Journal of the Anthropological Society of Nippon

An X-ray Study on the Longitudinal Arch of the Foot

Process of the Development of the Arch and Deformation caused by Wearing Shoes

SHIRÔ KONDÔ, AKIRA SHIMAMURA

1958 Volume 66 Issue 3 Pages 101-111
Published: March 30, 1958
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.66.101

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In order to study the development of the arch of the foot, the X-ray method was used. The distance between the X-ray tube and the subjects was kept at 150cm, and the lower border of the Malleolus fibulae was brought to focus. Films paralleled with the long axis of the foot, were put between both feet. As shown in Fig. 5, the lowest points of the inner Sesamoid of Metatarsus I and of Tuber calcanei, and the middle point of each lateral chasm between Metatarsus I and Cuneiforme I, Cuneiforme I and Naviculare, Naviculare and Talus, and Talus and Tibia are respectively indicated as A, B, L, N, C and R. The degree of the height of the arch is expressed by the percentage of the verticals passing through points L, N, C and R to AB. The smaller is the angle α which AC and BF make, the higher is the arch. The measurements are shown in Table 2.
The results obtained are as follows:
(1) Anatomical study of the embryos shows that the arch begins to manifest itself in about 20 weeks (Fig. 1).
(2) The arch becomes higher with the increase of age (Table 2).
(3) Those who have attained the same value with the adult (the value after Dr. YOKOKURA'S study as shown in Table 3, which was made on 50 Japanese in each sex) were observed after the subjects had reached about thirteen years of age. Therefore, it can be concluded that the development of the arch is much faster than that of the other parts of the body.
(4) It remains to decide at what age the growth of the arch shows the highest speed. There are some indications that the arch develops rapidly till the age of seven.
(5) The deformation of the arch caused by high heels is explained by the fact that the Naviculare and the anterior point of the Talus are lifted to higher levels (Fig. 4). In general, the higher is the heel the higher becomes the arch (Table 4). It is most marked in the height of heels, 8, 9 and 10cm (Fig. 6).
(6) The most preferable height of the heels is 1-3cm from the view point of sole pressure, consumption of oxygen, electromyograph of the lower leg muscles and cyclogram of the gait.

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A Prehistoric Human Ilium Penetrated by an Arrow Head

HISASHI SUZUKI

1958 Volume 66 Issue 3 Pages 112-115
Published: March 30, 1958
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.66.112

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Mechanical injuries of the prehistoric people in Japan are less known than those in Europe or in America(1)(2)(3). The same is true of the arrow wounds. Only two specimens were reported until today. The late Dr. KIYON0(4) recognized an arrow wound in human vertebra from Tsubuye Shellmound and the present author(5) found a human ulna penetrated by an arrow point from Ikawazu Shellmound.
The author, in collaboration with the Japanese Association of Archaeologists and Department of Anthropology of Tokyo University, made excavations at Sanganji Shellmound near Sendai in spring of the year 1952. More than fifty skeletons were taken from the site. Of these finds, Skeleton No. 22 of an adult male (Fig. 1) was struck by an arrow point made of shale. The right iliac bone was penetrated just behind the anterior iliac spine by an arrowhead coming from an upper and posterior direction (Fig. 2), The base of the arrow head was broken just on the outer surface of the bone, but the tip pierced about 7mm from the interior surface of the bone into the coxal cavity (Fig. 2 and. 3). The wound was obviously not fatal and the presence of the local change on both of the outer and the inner surface (Fig. 3 and 4)of the bone suggests that the wound of the victim had entirely healed. His death must, therefore, have been caused by some illness or incidents after his wound had healed.

