Bride - Wife

A woman who came from another family to be the wife of a son from the perspective of the head of the household. In contrast to the husband of the daughter, the groom. The word "yome" means "good-looking woman," and the old usage of the word refers to a newly-wed bride who is fully dressed, leaving the impression of a wedding ceremony. The status of a bride fluctuated greatly with the changes in the marriage system and the concept of "family." Sei Shonagon's "The Pillow Book" states, "A bride is a precious thing, a groom praised by her father-in-law, a bride who is thought of by her mother-in-law," which shows that even in the society of the nobles of the Heian period, family relationships among those who married into the family were difficult. However, at that time, marriages in which the bride entered the family were the norm, and it is thought that the situation between the mother-in-law and the bride was not as serious as that between the father-in-law and the groom. However, in the Muromachi period, the number of bride-to-be marriages increased in samurai society, and as the wedding ceremony was held at the groom's house and the bride moved to the groom's house, the bride's position changed significantly. In samurai society, there was a strict "family" system, and marriage did not just mean entering a marital relationship, but also meant entering the family as a new bride to the family, the bride of the parents. In other words, a newly married woman's priority was to serve her father-in-law and mother-in-law, who were the heads of the household, rather than harmonizing with her husband as a wife. In particular, getting along with the mother-in-law, who was also a woman, was important, and if she was not liked by the mother-in-law, she would be unilaterally kicked out on the grounds that she did not fit the family tradition, even if the relationship between the couple was harmonious. Therefore, brides had to endure their daily lives until they became housewives, but once they became housewives and mothers-in-law, they would become the ones who bullied the bride, creating a vicious cycle.

The practice of bride-to-be marriage, which began in the samurai society, spread among the common people after the Edo period and gradually spread throughout the country. In farming and fishing villages, women were also full-fledged workers, and housewives were important as those who carried out housework and household management. In contrast to the housewives, the position of the bride was often unstable, and even after marriage, she would constantly seek help from her parents' home, and only became stable after children were born and things settled down a little, and she became a housewife. However, this was not the case in all cases, and the traditions of wife-visiting, husband-to-be marriage, and foot-entry marriage were still passed down in various regions, and the retirement system was also widely practiced, especially in western Japan, and it was not uncommon for a bride to move to her husband's home when she became a housewife. These prevented the deterioration of human relationships caused by two generations of couples living together, but on the other hand, problems between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law were likely to occur in direct lineage families where two generations of couples lived together, and it can be said that there was a problem in considering such a family form as the ideal type of "family." In recent years, with the growing trend towards nuclear families, these types of problems have also changed significantly.

[Takeda Dan]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

家長夫婦からみて息子の妻として他家から嫁いできた女性。娘の夫たる婿に対する。よめとは「吉女」で、盛装した女の意、すなわち婚礼の晴れ姿の印象をとどめる新妻をさしたのが古い用法である。嫁の地位は、婚姻方式や「家」観念の変遷に伴い、大きく揺れ動いた。清少納言(せいしょうなごん)の『枕草子(まくらのそうし)』に「有りがたきもの、舅(しうと)にほめらるる婿、姑(しうとめ)に思はるる嫁の君」とあり、平安公家(くげ)社会にも入婚者の家族関係がむずかしかったことを示している。しかし当時は婿入り婚が支配的であり、舅と婿に比べて姑と嫁の場合はさほど深刻ではなかったと考えられる。ところが室町時代に至って、武家社会に嫁入り婚が多くなり、婚礼を婿方で催すとともに嫁が婿方に引き移るようになると、嫁の立場は大きく変わっていった。武家社会には厳しい「家」制度があり、婚姻は夫婦関係を結ぶだけではなく、新たに家の嫁、親の嫁として入家することを意味した。つまり新婚の女性は、妻として夫と和合するよりも、まずもって家長夫婦である舅・姑に仕えることが先決であった。とりわけ女性同士である姑との折り合いが重視され、もしもその気に入られなければ、たとえ夫婦関係は円満であっても、家風にあわぬとの理由で一方的に追い出されるというありさまであった。したがって嫁は、主婦になるまではと、ひたすら忍従の日々を過ごし、いったん主婦・姑となれば今度は嫁をいびる側に回るという悪循環ぶりであった。

　武家社会に始まった嫁入り婚は江戸時代以降庶民の間にも浸透し、しだいに全国的に普及していった。農漁村では女子も一人前の働き手であり、主婦は家事・家政の担い手として重きをなした。そうした主婦の前に、嫁の座はとかく安定を欠き、嫁入り後も絶えず実家の助力を求め、子供が生まれてやや落ち着き、主婦となって初めて固まるという状況であった。しかしすべてがそんなありさまだったわけではなく、妻訪(さいほう)・夫所(ふしょ)婚や足入れ婚はなおも各地に伝承されていたし、また隠居制も西日本を中心に広く行われ、主婦となるときを待って婿方に移る所もけっして少なくはなかった。これらは親子二世代の夫婦の同居による人間関係の悪化を未然に防いだのであり、逆に二世代夫婦が同居する直系家族に嫁姑問題がおこりやすく、そうした家族形態をもって「家」の理念型とするところに問題がはらまれていたとすることができる。そして近来、核家族化の傾向が強まるとともに、この種の問題も大きく変質した。

［竹田　旦］

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