Discussion Papers In Economics
And Business
Height, nutrition and the side production of sericulture andcarp feeding in modern rural Japan(1) aggregate data
analysis:the case of Zakouji-village, Shimo-Ina gun,
Nagano, 1880s-1930s
Kenichi Tomobe, Takako Kimura and Keisuke Moriya

Discussion Paper 19-17

November 2019

Graduate School of Economics
Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, JAPANHeight, nutrition and the side production of sericulture and carp feeding inmodern rural Japan (1) aggregate data analysis*: the case of Zakouji-village, Shimo-Ina gun, Nagano, 1880s-1930s
Kenichi Tomobe+, Takako Kimura++ & Keisuke Moriya+++

December 2019

Abstract
Our fact findings of the paper on height growth of primary students are as following;1: The average heights
of all grades of the Zakouji students borne at 1912-1914 and 1918-1920 clearly declined due to theeconomic damage of lower local cocoon prices ;2: The Peak Height Velocity analysis shows the level of
1912-14 birth cohort declined from 5.64 to 4.72 comparing with the previous cohort, but at the next cohort
the level soon returned to the almost same one; 3: Comparing height growth speed between eldest sons andother brothers, there was not clear difference of height growth speed between them. Rather in many cases
the height growth speed of the eldest son looks lower than the average especially after nine years-old after
when children started to become productive labor.

*This is a revised version of the paper Tomobe presented for the Hitotsubashi Economics Seminar at
Hitotsubashi University, on 7th June 2017. Both the Grant-in-Aid for scientific research of “ theanthropometric history of school boys and girls and its historical analysis of socio-economic factors inmodern rural Japan”, (2016-2019, Hitotsubashi University, Ken’ichi Tomobe, No. 16K03775) and theGrant-in-Aid for scientific research of “Historical Changes in the Standard of Living and Socioeconomic
Structures in Japan: Perspectives from Household Financial Diaries”, (2019-2022, Hitotsubashi University,
Yukinobu Kitamura, No.19H00593) offered financial support for this research. Dr. Ian Austin, Edith Cowan
University of Australia, contributed to editing English. Remaining Errors are our responsibility.
+: Corresponding author, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, 2-1 Naka, Kunitachi,
Tokyo, 186-8601, Japan. Email address: kenichi.tomobe@r.hit-u.ac.jp++: Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University, 1-7 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan+++: Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University

Key words: height, anthropometric history, side-production, sericulture, fish protein
JEL classification: N35, N55, Q12, J1

0

Introduction
Anthropometry for understanding human physical variation has a very long history by itself, but
anthropometric history is relatively young research field in economic history where physical stature
can be used as an indicator of how a well human organism prospers in its socio-economic environment1.
Economic historians have strong interest in height as indicator of standard of living resulting fromhow human stature reacts to changing socio-economic environments. Moreover, as the Human
Development Index shows, if infant mortality and primary education are important factors to decide
growth of human capital, historians and social scientists should pay attention to the physical growthsuch as height and weight of school boys and girls. In this context anthropometric history has been
become a main research field of socio-economic history in the world since the 1990s. Until recently
anthropometric history of Europe and US tended to show macro-scopic and long-term trends ofaverage height and weight using the large scale records of the army and prisons2
Most impressive studies of anthropometric history so far show the effect of urbanization and some
infectious diseases on human height mainly observed in US and European countries commonly
experienced industrialization and massive urbanization. The former is well-known as urban penalty
which means in the environment of emerging air and water pollution, both work stress and body energy
deficiency resulted in decreasing the average height of the population at risk while the latter indicatesspecific disease such as small pox, measles and tuberculosis (TB) stunted growth during childhood 3.
These studies contributed much to the development of economic history by widening our observationeye, but since these are commonly based on aggregated data, we cannot know the process andmechanism in detail shown by using individual and micro data. Most recently new gender-oriented
historical studies using anthropometric data as indexes of gender gap or sexual discrimination has
emerged with feminist perspective in European history while others show more

complicatedprocesses of bargaining between male heads and female families in households4. Paying more attention
to anthropometric indexes would only enhance historical studies, making them more productive andattractive.

