such as the ‘Five-person group’ focused on small, local communities. Within neighborhoods, it was easy to offer support, such as monitoring, checking in, and providing simple help as part of everyday life. Since these relationships were an extension of neighborly interactions, there was less chance of the feeling that people won’t act unless it’s free, as there was an understanding that, if one became in need of care in the future, help would be received in return.
However, considering the aging society in modern times, some adjustments are necessary compared to the Edo period. In today’s society, the younger generation is smaller in number, and they need to leave home for work during the day to support the society. More importantly, the number of young caregivers working in the long-term care sector is drastically insufficient.
Therefore, attention is given to the active elderly people of today. The concept of creating a system where active older adults, who have more time than the working generation, help support elderly neighbors in need of care is expected to be crucial in Japan’s future. A system where elderly neighbors help each other is likely to become more important in Japan’s care system, considering the increasing number of elderly people living alone.”
It is truly a case of learning from the past and reflecting on how it applies to us today.
In Samurai Care Leave, the focus is on how samurai and commoners provided care during the Edo period, 