Japanese adult adoption is the practice in Japan of legally and socially accepting a nonconsanguineal adult into an offspring role of a family. The centuries-old practice was developed as a mechanism for families to extend their family name, estate and ancestry without an unwieldy reliance on blood lines. Still common today, adult adoption is a dynamic tool for social and economic mobility.[1]
There is evidence that this practice began as early as sometime in the 13th century within the sect of Buddhism known as Pure Land Buddhism,[2] but only really became widely used in the Tokugawa shogunate (or Edo period), which began around 1600 and lasted until 1868.[3] During the Tokugawa period, much of the Samurai class would adopt sons for the purpose of creating a strong, fixed position in society through the assumption of positions such as the head of household and the head of the business. It also was a way for households lacking in sons to continue a patrilineal line, and remain a functioning societal power. This was its most common purpose, but was also seen by the adoptees as a way to climb the social ladder by leaving the title of second son, etc. behind.[1]