Marriage relationships among households in the mid 19th century Tama, Japan

This paper studies the formation of marriage relationships between two households in 19th century, Tama, Japan. Previous studies on marriage market or partner selection in the Japanese past tended to rely either on information from a single village in case of statistical analysis, or on collection of oral histories. By using the information from a household register that covers 35 villages, and applying the method of social network analysis, this paper goes beyond the limitation of previous studies. Our empirical results show that there was a tendency for socio-economic homogamy and endogamy (within kinship and within village) among peasants in the mid 19th century Tama, Japan.Marriage, Japan, Network, Household, Household registers

Marriage Relationships Among Households in the mid 19th Century Tama, Japan

This paper studies the formation of marriage relationships between two households in 19th century, Tama, Japan. Previous studies on marriage market or partner selection in the Japanese past tended to rely either on information from a single village in case of statistical analysis, or on collection of oral histories. By using the information from a household register that covers 35 villages, and applying the method of social network analysis, this paper goes beyond the limitation of previous studies. Our empirical results show that there was a tendency for socio-economic homogamy and endogamy (within kinship and within village) among peasants in the mid 19th century Tama, Japan.

継承戦略としての養子？ : 近世東北一農村を中心として

Using the longitudinal population registers of Shimomoriya (1716-1869), a village in northeastern Japan, this study attempts to uncover the life courses of adopted sons and examines the commo interpretation of adoption as an heirship strategy. Adoption was always common in Shimomoriya during the 150 years of observation. Although this tendency is similar to observations in other villages, the peak age of adoption was early at 15-19. The study also reveals the different mechanisms of heirship strategy, indicated by the geographical mobility and sibling composition, which were the basisof the three different types of adoption--ordinary adopted sons (futhu-yoshi), sons-in-law (muko-yoshi), and adopted husbands (nyufu). Among the adopted sons, 40% made their way to household headship while others died, divorced, or left before becoming heads. Afterwards, their headship was not automatic. The life table analysis suggests that the first three years for ordinary chanve of becoming heads decreased, and they might have spent the rest of their lives as peripheral kin of the household. The first seven years were important for sons-in-law and if they passed these years without being divorced, their right to heirship was almost certain, although it might have come slowly. The bortheastern pattern of early marriage and frequent remarriage may be also applied to the practice of adoption

Marriage relationships among households in the mid 19th century Tama, Japan

This paper studies the formation of marriage relationships between two households in 19th century, Tama, Japan. Previous studies on marriage market or partner selection in the Japanese past tended to rely either on information from a single village in case of statistical analysis, or on collection of oral histories. By using the information from a household register that covers 35 villages, and applying the method of social network analysis, this paper goes beyond the limitation of previous studies. Our empirical results show that there was a tendency for socio-economic homogamy and endogamy (within kinship and within village) among peasants in the mid 19th century Tama, Japan

Land and labor reallocation in pre-modern Japan : a case of a northeastern village in 1720-1870

In agricultural societies, adjusting land and labor according to changes of labor endowment that result from family life cycle events is premised on making full use of resources for each farming household and for the economy as a whole. This paper examines how and how well households in pre-modern Japan reallocated land and labor, using a population register covering 150 years from 1720–1870 for a village in the Tohoku region. We find that households reacted to equalize their production factors; land-scarce households tended to acquire or rent-in land and out-migrate their kin members, while land-abundant households tended to release or rent-out land, in-migrate kin members, or employ non-kin members. Estimates suggest that more than 80% of the surplus or deficit area of land was resolved if the household rented or "sold" land. We discuss a potential underlying mechanism; namely, that the village\u27s collective responsibility for tax payment (murauke) motivated both individual households and the village as a whole to reallocate land and labor for the efficient use of resources

日本拡大家族のエコロジー

The objective of this paper are to describe the overlooked regional variation of the Japanese family structure, and to identify the factors which facilitate the prevalence of the contemporary Japanese extended family. The data used here are based on the national census. The paper first reviews changes during half a century of national and prefectural average household size and structure, with comparisons to other demographic variables. Descriptive analyses of the regional differences indicate clear variations among prefectural averages, concurring with a long-standing observation by Japanese family sociologists and anthropologists: specifically, that regional variation between the Northeast and Southwest exists in family patterns. Rather than dichotomizing the regions, I use 47 prefectures as units of analysis, and statistically test three determinants--demographic, economic, and cultural--on the frequency of to extended family. It is found that normative climate with stronger ie consciousness and more available space increase, while the availability of alternative family care reduces, the prevalence of the extended family in the area. Overall, the model presented in this paper accounts for 85% (R2) of variance in the percentage of the extended family. The paper concludes that the process of family transformation and the current family structure are quite different depending on the region, due to old family systems/customs and to the aftermath of drastic economic and population relocations

Studies on Historical Demography and Family in Early Modern Japan

Author Institution: Reitaku Universit

直系家族制度における離家(leaving home) : 19世紀後期南多摩地域の子女移動パターン

This paper investigates the pattern of leaving home in a stem family society in the late-nineteenth century Japan, using the South-Tama household register (2,057 households). With the use of life table analysis, the dynamic patterns of leaving home became clear. The process of leaving home starts after age 15 and reaches 50% at age 22 for daughters, when some 80% of the sons are still at home. A notable difference in the process is also found depending on the children\u27s position in the family. Although the exit of younger sons from home is slower than those of daughters, their risk of leaving home rises quickly, peaking at age 24. The age of leaving home was found to be earlier for children in households of low economic status. The main reason for this early departure from the parental home was service migration. But daughters in high economic status also left early for marriage. The analysis on social and geographic mobility among sons and daughters showed that more daughters than sons were often sent outside of the village via marriage and adoption. Migration for service children was mostly horizontal via adoption and marriage, followed by downward for adopted eldest sons. Thus the hold-and-release policy of the stem family was well at work. It was the eldest sons who were kept home and the remaining children who were launched to various social and geographic destinations

The effects of siblings on the migration of women in two rural areas of Belgium and the Netherlands, 1829-1940

This study explores the extent to which the presence and activities of siblings shaped the chances of women migrating to rural and urban areas in two rural areas of Belgium and the Netherlands during the second half of the nineteenth and first decades of the twentieth century. Shared-frailty Cox proportional hazard analyses of longitudinal data from historical population registers show that siblings exerted an additive impact on women's migration, independently of temporal and household characteristics. Just how siblings influenced women's migration depended on regional modes of production and on employment opportunities. In the Zeeland region, sisters channelled each other into service positions. In the Pays de Herve, where men and women found industrial work in the Walloon cities, women were as much influenced by their brothers' activities. Evidence is found for two mechanisms explaining the effects of siblings: micro-economic notions of joint-household decision-making and social capital theory