1

Komlos (1994) and (1995) are standard studies of the first generation of anthropometric history in
the world.
2 These records were basically stocked every year at the entrance by which we cannot follow laterheights of soldiers and prisoners. Nicholas & Oxley(1996), Floud et al(1990) and (1993)
3 See Cuff (2005), Oxley (2006), and Sharp(2012) clearly summarize these debates.
4 Horrell & Oxley (1999) and Horrell & Oxley (2017) are in relatively feminist perspective while
Saaritsa(2017) in Finland shows more complicated process.
1This research project collects individual data of anthropometry such as height, and weight, health suchas TB and tooth decay, attendance status and cognitive or academic performance booked for six years
normally from 6 to 12 years old in the school registers, in Japanese Gakusekibo, 学籍簿 5 . The
individual data saved for 6 or 8 years are becoming short-term panel data by which we can know
exactly how students grew during the period. This is different from other studies of anthropometrichistory done so far by historians. These individual data require careful handling because of privacy,
and as a result the process of machine-readable data making and sorting can appear complicated.
Especially, the data sorting looks delicate and can be done partly by PC but needs human eye at thelast stage of data review.
Important fact findings on students’ height will enable historians to reconsider traditional andcontroversial topics of Japan’s modern socioeconomic history in relation to stereotypes of how
children were feed in a peasant household under the Japanese stem family system, especially during
the period of strong militarization, ca. early 20th century. Secondly, due to the availability of individual
height data, we can look at short-term fluctuations of average height of the same entrance/ birth cohort.
This will enable fellow anthropometric historians with the same interest to deepen their own analysis.
What was the cause of short-term fluctuation of average height? Showing new hypotheses on these
topics is the main purpose of this paper.
Historical background of research area since the Edo period: Zakouji-village and Shimo-Ina gun
Zakouji village, currently Zakouji-cho in Iida-city, was located in the Shimo-Ina region of southern
Nagano prefecture and the Zakouji primary School also locates there to this day provided the neededschool register data. The Ina region covers an area in the south of Suwa Lake of Nagano prefecture
and Iida-city has been a principal city of the region since the Edo period, ca. early 17th century. The
Ina region consists of a small scale of flat land spread along the Tenryu River while most of other part
belong to the mountain area.
The Ina region of Nagano was not only a relatively older place where many defeated warriors from
Nagoya and Kyoto entered since the medieval period to stay and develop but also a very special placefor Japanese economic history where some institutions and organizations such as Chuma, 中馬,
privately organized transportation system, were devised to innovate older systems and to efficiently
utilize market economy despite the area was too narrow canyon with the rapid Tenryu river in the5

If the student went to the higher primary school, 尋常高等小学校, the duration of stock got
longer 8 years from 6 to 14 years old.
2

middle to stay and cultivate easily as desired6. Such geographical difficulty probably brought the seedsof innovation to this area. At the same time, very traditional systems of household relationship suchas Nago-Hikan system, 名子被官制 still stayed until modern time to disturb the sound developmentof the marriage market in the region7.
At least since the Edo period many peasants in the Ina region were actively engaged in not only
agricultural production but the side production to pay monetary tax to local domain lords and the
Bakufu. Paying tax by money or wooden products, Kureki, 榑木, in place of rice had been usual in
the region during the Edo period. Until the late Edo period they preferred the individual horse shipping
named as Chuma to earn money, which was permitted by exception by the Tokugawa government,
Bakufu, during the Edo period. This was in place of usual public transportation system named as
Sukegou , 助郷, and Tenma, 伝馬, which could not function because of the road narrowness anddifficult geography there. Traditionally, the Ina peasants had a market-oriented mentality to enlarge
their economic possibility.
In the late Edo period the sericulture reached there to become prosperous and one of centers of silkreeling industry in modern Japan as well as Gunma prefecture by the middle Meiji period, ca.the late
19th century. Zakouji village played a role as a driving force of the silk development in the region
where the Kitahara family, a later founder of local reeling union named as Kumiai Seishi, stayed andran the Terakoya school, 寺 子 屋 , for local children before the Meiji restoration. In such asocioeconomic environment the Zakouji primary school was opened during the early Meiji period andformally started at 1886 by the Shougakko Rei as Zakouji primary school, Jinjo-Shougakko, 尋常小学校, and other schools in Japan8. Many local people with an educational passion devise a method
to share the necessary minimum expense by asking for reduce land tax or interest rates. What was themost important for school boys and girls was the adjustment of seasonal distribution of annual holidays
to seasonal labor intensity. According to the common schedule of other schools in Japan, most students
in the school could not attend at classes during the busy season of sericulture. To resolve this problem
the school firstly introduced the special schedule in Japan to take three weeks holidays for the
sericulture work from early June by shortening normal longer holidays of summer and winter.
Sericulture and primary education in this village depended on each other very much. The sericulture

