Houseboat - Ebune

A group of fishermen who lived a nomadic life, based in the northwestern part of Kyushu, especially the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture. Each group was named after the place where they were based, and was called "Seto family boats" or "Sakito family boats." In the past, several boats, each a family unit, gathered together to form a small fleet, engaged in spear fishing, diving fishing, and kudzu net fishing, and entered boat docks along the coast when fishing was available. The women traded the catch for agricultural products in the rural areas around the docks. In the past, the family boats were said to have no land or residences on land, but they gathered in their bases during New Year's, Bon, and the Ryujin Festival, and meetings and weddings were also held at these times. In the early modern period, they gradually began to settle on land due to the need to have a temple as a temple due to religious reforms, and the problem of burial of the dead.

After the Meiji period, compulsory education became widespread, boats became motorized, and the distribution system for the fishing industry improved, and by the 1950s, most houseboats had established homes in their bases, and houseboats in the strict sense of the word had almost disappeared. Although they are no longer called houseboats, there were many groups in the Seto Inland Sea region of Okayama and Hiroshima prefectures that were once nomadic fishermen and had lifestyles similar to those of houseboats.

[Takenori Noguchi]

"Obayashi Tarō (ed.), "Mountain Folk and Sea Folk" (Japanese Folk Culture Series 5, 1983, Shogakukan)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

九州北西部、とくに長崎県の沿岸を根拠地とし漂泊的な生活を送っていた漁民集団。集団ごとに根拠地の名を冠して「瀬戸家船」「崎戸(さきと)家船」などとよばれていた。かつては家族単位になる複数の船が集まって小船団を構成し、鉾(ほこ)突き漁、潜水漁、葛網(かずらあみ)漁に従事し、漁があると沿岸各地の船だまりに入った。漁獲物は婦人たちの手によって船だまり周辺の農村で農作物との物々交換に向けられた。古く家船は陸上には土地や住居をいっさいもたなかったといわれるが、正月、盆、竜神祭のおりには根拠地に集結し、このときに寄合や結婚式も行われた。近世以降宗門改めによって檀那(だんな)寺をもつ必要に迫られたこと、死者の埋葬問題が生じたことなどが因となって徐々に陸地への定着化が始まった。

　明治以降は義務教育の浸透、船の動力化、さらに漁業の流通機構の改善が進み、昭和30年代にはほとんどの家船が根拠地に家を構え、厳密な意味での家船はほぼ消滅した。なお、家船とはよばれていないが、かつては海上漂泊漁民で、家船と類似した生活慣習をもつ集団が岡山や広島県下の瀬戸内海地域にも少なくなかった。

［野口武徳］

『大林太良編『山民と海人』（『日本民俗文化大系5』1983・小学館）』

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