About adoption in Japan

I understand that many people are perplexed with the question of adoption in
Japan in the past.
Certainly blood relation is important for us, if so we wonder why so many
adoption cases?

If you've seen NHK drama, you can remember Isami's mother-in-law talking that
Isami was adoptive son for Kondo family as well as his father-in-law.
Therefore none of Isami, his father and mother-in-law have blood relation with
original Kondo family!
And again, recently in the drama, Isami adopted another stranger for the
family, the youngest brother of Tani bros. as the heir of Kondo family, because he
hasn't a son yet and Tani are distinguished family.
It seems strange, no? But it doesn't mean Kondo family case was special nor
it was invention of scriptwriter.

It can be explained just in earlier Japan, the family name was considered
more important than blood relation, especially in some important family.
Family name means every property, function, duties, and rights attached to
the family.
And at that time as only male successor is considered as heir of the family,
having no son means extinction of the family. Extinction of the family name
was something very painful and humiliating thing for the people of that period.
We can understand that mentality as the extinction of family has been the
most important punishment for Daimyo or Hatamoto during Edo period.

Adoption has been also a method of social promotion for rich farmer or
merchant family.
There were different forms of adoption; adopting a child of certain family as
the heir, or taking the husband of the daughter as adoptive son. The latter
one means the husband takes the name of his wife's family and this practice is
always done in certain family even now.

Concerning Numazawa family, as this family has been the chief retainer of
Aizu,it was important for Numazawa Kohachiroo to maintain the family name.
And if they've kept the secret, I think that they just wanted to raise Tatsuo
as their own son as he was a baby, for son's happiness.
(Because if they adopted a grown son like Isami, naturally there is no
secret.)
For Fujita's side, I think they gave the son for the solidarity of the
relatives and respect for the Aizu clan.

In fact our mentality has been changed so much since after WW2, and we became
more than more individual, and such adoption is now considered as something
special.
Although my family isn't an important one, I have also some adoption cases
within my relatives, until at the time of my grand parents, so this kind of
practice is not so shocking for me, thinking the context of the period.

May be I talked too much!
I'll keep post for the Saito's possibly new photo.

Tama


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

In a message dated 7/30/2004 8:13:03 PM Eastern Standard Time, ktamae@...
writes:
Concerning Numazawa family, as this family has been the chief retainer of
Aizu,it was important for Numazawa Kohachiroo to maintain the family name.
And if they've kept the secret, I think that they just wanted to raise Tatsuo
as their own son as he was a baby, for son's happiness.
(Because if they adopted a grown son like Isami, naturally there is no
secret.)
For Fujita's side, I think they gave the son for the solidarity of the
relatives and respect for the Aizu clan.
Wait a minute?! You mean it was the other family that did the adopting?! Not
Saito?!

So my original guess from when we ran across this piece of info months ago
was the right one... -glares at the ones who called her insane and convinced her
otherwise.-

-MissBehavin


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

>You mean it was the other family that did the adopting?! Not

Saito?!

I think now I understand the reason of confusion.
Yes, Tatsuo was the child of Tokio and Goro, adopted by Numazawa family soon
after birth. That's why Tatsuo didn't know his real parents were Fujita until
he became teenager.

Tama



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Warg3791@... wrote:

>Wait a minute?! You mean it was the other family that did the adopting?! Not
>Saito?!
>
>So my original guess from when we ran across this piece of info months ago
>was the right one... -glares at the ones who called her insane and convinced her
>otherwise.-
>
>

Put down that katana, I agreed with you :-D. Judging from the ages of
the older boys 11 & 8 at the time they had this child expressly to hand
him over as sort of a surrogate mother deal...Talk about family/ clan
loyalty....

Anyone else here getting very very interested in learning more of the
the Tokio Takagi-Fujita story?

--
Barbara Sheridan
http://www.barbarasheridan.net

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, ktamae@a... wrote:

> >You mean it was the other family that did the adopting?! Not
> Saito?!
>
> I think now I understand the reason of confusion.
> Yes, Tatsuo was the child of Tokio and Goro, adopted by Numazawa

family soon

> after birth. That's why Tatsuo didn't know his real parents were

Fujita until

> he became teenager.
>
> Tama
>
>

Yes I think Tatsuo's discovery of this actually made him bitter and
angry. There was a discussion about this a few months ago but back
then it was agreed that Tatsuo was adopted INTO the Fujita
household.. But back then it didn't make sense to me because he
wasn't in the record and his last name was different than FUjita.

wounds

>>I think now I understand the reason of confusion.
>>Yes, Tatsuo was the child of Tokio and Goro, adopted by Numazawa
>>
>>
>after birth.
>
>>
>>
>

FYI--I updated the Fujita family page on the website to reflect this info.

--
Barbara Sheridan
http://www.barbarasheridan.net

I would like to say THANK YOU to our Japanese friends who cleared up
once and for all that Tatsuo was adopted OUT of the family to the
Numazawa family. I was like the only person who stubbornly insisted
that he was adopted INTO the family---I apologize for the confusion -_-

http://www.1to5.net/saito/family/family.html

I have been thinking about Tokio and the anguish she must have felt
her whole life about adopting out her last child. The website
mentions Tokio's letter to Tatsuo one month before Fujita Goro died.
We can only wonder about the words a mother would write to a son she
had to give away.