6

Toshio Furushima was a champion economic historian of the region.
The Nago-hikan system clearly reflects power structure between households in the village
inherited from the beginning of worrier age, c. early 16th century. This was just a rule of worrier
people as ancestor of the villager. The power structure people image until recently became a
disturbance of marriage as matching households in the region.
8 See Zakouji Gakko Enkakushi (1965).
73

in Tokugawa Japan became a champion side production of peasants who lived in the eastern part ofJapan, especially at Nagano, Gunma and Fukushima since the age of proto-industrialization. The
sericulture constituted many stages of work from taking mulberry leaves to feed silkworm to reelingsilk off cocoons which was carried out by family labor in the peasant household.
[Table 1]
For example, looking at the result of regression analysis of the effect of family laboron the volume

of silkworm paper in the case of the sericulture peasants of Fukushima around the Meiji restoration(Table1), the total number of female family laborers who contributed to it is statistical significance 9.
Generally, not only the working age population but elderly population overaged 60 was

indispensable to sericulture production. Traditionally economic historians usually called thesericulture labor pattern as a family-labor completely consumed side production.
Even if the adjustment was successful, whether many children frequently attending classes or not,wasanotherproblembecauseofhowchildrenaretreateddepended on thehouseholds. Some historians think if there was gender bias about dealing with children in the peasanthousehold, for example, due to the traditional stem-family formation system of Japan, female children
would be likely to be neglected in their education while others think female children mightbewell treated there because they clearly made apositive

contribution

to

their

budgetcurrent income, inherited assets such as land holding, type of side production, ecology of residence
area and household head’s thinking. If the better treatment of female children spread throughout theregion, expected gender gaps of sex ratio at birth, infant mortality, growth of height and marriage
rate under the stem family formation system could not be so socially significant even if still present.
Lastly, from 1875 to 1935 the total number of village population almost linearly increased from about
1500 to more than 3100 with very slightly decline both at 1905-07 and after 1930 of the Showa Crisis10.
The mean size of households fluctuated around 5.5 to 6.5 person, but interestingly this change
correlated with negative changes to student’s average height. It probably means height looked sensitive
to the nutritional redistribution in a household.
Data Source: Gakusekibo, School register
The school register in modern Japan, Gakusekibo, was the public book for enrollment and general
status of students in the school and has been legislated since 1900 by the Japanese Ministry of
Education. It changed the name to Shido-Youroku, 指導要録, instruction guide, at 1949 to continue
9
10

See Tomobe (2007), Table4-3, p.138.
See The History of Zakouji Villeage,Zakouji Sonshi,(1993).
4

until today. The Zakouji primary school had already made the register by itself at 1890 before theformal legislation. The school register compiles individual records of student from entrance until
graduation from the school. It means the data in the register are available as short-term panel data of
individual student with the correct treatment of private information.
So far very few Japanese historians and social scientists have been interested in using the register forstudy mainly because many schools and public archives were unwilling to open these documents toresearchers. However, the exceptional study using the school register left in the northern Nagano byProfessor Sonoko Hijikata showed us very impressive results on the actual condition of attendance atclass by peasant students 11 . Usually many historians of Japanese modern education showed us
relatively higher rates of enrollment and the increasing tendency from the beginning year by year due
to using another records left in the school. But by using the school register Hijikata shed light on theactual rate of attending at class of students which revealed that most of them were more frequently
absent from class than our expectation. The difference between enrollment rate and attending rate
proven by using the school register provided a new dimension and perspective to studies of primaryschool history in modern Japan.
[Photo 1, 2]
These are slides of school register sample of the Zakouji primary school. Basically, the register was
made separately by sex until the end of Taisho period, ca.1925, and since then they were recorded
together in one register. There is a space at center for student’s information of name, permanent or dejure address, date of birth, entrance, leaving, and graduation of school and additionally student’s
household information of parent, current residence address, name of occupation such as agriculture,commerce, craftsman and household position such as eldest son and second daughter. On the left sideof the page both the academic performance of 10 stages evaluation and the behaviors

