Inkyomusume (retired daughter) - Inkyomusume

Japanese: インキョムスメ（隠居娘） - いんきょむすめ

...means escaping from complicated society and retiring to the mountains and fields, abandoning one's official position, handing over the family headship to the next generation, and distancing oneself from social life. In the aristocratic society of the Heian period, inkyo meant retirement from government, but in samurai society it became an important custom that reflected the state of the family, such as the succession of the family headship. In the samurai society of the Edo period, retirement and succession of the family headship usually took place at the same time. The occasion for retirement was often the marriage of the heir or the age and physical condition of the retired person. In the Edo period, it was also a type of punishment for misbehaving members of the nobility and samurai classes, and was also called inkyo when a misbehaving person was forced to retire from their current position and become a legal person....

From [Grandson]

...This tendency is especially strong in retired families, where the parent couple and the child couple form separate living units even though they are part of the same family. In these cases, the grandchildren raised by the retired grandparents are called inkyomusume or inkyomusuko, and because these grandchildren are brought up in a lenient manner, it was said that "inkyomusume are 300 yen cheaper" when it comes to marriage. However, these grandchildren are important in integrating the parent couple and the child couple, who have become somewhat separated by the retirement system. ...

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "Ingyomsume (retired daughter)" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…煩雑な社会を逃れて山野に隠棲すること，官位を捨て家督を次代に譲って社会生活から遠ざかることを意味する。平安時代の貴族社会にあって隠居は退官を意味したが，武家社会では家督相続など家のあり方をあらわす重要な慣行となった。江戸時代の武家社会では，隠居と家督相続が同時に行われるのが普通である。隠居の契機は相続人の婚姻や，隠居人の年齢的肉体的諸条件による場合が多い。また江戸時代では公家･武家の不行跡者にたいする刑罰の一種で，不行跡者を現在の地位から強制的に退隠させ，法体させた場合も隠居と称されている。…

【孫】より

…親夫婦と子ども夫婦が同一家族であっても別々の生活単位を形成する隠居型家族においてとくにこの傾向が強く見られる。この場合隠居屋の祖父母に育てられた孫たちのことをインキョムスメ，インキョムスコといい，これらの孫たちは甘く育てられることから，結婚にあたっては〈インキョムスメは300円安い〉といわれた。しかしながらこの孫たちは隠居（いんきよ）制によってある程度分離した親夫婦と子ども夫婦の統合をはかる重要な存在である。…

※「インキョムスメ（隠居娘）」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

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