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On the Aconite Arrow Poison of the Ainu

Microchemical Studies

MOTOSUKE ISHIKAWA

1958 Volume 66 Issue 3 Pages 116-127
Published: March 30, 1958
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.66.116

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It has been said that the arrow poison (ayyop in Ainu language) used by Ainus in Hokkaido (Yeso) is prepared from the root of Aconite. However, no studies have been made on the chemical components of the arrow poison itself, especially from the point of Ethno-Botany.
The author obtained some samples from a dozen or so of poison arrows stored in Anthropological Institute, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, and submitted the substances assumed to be arrow poison to chemical analysis. These samples were obtained from three poisoned arrow heads, two attached to two poisoned arrows (Sample Nos. F-259 and F-263), one from an arrow case (Sample No. F-407. Called pus-ni in Ainu language and probably collected in the Iburi area). The dark brown substance, assumed to be arrow poison, was obtained in an amount of 3, 1.5, and 260mg. respectively, from which poisonous principles were extracted and were identified as alkaloid by color and precipitation reactions.
Further examination of their ultraviolet absorption spectra indicated that the alkaloid extracted from the arrow poison was a mixture of alkaloids of benzoic or anisic acid esters. Since alkaloids of this type are characteristic of aconite alkaloids, there seems to be a great possibility that the alkaloid extracted from the arrow poison originated in aconite.
Animal experiments on toxicity could not be made due to the small amount of the samples available.

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Anthropological Study of Ejiko (Cradle)

Intensive Study of an Ejiko-Using Community in Miyagi Prefecture

HIROKO SUE

1958 Volume 66 Issue 3 Pages 128-136
Published: March 30, 1958
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.66.128

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The ejiko (Japanese cradle made of straw etc.) has been widely used among the rural villages in the Northeastern part of Japan as discussed in detail by Sofue in his recent article (Jinruigrku Zassi Vol. 66, No. 2, 1958). In many districts, however, this ejiko is gradually disappearing. According to the author's intensive field research in Miyazaki-machi*, Miyagi Prefecture (1957), in addition to her previous studies in Kaida-mura, Nagano Prefecture (1955, 56) and in Esashi-machi, Iwate Prefecture (1957), this disappearance is mainly caused by the recent rapid change in the people's attitude toward childtraining and in their medical knowledge. In/the course of the disappearance, the length of ejiko-using terms for a child is gradually being shortened and the way of using ejiko is changed, too.
In Miyazaki-machi, the ratio of the children who are put in the ejiko is 25.0% in the semi-agricultural area, 44.9% in the paddy-field area and 78.1% in the mountain-dry-field area. This indicates that the people use ejiko less often, the more they are urbanized. 144/out of 154 children who were raised in/the ejiko were born in farming families and their mothers worked in the field. The status of the mothers seems to have some correlation with the maintenance of the ejiko-using habit.
Children, put into ejiko, can be kept warm even in their poorly heated houses, and kept safe in the absence of direct care of the adults. However, their physical exercise is largely restricted and their diapers are seldom changed. They are less often taken care of by their own mothers than the children raised without the ejiko.

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Dynamics of Technical Change in a Village Community

Problem of the Transposition of Cultural Elements

TAKAO NAKAMURA

1958 Volume 66 Issue 3 Pages 137-144
Published: March 30, 1958
Released on J-STAGE: February 26, 2008

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1537/ase1911.66.137

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1. For a long time, the inhabitants of Koma Villages, Saitama Prefecture (See fig. 1), lived mostly on forestry due to the limited arable land in this district.
2. About sixty years ago, however, a great culutural change took place in these villages. The stimulative factors to this change were as follows.
(1) The development of the capitalistic economy in Japan as a whole.
(2) Improvement in the means of communication (roads, railways, bridges, etc.) due to public and private investment.
(3) Increasing demand for wood.
(4) Development of forestry in other districts and a resulting competition with them.
3. Among others the most remarkable change occurred in the transportation of wood from the villages to the city (Tokyo). Formerly rafts of wood were made and floated down the rivers to Tokyo (See fig. 1) Now the rafts have been replaced by trucks and carts as means of transportation. As a result the whole procedure in forestry changed from A to B as indicated in Tab. 1' and fig. 2-1, 2-2.

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