such

as

personality, cognition, manner, physicality evaluated by word expression were recorded. On the otherside, the right page was occupied by both physicality such as height, weight, chest measurement,
backbone curve, and eye, ear and dental disease as well as the situation of attendance. Physicality
data

of

height, weight

and

chest

were

expressed numerically and others were

writtenby word, such as, correct or not and exist or not. Attendance data were recorded by month every
grade from 1st to 6th of primary course and more two years of higher course if existed. The standardsof evaluation were days of attendance, sick or accident absence, and late or early leave expressed bymonth. It has not been determined if a blank space means zero or no record.
Additionally, writing on the document, taking photos of them are not acceptable at all because they11

See Hijikata (1994). Many students tended to be absent during the agricultural season of planting
and harvesting.
5contain highly private information of the individual student and their family member 12. As a result
the field work for this research required that the authors carry out hand-writing of some necessary
information, but also excluding any information relating to the full name of student by which we canspecify the individual and the family. As for highly private information such as academic record,
whether we can use or not varies and is actually depends on the policy of the archives and public
administration in the region concerned.
Results: Height analyses based on Gakusekibo
Table2 shows the transition of average height of total students born from 1894 to 1920 by birth-cohort.
Interestingly, the sex ratio of students enrolled in the register had been almost 100 because the previous
study by Sonoko Hijikara showed female students registered at school much less than male ones. The
sample size of student also increased about one and half times from 1890s to 1920, but the outbreakof dysentery in 1894 made the sample size of this cohort smaller than others. Because of the absenceof any other ready-made cohort data of average height like ours from previous studies, no comparable
data of average height exists. Here as a reference compared with age- specific target heights indicatedby the ministry of education of Japan in 1919, the Zakouji students’ data were relatively taller thanthem13.
[Table 2, Table3]
Table 3 shows changes in average height compared with the previous cohort of the same years age
group. Negative difference from the previous cohort means that the average height at age concerned
became smaller than the previous year. As reviewing historical studies of Japan using macro data of
average height such as conscription, linear growth curves of average height were usual there. The
Zakouji micro data shows the years of height decreased fourtimes

duringperiod, with the first

1900

to

and

second effecthappened

from

the

1905

observation

appearingtobe much smaller than other two later periods. Moreover, here the sample size of 14 years old students
is too small to be considered. Actually and surely short-term fluctuations of average height of students
in the primary school happened every three years.
These analysis are based on the total students of male and female in the Zakouji primary school
because of the smallness of sample size. To know gender gap of height growth in detail from the small
12

As for using historical records registered by family or household unit, researchers are easieraccessible to those of the Edo period than modern one with some exceptions. The availability ofusing PC depends on archives too.
13 These heights were target parents and students aimed at the age concerned, so probably the level
looked like higher than the real average height.
6

sample size, we introduce as a new index14, the peak height velocity, PHV, which means the peak ageof the adolescent growth spurt and simply calculated as gap of height between next two ages. The
PHV of adolescence usually visit a few years earlier girls than boys around 12 or 13 years old whichis almost the same age of menarche. In human physiology, the PHV also reflects the current situationof the intake of nutrition. Especially, chronic malnutrition diminishes the level of PHV and makes
menarche delayed.
[Table 4]
Table 4 clearly shows girls experienced their PHV at aged 12 or 13 during the whole period. The levelof PHV increased from 1897 until 1908 and then declined until 1914. But the value of PHV decline
was less than one cm, and then very soon returned to the same level or more at the next period. If thetransition of PHV reflects the current living standard of girls in households, it surely declined slightly
from 1912 to 14 when the village experienced a crisis in the form of a significant downturn in the priceof cocoon. The degree of decline would be close to minimum under the expected condition of Japanese
stem family system where female member were likely to be neglected.
[Figure 2]
Relatedtothedifferenceoftreatment

