Japanizing Japanese families : regional diversity and the emergence of a national family model through the eyes of historical demography

This book draws on historical demography to elucidate the regional diversity of the Japanese family and its convergence toward an integrated national family model that heralded the modern era, providing a new image of the family in pre-industrial Japan. The volume challenges the idea of early modern (1600-1870) Japan as a monolithic nation based on the ie, – the stem-family household so often mentioned as the fundamental form of Japanese social organization and enshrined in the Meiji Civil Code – which, in fact, came into being at various locales, at various speeds in the latter half of the 18th and the earlier half of the 19th centuries. In addition, there are several chapters which examine the role of women, either centrally or tangentially. With contributions by Mary Louise NAGATA, YAMAMOTO Jun, Hiroko COSTANTINI, Stephen ROBERTSON, MIZOGUCHI Tsunetoshi, NAKAJIMA Mitsuhiro, TSUBOUCHI Yoshihiro and MORIMOTO Kazuhiko.

List of Illustrations List of Original Publications Notes on Contributors Introduction: Regional Diversity and the Emergence of a National Family Model at the Verge of Modernity   Ochiai Emiko (落合 恵美子) part 1 The Revival of North-Eastern Japan 1 Emergence of the Ie in North-Eastern Japan, 1720–1870   Hirai Shoko (平井 晶子) 2 Balancing Family Strategies with Individual Choice: Name Changing in North-Eastern and Central Villages   Mary Louise Nagata (永田 メアリー) 3 Absolute Primogeniture (Anekatoku) in Demographic Perspective   Yamamoto Jun (山本 準), Hiroko Costantini and Stephen Robertson 4 Marriage and Childbirth among Female Servants in a North-Eastern Village: Reconciliation between Work and Reproduction in Japanese Labour History   Ochiai Emiko (落合 恵美子) part 2 Maritime Populations of South-Western Japan 5 Tsumadoi: Visiting Marriage and Household Structure on Yakushima Island   Mizoguchi Tsunetoshi (溝口常俊) 6 Population, Marriage, and Extramarital Births in a South-Western Maritime Village   Nakajima Mitsuhiro (中島 満大) 7 The Love and Life of a Centenarian Woman: Historical Demography Meets Oral History in a Coastal Village in South-Western Japan   Ochiai Emiko (落合 恵美子) part 3 Samurai Norms and Life Courses 8 Samurai Children’s Prospects: Evidence from Tokuyama Domain   Tsubouchi Yoshihiro (坪内 良博) 9 From Farmer to Samurai: The Effect of Status Change on Demographic Behaviour and Family Life   Yamamoto Jun (山本 準), Hiroko Costantini and Stephen Robertson part 4 Registration Systems and the Creation of the Ie 10 The Notional View of the Family Expressed in Population Registers: Shūmon aratame-chō and Ninbetsu aratame-chō   Hirai Shoko (平井 晶子) 11 Ancestral Worship and Women: From “Split-Parish Households” to “Single-Temple Households”   Morimoto Kazuhiko (森本 一彦) Index