Mukoyōshi

A mukoyōshi (婿養子^?) (literally "adopted son-in-law") 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.

See also

• Hanley, Susan; Wolf, Arthur (1985). Family and Population in East Asian History. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804712328. 
• Hendry, Joy (1989). Marriage in changing Japan: community and society. C.E. Tuttle Co.. ISBN 0804815062. 
• Tamura, Linda (1993). The Hood River Issei: An Oral History of Japanese Settlers in Oregon's Hood River Valley. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252063597.