betweentheeldestson

andothersinthe stem family system, Figure1 interestingly shows at least there was no clear difference of height
growth speed between them. Rather in many cases the height growth speed of the eldest son looks
lower than the average especially after nine years-old. Many senior students older than nine years-old
were expected to be productive family labor indispensable to their household income. From theviewpoint of Japanese economic history, these findings shed light on the battle between the adaptations
to economic opportunity coming from market expansion and traditional family values occurred
throughout Japan at the turn of the century. They strongly show since the Edo period at latest peasanthouseholds as unit of production and consumption repeatedly encountered the difficulty of adjusting
the old and traditional value spread into the household and the village to emerging market economies.
Speculation: side production linked between nutrition and height in peasant households
Since the beginning of Edo period, at the latest, many Japanese peasants were vigorously engaged inboth rice cultivation and side production under the household division of labor. Their production
function of labor intensive livelihood depends on the total amount of family labor and the efficiencyof the household division of labor. The eastern Japanese peasants of the later Edo period welcomed
sericulture as a great side production of labor intensive earnings to improve their monetary income
and standards of living. As above indicated, sericulture needs more family labor to complete various
stages of work, and moreover not only male productive labor but female labor and aged labor
14

Lars G. Sandberg & Richard H. Steckel (1980)
7

contributed equally to the household economic performance. In that sense, sericulture was a blessing
to labor intensive peasant household economies of the Edo Japan. At the latest by the 19th century theeastward movement of sericulture reached north- eastern part of Japan such as Gunma, Fukushima,
and Nagano. Lastly, after the age of Ansei open port, c. 1858, silk and silk fabric became the mostexcellent products exported to foreign countries until the Second World War in Japan. Since the late
Edo period the Ina region became one of the advanced areas of sericulture and silk making.
Based on the development of sericulture and silk making as side production, another important
industry in the region peasants actively engaged and originally imported from the northern part ofNagano since the 19th century was carp-breeding 15 . From the view point of Japanese peasants’
livelihood, the carp-breeding was very efficient and important device to utilize the wet rice field
usually from June to September where young fish were bred for three month and then captured forcommercial sale or self-consumption16. Among them, some peasants became carp merchants who had
another carp-breeding ponds beside the rice field for longer breeding young fishes and learned how tohatch carp eggs and breed them until they were young fish17. The synergies of carp-breeding andsericulture as side-production included peasants being able to use dried silkworm pupa, 蚕 蛹 , asfood for young carp since the end of Edo period. Before then they utilized leftover vegetables andsmall bran of rice, wheat and soybeans after using watermill. After the introduction of small scale
factory of hand reeling to the region, large scale silkworm pupa became easily available for all carp
breeders there.
Zakouji Village possessed 15 reservoirs from the Edo period. In addition, during the summer season,water was precious enough not to turn the water wheels from spring equinoctial week to autumn
equinoctial week. Also, there is a possibility of creating a pond
TenryuRiver,

although

there

was

alwaysa concernat the dry

that

the

riverbed

river

of

the

will constantly

suffer from flooding. However, in the Meiji era, prefectural projects were undertaken to build
embankments in Zakouji Village and neighboring areas. After the embankment on the Tenryu River
coast was completed in 1904, the flood plain became an adequate zone. Since then, the peasants livingin the mountainside began to settle in lowlands. However, due to poor drainage and the need to remove
moisture from under the housing floor embankment was conducting in residential lots. And using the15

See Shinano Kyoikukai Shimoina-bukai. ed.(1934), Ch.12 and Naganoken Gyogyo Kyoudo
Kumiai Rengoukai (1969).Ch.4-Ch.6. As for the joint production between rice and carp breeding in
the contemporary Japan, see Yasumuro (2005, 1998).
16 Originally not irrigated wet rice fields were fitted to carp breeding. After the introduction ofirrigation after 20th century, peasants made artificial ponds beside rice field to breed carps. Then,they welcomed advanced and new technology of hatching eggs.
17 Even after the Meiji period every peasants could not necessarily know and get this consistenttechnology from hatching carp eg9gs to breeding young fishes.
8

