It is said that the ratio of the aged people will come up to one forth of the total population at the twenties in the next century. The aged people have lived together with their son's family in our tradition. We have put the foundation of the social welfare upon this tradition. The stem family has been the most important organization for our social security until the middle of the twentieth century. But recently the family structure has changed so rapidly and drastically into the nuclear family that we could not expect the stem family to support an old people. If we would like to promote a happy life in the coming aged society, we should find another organization for the support of the aged population and establish the new social welfare policy. In this paper, the conjugal family, especially the marital relationship has been fixed upon as the central organization for the maintenance of the aged people. Generally speaking, the maintenance of an old people is composed of three kinds of support. The first is the economical support. The second is the physical support. The last is the mental support. These three supports always demand the twentyfour hour custody and the indefinite activity. A conjugal family or a marital relationship is the most relevant organization which satisfies these demands. Sons and dauthters can not cope with these demands, because they should work for their own family. Therefore sons and daughters are not primarily responsible for the maintenance of the aged parents. On the contrary, husbands and wives are a fundamental and dyadic relationship of the indefinite mutual support. This is the reason why I choose the marital relationship as a core organization of the social welfare for the agent society.

文学部創設百周年記念論文集I
Treatise