2007 Volume 14 Issue 24 Pages 21-39
Up to the present, the population of the Edo period has been chiefly researched by consulting documentary historical materials. However, chances are limited because the number of existing documents is small, and from the viewpoint of privacy. Therefore, this report is an attempt to determine the changes in population of Edo period from gravestones.
From gravestones located in temple cemeteries at Shinteramachi of Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, it has been observed that they were generally built 16 years after someone's death. In this case, the Buddhist names, etc., of a group of people who have already died are carved together. The latest date of death in the group was examined to determine the year the stone was erected, and in 24% of the cases there was a time difference of 20 years or more from the earliest date inscribed to when it was erected.
The increase and decrease of the death toll was examined from the gravestones and kakocho (necrology) in the Tsugaru district. As a result, it was clarified that the population changes indicated by the gravestones synchronized with those indicated in the kakocho. In addition, a negative correlation was confirmed between the gravestones and Shumon-ninbetsucho (the religious registered records), and the effectiveness of early modern gravestones as materials of historical demography was proven. In Hirosaki and its surrounding areas in the 18@th century, one in two or three people who belonged to a family temple could build a gravestone. It is thought that most people were able to build gravestones from about the 1830's.
The change in the number of gravestones has been analyzed in this paper from the researched examples of various places other than Hokkaido, Kyusyu, and the Shikoku region, which it divided roughly into three kinds. The number of gravestones increases rapidly in the Kinai area in Nara and Kyoto etc, in the first half of the 18@th century. On the other hand, there is a peak in East Japan between the end of the 18@th century and the 19@th century. The tendency is a little different between the Tohoku region, and the Kanto, Hokuriku, and the Tokai regions in East Japan. It is thought that this originates basically in the gap between the times the gravestones became prevalent and the difference of the changes in population caused by famine.