holes made by digging the embankment as a pond, the peasants began to keep carps at their homelocation18. The above-mentioned carp farming in the Saku district was limited mainly to the period
during which the water was spread over the rice field. On the other hand, in Zakouji village, thepeasants repeated a very characteristic breeding method which is releasing the fry carps in the paddy
field after the rice planting and wintering the captured carps before the rice reclamation at theaquaculture pond for 2 years, and in the third year, they bred the carps until the fall utilizing only apond. Adopting this breeding method of separately choosing a pond and paddy fields for season makes
it possible to prolong the total amount of carp fishing in the village dramatically and to trade adult fishwith high price and also to sell them as a carp for mating to other areas.
In Zakouji village of the early 20th century, many of peasants were doing carp-breeding as sideproduction using their own rice fields mainly for self-consumption, but at the good time of rising carp
prices they actively sold carp to increase their monetary income. The Kitahara family who was resident
and a great carp merchant in Zakouji village functioned as a center for distributing the latest knowledge
and technology related to carp breeding to small scale carp breeders and neighboring peasants.
Peasants in this region as well as other regions of silk industry had experienced big damage of Cocoon
disease and silk price fluctuations many times since the end of Edo period. At times of severe cocoonand silk production, carp production probably compensated for deficit income of peasant budget.
The compensation was useful not only for economic damage but for nutritional deficiency of growing
children19. As very few but important previous studies show, it is believed smaller physicality ofJapanese boys investigated at the conscription test at the turn of the twentieth century came from thedeficiency of taking animal protein and calcium such as milk and meat20. It must be important factorof lower physicality because height of the 20 aged Japanese young boys became taller and taller after
the spreading of local refrigerating systems. However, height was not always rising linearly, such as
the national average height of 20 aged Japanese male. As this research shows, local average heightsurely experienced growth and decline every few years. These fluctuations of average height were theoutcome of gathering individual height change.
It means in a sense the intra-household allocation of nutrition, especially fish protein and calcium, wassensitive to the growth of height of primary students in the region and it is also physiologically18

See Zakouji Sonshi(1993)
In "Zakoji Village History", "In the 1877, Shutaro Kushoihara who lived in Nakahaba (Kami-Ina)started to keep carps for private." In addition, "Since he discovered that the carp that was given the
pupa of silkworms as a diet grows sooner and faster than usual, so everyone has been kept in Zakoji
temple." This shows that not only the income from aquaculture of carp but also the animal protein
ingested steadily as self-consumption.
20 See Ch.2 in Mosk(1996) and Shay(1994).
19

9reasonable. If so, from above analyses, the case of Zakouji village didn’t surely show thediscriminatory aspect of female neglect in the intra- household allocation of nutrition. Rather, allchildren, from the eldest sons to other children, were almost equally in households of the village fromthe view point of height growth. This result probably, and partly, came from the unique form of sideproduction in the region where the mixture of labor intensive sericulture and land intensive carp
breeding needed many young laborers of both male and female physically productive and healthy.
Concluding remarks
Firstly, main fact findings of the paper on height growth of primary students are as following;
1: The average heights of all grades of the Zakouji students borne at 1912-1914 and
1918-1920 clearly declined due to the economic damage of lower local cocoon prices (see Table 3);
2: The Peak Height Velocity analysis shows the level of 1912-14 birth cohort declined from 5.64 to
4.72 comparing with the previous cohort, but at the next cohort the level soon returned to the almost
same one (see Table 4);
3: Comparing height growth speed between eldest sons and other brothers, there was not clear
difference of height growth speed between them. Rather in many cases the height growth speed of theeldest son looks lower than the average especially after nine years-old after when children started to
become productive labor (see Figure 2).
Since this research is just one local study of height growth and its distribution based on using theschool register, any major conclusion should be withheld until further study and analysis have been
conducted. However, the research of students’ height growth surely makes historical studies of theintra-household allocation of nutrition with gender neglect more productive and exciting. The
bargaining power between male household head and female children related to the intra-household
allocation generally depended on the triangle interaction of technology, environment and value-systemin the age and the place concerned. In Zakouji village before the second world war, the environment
meant the unique development pattern of side-production, the technology meant the introduction oflatest technology of carp breeding, and the value-system meant an open, liberal and market oriented
mentality emerged. The flexibility of the triangle interaction looked unique to the region, but it wasindispensable to the regions where proto-industrialization took place in the late Edo period, and after
then partly transferred to full-scale industrialization.
Additionally, the regional or local teachers association such as Shimo-Ina Kyoikukai 下伊那教育会,
contributed much to the development of the regional education system21. Not only students’ and21

