Abstract
Yamamura (1976) produced the only demographic study of the Hatamoto, direct retainers of the Shogun. This study showed that the average number of children per head of Hatamoto families declined during the 200 years beginning with the start of the Edo period, and it claimed that this decline must have been caused by the following two factors : (a) economic difficulties faced by the Hatamoto due to increasing consumption in the absence of effective pay raises ; and (b) problems with regard to succession that increased as a function of the number of sons because new ways to increase income were not developed. Yamamura's study(1976)is limited by its use of an inappropriate procedure to estimate the fertility of the Hatamoto. The purpose of this paper is to reevaluate that fertility and to examine the adequacy of Yamamura's account of the trends characterizing reproduction among the Hatamoto. First, I present an overview of the process by which the family record of each Hatamoto, Kansei-choshu-shokahu, was compiled and the method by which I drew a sample from this population. Second, I estimate the average number of adult sons per Hatamoto family head from the first half of the 17th century to the end of the 18th century. I show that the average number of sons decreased during the 17th century but then maintained a steady level until the first half of the 19th century. I also show that the number of Hatamotos followed the same trend as that followed by Daimyo retainers ; this level should have been more than sufficient to maintain the Hatamoto population. The above discussion clearly shows that neither the economic difficulties nor the problems attending succession could account for the decline in fertility during the 17th century. Finally, I propose that opportunities for the younger sons of the heads of Hatamoto families to be recruited as direct retainers became less common after the second half than during the first half of the 17th century. I conclude that this situation gave rise to uncertainty about the future of sons in Samurai society and resulted in the decrease in the number of children fathered by heads of Hatamoto families.
