Household Size, Household Structure, and Developmental Cycle of a Japanese Village: Eighteenth to Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

The number of households of a small village in northeastern Japan increased 1.5-fold in the 110 yearsfrom 1760 to 1870. The mean household size also rose from about five to six persons during the same period. These developments were closely related to the socio-economic conditions of the village. The changes, however, did not occur in a homogeneous fashion across different socio-economic classes. There were clear differences in these trends, particularly between landed peasant and landless peasant households. This article also examines the changes in household structure, using the Hammel and Laslett's typology, and confirms the basic developmental cycle. There existed some notable differences between different socio-economic classes in terms of the types of household transition and also of the likelihood of the transition.