Nifty translation...
On the promise of the from before being born, the adopted child was
given and, as a matter of fact, it was raised into the swamp Izumo
house which is a relation from before as a child. Swamp Izumo
commanded the old swamp house vassal team in the Aizu war, and fought
it with the Echigo mouth, after was deposited with penitence and the
after Takada han in Shiokawa, and it emigrated to with Goro who had
declared himself the Ichinohe intermediary 8 those days. a swamp house
-- the time -- a tail -- a cousin is asked the time of Goro suffering
from an ulcer and aspect getting worse -- the time -- a tail -- that
time -- Miyagi Prefecture -- living -- でい -- Numazawa -- Tatsuo --
having addressed -- a letter (attached on August 10) -- remaining --
-- as .

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "secretary" wrote:

> I would like to say THANK YOU to our Japanese friends who cleared up
> once and for all that Tatsuo was adopted OUT of the family to the
> Numazawa family. I was like the only person who stubbornly insisted
> that he was adopted INTO the family---I apologize for the

confusion -_-

>
> http://www.1to5.net/saito/family/family.html
>
> I have been thinking about Tokio and the anguish she must have felt
> her whole life about adopting out her last child. The website
> mentions Tokio's letter to Tatsuo one month before Fujita Goro

died.

> We can only wonder about the words a mother would write to a son she
> had to give away.
>

Well we can speculate... However a few days ago I was IM'ng with Phil
and she turned me into the reason that they gave their last son away
or had their last son because that Aizu retainer needed to continue
their family name. Although I did not really agree with her because I
found the reason a bit unacceptable in my point of view, being an
adopted person myself.

Which leads me to wonder how exactly did Tatsuo react after
accidentally learning of that fact. I seem to remember this was
discussed several months ago, he was pretty angry at the situation.
So maybe Tokio wrote him a letter to apologize? Did she realize that
her child's life wasn't theirs to do as they wish? I know a number
won't agree with me since as Phil pointed out, I'm applying 20th
century values to the Meiji... But even if we don't speak about
values, let's just go through a normal person's psyche, Tatsuo's
reaction is not surprising as basically he would see himself not
treated the same way as his siblings, he was given away...

Well I better stop here...

~wounds

Just to clarify since my name has been brought up, when I spoke of not applying 20th century values to Meiji thinking, I was referring to the Fujitas' decision to either have the child purposely to help the other family survive or to allow the family to adopt their much younger third son... not to how Tatsuo might have felt. Though the practice of surrogating has always been around and continues to this day, I don't think people have as much contact with it as they do adoption in general and it may be difficult to accept how a couple could purposely produce or relinquish a child, especially when part of the driving force is loyalty to something as broad as keeping Aizu strong. And as difficult as it seems to fathom how a woman could do what Tokio did (and others have done, before and since), she may have cared for this relative of hers and felt both blessed and honored that she could do this for her as well as an Aizu family. Of course she felt something... those 9 months do
something to you... but from everything I've learned about Tokio on this list, this was a very strong woman with a loyalty to her homeland as strong as her husband's and an ability to live a life of her own instead of simply through her husband and children.

What I'm curious about is why Tatsuo was upset about the news... upset with his adoptive family or with the Fujitas? Or the relative who spilled the beans and changed his perceptions of himself?

phil (going back to throwing up... stupid chicken yakisoba...)

"GBattista (hajimenokizu)" <wounds@...> wrote:

--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, "secretary" wrote:
> I would like to say THANK YOU to our Japanese friends who cleared up
> once and for all that Tatsuo was adopted OUT of the family to the
> Numazawa family. I was like the only person who stubbornly insisted
> that he was adopted INTO the family---I apologize for the
confusion -_-
>
> http://www.1to5.net/saito/family/family.html
>
> I have been thinking about Tokio and the anguish she must have felt
> her whole life about adopting out her last child. The website
> mentions Tokio's letter to Tatsuo one month before Fujita Goro
died.
> We can only wonder about the words a mother would write to a son she
> had to give away.
>

Well we can speculate... However a few days ago I was IM'ng with Phil
and she turned me into the reason that they gave their last son away
or had their last son because that Aizu retainer needed to continue
their family name. Although I did not really agree with her because I
found the reason a bit unacceptable in my point of view, being an
adopted person myself.

Which leads me to wonder how exactly did Tatsuo react after
accidentally learning of that fact. I seem to remember this was
discussed several months ago, he was pretty angry at the situation.
So maybe Tokio wrote him a letter to apologize? Did she realize that
her child's life wasn't theirs to do as they wish? I know a number
won't agree with me since as Phil pointed out, I'm applying 20th
century values to the Meiji... But even if we don't speak about
values, let's just go through a normal person's psyche, Tatsuo's
reaction is not surprising as basically he would see himself not
treated the same way as his siblings, he was given away...

