江戸期農民の人口移動パターン : 東北農村の宗門改帳の分析から

抄録

Although recent studies by Japanese historical demographers have enormously enriched our knowledge of the fertility and mortality of Tokugawa peasants, their migration patterns still remain poorly understood. Using the shumon aratarne-cho (religious registration records) of Yambe, a village in northeastern Japan, this article clarifies several critical aspects of migration in the Tokugawa period. The main findings can be summarized as follows : (1) The gross migration rate of Yambe was relatively high, 46 per thousand per year. But in-migration and out-migration offset each other, and thus net migration made very little impact on the village population. (2) Marriage and employment as servants (hoko) were the dominant reasons for migration. Both reveal distinct patterns as do the movements of males and females. (3) The number of migrants declined precipitously after about 1840, because servants (hoko-nin) were replaced by day laborers (hiyatoi). (4) The age profile of migration showed a sharp peak from the upper teens to the lower twenties, because marriage and hoko were concentrated in these age groups. The male profile peaked at a higher age than the female profile. (5) The average distance of migration was 4 km, and almost all migration took place within a radius of 10 km from Yambe. Villagers tended to migrate farther away for marriage than for hoko.