The results of nine research projects in 20 years show that people are more the same than they are different!

With the aim of becoming a bridgehead in the transmission of information from Japan to the world, and in the provision of value, Professor Motoyasu Takahashi of the Faculty of Law and Literature, Ehime University, has published the results of a comprehensive monograph analyzing the comparative study of the former Ueda domain Kami-shiojiri village, Japan, and an English village centering on the Willingham parish in Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom in as many ways as possible over time. As a result, we were able to detect items that could be called social DNA.

■ Content

A comprehensive longitudinal monograph study, such as this one, which analyzes as many diverse objects as possible can provide a sufficient basis to support a theory. However, it can take as long as 20 years to complete comprehensive monograph research, together with the progress and demands of the history of theory. In recent years, it tends to be even longer. Therefore, even in Britain, where the Leicester School has been destroyed, since the 1950s, there are still no more than 20 deliverables. In Japan, literally half a century has passed since the studies of Ishigami village of Iwate prefecture by Kizaemon Aruga, Kemuyama village of Iwate prefecture and Imai village of Nagano prefecture by the Kichiji Nakamura research group. This publication will be the successor to a comprehensive study of Kami-shiojiri Village in Nagano Prefecture, contrasting it to that of Willingham, Cambridgeshire, England. Although it has taken great time and effort to carry out this comparative research, as a result we were finally able to extract items that could be called social DNA. In terms of providing time-series and multi-faceted empirical data with the theory and models, we also consider this a highly academic project.

■ Purpose

This book is a compilation of the results of a historical comparison between a Japanese and an English village that Professor Motoyasu Takahashi, Ehime University Faculty of Law and Literature, has been researching for 20 years. The purpose is to serve as a bridgehead for such research. In parallel and contrast research, we take the stance of finding common points and similarities, not comparisons that emphasize differences. Research teams have been organized in both Japan and England, and research is progressing through their collaboration. The objects of this monograph, the former Ueda Domain Kami-shiojiri Village, Japan and the Willingham Parish in Cambridgeshire, England, are ongoing studies. There is an awareness of the problem of recognizing each other’s uniqueness and then discovering the differences and commonalities. We have found that people have more common and similar points than different points. Our goal is not to indicate superiority or inferiority by comparison, but to reach out to each other through the sharing and mutual understanding of recognition through comparison.

Bibliographic Information

■ Publication Details

Title：Village Inheritance: a Japanese-English Contrast Study — Detecting Social DNA
Author：Motoyasu Takahashi
Pages：450
Publication Date：28 Feb. 2021

Fundings

• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 20HP5147
• Ehime Economics Society

Media

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  Figure 1: Willingham Parish surname conversion, individual unit, Cambridgeshire, England

  For about 200 years, 7 or 8 generations, 20% of families survive, but cooperation is seen even in poverty

  credit : Ehime University
  Usage Restriction : Please get copyright permission

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  Fig. 2: Schematic diagram of the Kamioshijiri-Sato family tree, former Ueda domain (Nagano Prefecture)

  For the family succession, in Japan, the adoption system doubles the survival of England

  credit : Ehime University
  Usage Restriction : Please get copyright permission

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  Figure 3: Former Ueda Domain (Nagano Prefecture) Kamishojiri Village Ise Calendar

  The calendar of the 18th century Edo period farm village (Ise calendar) was also written as a schedule memo.

  credit : Photo by Motoyasu Takahashi , Reprinted with permission from Fujimoto Sangyo Rekishikan（藤本蚕業歴史館）
  Usage Restriction : Please get copyright permission