See Shimo-Ina Kyoikukai(1987)10

theirfamily’s

passionforeducationbutteachers’ belief

and industriousness brought

higher educational performance to the region. The good ties between students and teachers produced
a virtuous cycle of achievement, and then Nagano prefecture became famous as a champion prefectureof good education in modern Japan.
Lastly, very few Japanese historians have interests in height studies as a proximate index of living
standard and this probably came about from simple from results of height studies in modern Japanshowing the linear grown-up curves of 20 aged male in time series using conscription data22. However,
the recent development of intra- household allocation studies using wages, heights and age at
menarche has been extending perspectives of anthropometric history and historical studies of living
standards23. To know exactly the mechanism of intra-household allocation, many micro studies basedon household data will be needed. In Japan as well as other countries modern individual data ofhousehold member are likely to be less available because of the protection of privacy. As a result, theschool register used in this study are promising for further development of anthropometric history andintra-household allocation study.

22

Shay (1994) is a good example, in his analysis at best the comparison of gaps of growth speed
between regions and prefectures was possible.
23 Tomobe (2019, 2007) show the change of mean age of menarche in modern Japan.
11

Photo1: Gakusekibo,学籍簿, Front page

Photo2: Gakusekibo, 学籍簿, Contents

12

Table 1. Regression analysis of the effect of family labor on the volume of silkworm paper production:
Moniwa-village, Shinobu-gun, Iwaki(Fukushima), 1867-70.
N. of silkworm

X1

X2

X3

X4

Paper (piece,枚)

Land

TPF

TAF

TFPF

0.092

0.077

(5.602)(3.111)

0.095

0.078

0.097

(5.848)(3.193)(1.824)

(1)
(2)
(3)

n = 104n = 104n = 104

R2
0.306
0.328

0.090

0.134

(5.552)(3.495)0.321

Note 1) X1: Mochidaka;
X2: Total Number of Productive Family aged 16-59;
X3: Total Number of Aged Family over 60;
X4: Total Number of Female Productive Family aged 16-59
Source: Tomobe (2007), Table4-3, p.138.

Table2. Changes of Average Height of total students by birth-cohort*Age-specific target height (cm) announced by the Ministry of Education in 1919
7 age: 106.7; 8 age: 111.3; 9 age: 116.2; 10 age: 120.4; 11 age: 126.5; 12 age: 128.9
13

Table3. Difference of average height by previous cohort

Note: the yellow years shows the period of cocoon price decline in Nagano prefecture.

Table4.

Changes of the Difference of height velocity from Previous Age: female

14

Figure 2. Height growth speed by status in the household

15

16

17

18

19

20

< Appendixes >A: Original data of average height: All children

age

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

averageN
ZakoujiSDdifference
National average
averageN
ZakoujiSDdifference
National average
averageN
ZakoujiSDdifference
National average
averageN
ZakoujiSDdifference
National average
averageN
ZakoujiSDdifference
National average
averageN
ZakoujiSDdifference
National average
averageN
ZakoujiSDdifference
National average
averageN
ZakoujiSDdifference
National average
averageN
ZakoujiSDdifference
National average

1894-96104.8779
3.77
106.15108.6591
4.30
110.65113.2189
4.26
115.15117.82
86
4.55
119.5
122.4762
5.82
124.1667
127.8260
6.14
128.35132.87
60
5.22
133.7
134.8571
5.62
139.35136.7132
5.73
145.05

1897-99105.21131
3.96(0.34)
106.3
110.13146
4.18(1.48)
110.45115.15146
4.49(1.94)
114.6833
120.01148
4.83(2.19)
119.3
124.43147
5.47(1.96)
123.9
128.78138
5.73(0.96)
128.35133.8395
6.44(0.96)
133.7
138.6266
7.52(3.77)
139.35142.046
3.18(5.33)
145.4

1900-02105.84112
3.81(0.63)
105.85110.88143
4.14(0.75)
110.25115.36143
4.66(0.21)
114.95119.94142
4.73(-0.07)
119.5
124.31139
5.06(-0.12)124.05129.12142
5.40(0.34)
128.75
133.2
88
6.11
(-0.63)134.5167138.0856
6.98(-0.54)
140
137
9
12.33
(-5.04)145.9667

