Mukoyōshi
Encyclopedia
A is a man who is adopted into a family as a daughter's husband, and who takes the family's surname. (Traditionally in Japan
, a woman takes her husband's name and is adopted into his family; see married and maiden names: Japan.) This is done to preserve the name and occupation of the family when there is no suitable male heir. Usually, when there is an unwed daughter of a suitable age, she will marry the mukoyōshi, but if there is no daughter, the candidate can take a bride from outside his adopted family (Fufu-yōshi).
This adoption happens in marriages where the woman's family is of a higher socio-economic rank than the man's family, or where the woman has no brothers to be the heir to the family name, or when the man has been disowned by his own family, or when the man's birth family comes from a notorious or shameful background and he thus prefers to hide his identity.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, a woman takes her husband's name and is adopted into his family; see married and maiden names: Japan.) This is done to preserve the name and occupation of the family when there is no suitable male heir. Usually, when there is an unwed daughter of a suitable age, she will marry the mukoyōshi, but if there is no daughter, the candidate can take a bride from outside his adopted family (Fufu-yōshi).
This adoption happens in marriages where the woman's family is of a higher socio-economic rank than the man's family, or where the woman has no brothers to be the heir to the family name, or when the man has been disowned by his own family, or when the man's birth family comes from a notorious or shameful background and he thus prefers to hide his identity.