Agaman - Agaman

...The settlements are scattered around the rice terraces, with several houses ranging from about 20 to 1000 houses in each settlement. The houses are basically one-room houses with a hearth inside and are supported by four pillars. The normal dwelling unit is a nuclear family consisting of a couple and their unmarried children, but in the past, when children reached a certain age (around 10 years old), they slept in separate sleeping quarters called agaman, which were shared by boys and girls. They have strict customary laws regarding buying, selling, renting, inheritance, water rights, and procedures for settling disputes, but there is no political organization or chief to unify the entire society.

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Agaman" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…集落は棚田の近くなどに数戸から20戸前後ずつ散在し，その住居は4本の支柱に支えられた高床式で，内部に炉のある一間の家屋を基本とする。居住単位は夫婦と未婚の子どもたちから成る核家族が普通であるが，かつて子どもたちは一定年齢(10歳前後)に達すると，アガマンと呼ばれる男女それぞれの共同寝所で寝泊りした。売買，貸借，相続，水の権利，および紛争処理の手続などに関する厳格な慣習法を持つが，社会全体を統合する政治組織や首長は存在しなかった。…

※「アガマン」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報