The Mobility of Household Members of the Ainu in the Nemuro District of Hokkaido, Japan, 1848-1858

“Coping Mobility” and “Preparative Mobility”

Abstract

Many old documents show that the Ainu in the Edo period (1603-1867), who were fishers, hunters and gatherers, were a migratory people. It is also widely accepted that the Ainu moved seasonally from their home residences. This probably indicates that the residents of these settlements were relatively stable. But a detailed analysis of other documents shows that two types of mobility were found in Ainu society : inter-settlement movement of households and inter-household movement of the inhabitants. In the Takashima district during the years 1834-1871, the high death rate was the main cause for inter-household movement of the inhabitants. This type of mobility is entitled “Coping Mobility”.
The purpose of this paper is to show that during the years 1848-1858 the composition of households in the Nemuro district of Hokkaido varied as a result of inter-household movement of its members, and the main cause for the high mobility was not the high death rate but the high divorce rate.
In the Nemuro district, the population of the Ainu decreased dramatically between 1848 and 1852, and then it increased between 1852 and 1858 (Figs. 1 and 2). Their life had already changed depending less on fishing, hunting, and gathering, under the influence of the Wajin. Most permanent residences were located within the same settlements (Fig. 3), but many resident members moved between households (Fig. 4). The number of persons per 100 inhabitants during a 10-year period who moved between households was very large, especially in the Nemuro district and also in the Takashima and Monbetsu districts. But the number was much smaller in the Mitsuishi and Shizunai districts and the southwestern part of Sakhalin (Table 1). The stability of the household members was much lower in the Nemuro, Takashima and Monbetsu districts than in the Shizunai district and the southwestern part of Sakhalin (Fig. 5).
Four factors were recognized as main causes for the movement of household members :
(1) the death of a spouse,
(2) the death of someone other than a spouse,
(3) the divorce of amarried couple, and
(4) the separation of someone other than a spouse (Fig.8).
About 81% (510/631) of the total number of persons who moved between households did so owing to these four reasons. When we include the cases where people moved for two or more reasons, about 68% (349/510) moved because of divorce, and about 94% (481/510) moved because of the divorce and/or the death of a spouse. Persons who moved between households owing to divorce moved individually in most cases, rarely together. When they moved together, they were in most cases unmarried children and their mother (Table 5). About 54 % of the men divorced between the ages of 20 and 34, and about 62% of the women divorced between the ages of 15 and 34 (Fig. 9). The rate of divorce was much higher in the Nemuro district than in the Takashima, Monbetsu, and Shizunai districts and in the southwestern part of Sakhalin (Table 7).
The typical pattern of mobility among households is as follows. After a married couple divorced, the former wife moved to another household, usually by herself, sometimes the children would accompany her (sometimes the children would move with the father). In many cases the divorced persons moved to another household to remarry. When they did not move for marriage purposes, they moved to the households where their siblings, fathers and/ or mothers dwelled. This was the first move for the unmarried children. When the unmarried children grew up, they might move to another household for their own marriage. This would be their second move. Then if they divorced, they would move to a third household. In the Nemuro district the inter-household movement of the inhabitants is regarded to have been caused by the high divorce rate. This type of mobility is entitled “Preparative Mobility”.