Well I better stop here...

~wounds










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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> What I'm curious about is why Tatsuo was upset about the news... upset with his adoptive family or with the Fujitas? Or the relative who spilled the beans and changed his perceptions of himself?
>
>
>

I think it may have been a combination of all of the above.....

Barb

Sorry Phil, didn't mean to use you like that ^_^

I did actually understand that you were speaking of the parents etc
in the IM. What I was trying to do was just to let whoever was
reading my post to see that I have this tendency to judge/think in
terms of my own values / timeframe. Not really able to put myself in
their shoes back then, so it was more of a warning to let them know I
go wacky most of the time.

As for Tatsuo, does anyone know the social status/class of his
adoptive parents? Are they higher or lower than the Fujita's? It
would be interesting if Tatsuo was from a higher family, coz if so, I
wonder if he harbored regrets being associated with biological
parents with lower status...

GBattista (hajimenokizu) wrote:

>
>As for Tatsuo, does anyone know the social status/class of his
>adoptive parents? Are they higher or lower than the Fujita's? It
>would be interesting if Tatsuo was from a higher family, coz if so, I
>wonder if he harbored regrets being associated with biological
>parents with lower status...
>
>

Although we cannot be positive while Sec and I were pondering this very
thing over IM yesterday a quick Google search pointed out that the
name/word Numazawa is _very_ prominent in the Aizu-Wakumatsu area in
terms of many thngs/places carrying the name so we decided--assummed
that the family may have been quite important in terms of the history of
Aizu and that's why they didn't want to fade away.Can''t have a village
of Numazawa without any live Numazawas to lord over it now can you *grin*

As I said this is _All conjecture_ from two active imaginations However
it makes perfect sense in terms of the ever -loyal Fujitas being willing
to give up a son "for the cause/clan".


--
Barbara Sheridan
http://www.barbarasheridan.net

Things to consider....

If you all check out the nifty translation of the 1to5.net
translation it mentions Numazawa and S.H. (under his other name
Denpachi Ichinohe)....what if the Numazawa's came into contact with
S.H. during the exile?

The Numazawa's were Tokio's (distant) relatives...they didn't
exactly give away their son to complete strangers.

How did their 2 older sons think of their parents. They probably
wondered "mom and dad gave away our brother" this is something that
they would remember their whole lives. It is possible that the boys
were clueless (this secret may have been kept from them), but from
their ages, I think they could guess that something was very wrong.

How did Tokio and Goro handle questions from co-workers? Although
the Queen of Conspiracies, Mistress of Mysteries, the Chief to
SHQ.com has come up with infinite ways in which the pregnancy can be
hidden by having Tokio live with the Numazawas before and after
giving birth, the QUESTION REMAINS the Numazawas had to know of the
pregnancy through family channels and I think that externally the
pregnancy was obvious to anyone who may have seen Tokio. BUT what if
she was the rare woman who's pregnancy didn't "show" much.

The Numazawa's may be asking for payback for "something". Asking
for a family's child is not the same as asking for money, a car or
favor. The Numazawa's had to be 99.9% that the Fujitas would
say "yes". Think, were the Fujita's in a position to say "no"?

I believe that Tokio's letter to Tatsuo 1 month before Fujita Goro
died may have been an attempt to explain things to Tatsuo and more
importantly allow F.G. to get things off his chest before he died.
In fact, what if both parents decided that after all one was dying
might as well atleast attempt to clear things up and settle secrets.

Tatsuo's tears are to be expected. His aunt's words basically
turned his world upside down and he had HIS OWN SUSPICIONS, that is
why he asked...people may have treated him differently and so
forth. My question is did he come into contact with the Fujitas
every once in a while during family gatherings and so forth?
Tokio+Goro would have atleast wanted to see their son from [afar]
and both would be careful not to do anything which would jeopardize
Tatsuo's position in the Numazawa family. Both parents would engage
in the "blame game", imagine their long talks and attempt to avoid
conversations which may lead to the 3rd son. I would think F.G.
would've made the decision but they were related to Tokio,they would
relive over and over the decision and harbor their own doubts and
wonder "how is our Tatsuo doing?" The adopting out of Tatsuo any
way you look at it was a like a lifelong cloud of sorrow which would
hang over Tokio's conscience. I do not see either parents as
shopping around and looking for a family to take their son once the
pregnancy was apparent...I think the Numazawa's made a request that
they had to fulfill and I don't think simple loyalty was the ONLY
REASON.

Yes, they lived in a different culture and different time period.
However, the human heart has not changed much. Culture and society
can help them to try to rationalize their actions to themselves but
the bottom line is that a mother's instinct is to grieve the loss of
her child...it was a peculiar situation and in their early 40s,
Fujita Goro was a chief inspector and Tokio was well placed in her
career both would have been financially able to raise another boy.
No husband/father can understand the heart of a mother and Tokio
would have to grieve alone...I actually imagine Fujita Goro
concentrating more and more on work to the point he would lose
himself in it.