斜陽族

Japanese

Kanji in this term
斜	陽	族
しゃ Grade: S	よう Grade: 3	ぞく Grade: 3
on’yomi

Etymology

From 斜陽(しゃよう) (shayō, “decline”, literally “setting sun”) + 族(ぞく) (zoku, “group of people”). Popularized after publication of the novel Shayō (The Setting Sun) by Osamu Dazai in 1947 (see quotation below).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɕa̠jo̞ːzo̞kɯ̟ᵝ]

Noun

斜(しゃ)陽(よう)族(ぞく) • (shayōzoku) 

1. declining aristocracy, an elite class of people displaced by changes in society
   • 2009 March 29, nazegaku, “Ichi-oku sō shayōzoku jidai [Age of a hundred million declining aristocrats]”, in OLDIES San-chō me no blog‎^[1]:

     一昔(ひとむかし)前(まえ)まで「一億(いちおく)中流階級(ちゅうりゅうかいきゅう)」と言(い)われて-いた日本(にほん)の庶民(しょみん)階級(かいきゅう)は、「一億(いちおく)総(そう)斜陽族(しゃようぞく)」化(か)しつつある。

     Hitomukashi mae made “ichioku chūryūkaikyū” to iwarete-ita Nihon no shomin kaikyū wa, “ichioku sō shayōzoku” kashi tsutsuaru.

     Japan’s common people, who were long called the ‘hundred-million middle class’ are in the process of becoming ‘one hundred million impoverished aristocrats’.

2. (specifically) the Japanese upper class brought to ruin after World War II
   • 1958, Junichiro Sako, Dazai Osamu ni okeru decadence no ronri [Ethics of decadence according to Osamu Dazai], →OCLC, page 197:

     いわゆる斜陽族(しゃようぞく)のしかし、ここで私(わたし)がひと言(こと)だけいって-おきたいことは、『斜陽(しゃよう)』という小説(しょうせつ)から斜陽族(しゃようぞく)という問題(もんだい)性(せい)が意味(いみ)を持(も)って-くるように考(かんが)えるのである。

     Iwayuru shayōzoku no shikashi, koko de watashi ga hito koto dake itte-okitai koto wa, “Shayō” to iu shōsetsu kara shayōzoku to iu mondai sei ga imi o motte-kuru yō ni kangaeru no dearu.

     Regarding the so-called decline of elites, the only thing I want to say here is that the problem gets the name shayōzoku from the novel Shayō.

See also

• 社用族(しゃようぞく) (shayōzoku, “expense-account users”)