Though policies to increase the population are a vital concern for many local governments today, during the Tokugawa period (1603-1868) domestic population policy was a focal point for domainal governments as well. This paper examines the effects of a Tokugawa-period law known as Akago-yoiku-shihou, an administrative attempt to shape fertility behavior of the domestic population. Akago-yoiku-shihou refers to the law to increase fertility under which local authorities distributed money and clothing to fathers according to the number of children they had. Many local governments in northeastern Japan implemented the law during the 18th century as a measure to prevent abortion and infanticide (datai and mabiki), and thereby simultaneously multiplying the population. By observing the relationship between the law and demographic variables such as the fertility rate, the births of twins and the births of mothers working as gejo, or servant, this paper guages the effects of the Akago-yoiku-shihou. The study is based on sources from Koriyama-kami-machi, a northeastern town located in what is now Fukushima prefecture, and neighboring villages. This area, comprised mainly of the Nihonmatsu domain, has demographic records of excellent quality, known as nimbetsu-aratame-cho, on the region's population from the first half of the 18th century to the end of the 19th century. The paper first gives an overview of the law itself, its manifestations over time and finally, discusses its impact on the fertility behavior of the local population. Based on the evidence, the following conclusions can be drawn: 1) when faced with a serious decrease in the population, local governments responded by enacting the law and making subsequent revisions, 2) after implementation of the law, the number of twin-births increased, 3) domainal governments adjusted the law in light of peasants' difficulty having children; for example, when mothers gave birth to their children during their servitude, the authorities distributed aid money, and 4) in spite of the law, the increase in the crude birth rate in the first quarter of the 19th century in parts of the Nihonmatsu domain ultimately diminished the importance of the law.
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