1903-05
106.4
134
4.30
(0.56)
106.2
110.69158
4.93(-0.19)110.7
115.29154
5.12(-0.07)115.4
120.06151
5.10(0.12)
119.85124.21152
5.30(-0.10)124.45129.26150
5.90(0.14)
128.95133.54114
7.01(0.34)
134.6833
139.3
74
7.51
(1.22)
140.4
141.5515
7.03(4.55)
146.4833

21

Birth-Year
1906-08
106.34171
4.48(-0.06)106.1
111.33186
5.07(0.64)
110.65116.29187
4.51(1.00)
115.25120.36180
4.60(0.30)
119.95124.47177
5.48(0.26)
124.3333
129.6
167
5.31
(0.34)
129.4
133.95108
6.23(0.41)
135.05140.1284
6.08(0.82)
141.1
145.445
7.28(3.89)
146.825

1909-11107.53192
4.82(1.19)
106.15113.25177
5.84(1.92)
110.95117.75192
6.61(1.46)
115.55122.11201
5.50(1.75)
120.35126.48208
5.85(2.01)
124.8
131.13206
5.35(1.53)
129.475
135.99139
5.85(2.04)
135.55141.16113
5.97(1.04)
141.2
141.1710
8.33(-4.27)
147.6

1912-14107.46189
4.18(-0.07)106.35111.73223
4.72(-1.52)110.95116.68221
4.83(-1.07)115.7
121.41224
4.71(-0.70)120.525
126.15227
5.67(-0.33)125.4
130.41225
5.43(-0.72)130.15135.17161
5.63(-0.82)
136.5
139.12128
5.98(-2.04)142.6167
140.0221
7.14(-1.15)148.4833

1915-17108.11193
4.31(0.65)
106.475
112.64205
4.98(0.91)
111.35117.88203
5.66(1.20)
116.25123.41201
6.68(2.00)
121.05
127.55199
5.78(1.40)
125.7
131.45195
5.71(1.04)
130.7333
135.11141
6.16(-0.06)137.2833
140.89111
6.66(1.77)
143.35143.2810
5.13(3.26)
149

1918-20
107.3
192
4.59
(-0.81)106.75112.56206
4.59(-0.08)111.5667
117.02204
5.07(-0.86)116.75
121.74210
5.35(-1.67)121.5833
126.36208
5.51(-1.19)
126.3
130.8
205
5.78
(-0.65)131.2167
134.63136
7.07(-0.48)137.7667
141.88108
6.69(0.99)
143.6333
149.428
8.58(6.14)
149.7167

B: Original data of average height: Girls

age
6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Birth-Year
1894-96 1897-99 1900-02 1903-05 1906-08 1909-11 1912-14 1915-17 1918-20
Zakoujiaverage103.40104.92105.09105.10105.88106.81106.75107.26105.54
N
15
52
62
51
98
111
115
101
88
SD
3.75
4.18
3.64
3.89
4.12
4.64
4.45
4.31
4.59
difference(0)(-1.52)(0.16)(0.01)(0.78)(0.93)(-0.06)(0.51)(-1.72)National average
105.30105.70105.30105.60105.40105.40105.70105.80106.10
Zakoujiaverage107.80109.58109.90109.02111.06112.79111.58111.93111.24
N
16
58
82
60
99
82
120
98
92
SD
3.43
4.15
4.09
4.53
4.45
4.90
4.44
4.64
4.40
difference(0)(1.77)(0.32)(-0.88)(2.04)(1.73)(-1.21)(0.35)(-0.69)National average
110.10109.90109.70110.10110.10110.30110.20110.60110.97
Zakoujiaverage
112.60114.60114.22113.46115.85117.05116.55117.25115.62
N
15
56
82
54
99
99
122
98
91
SD
4.24
4.61
4.39
4.58
4.51
4.98
4.50
5.19
5.09
difference(0)(2.00)(-0.37)(-0.76)(2.39)(1.20)(-0.49)(0.69)(-1.62)National average
114.40114.10114.20114.70114.50114.80115.00115.60116.03
Zakoujiaverage117.43
119.34118.60118.52119.56
121.72121.12
122.90120.44
N
15
57
81
54
97
108
126
100
94
SD
4.67
4.54
4.42
4.83
4.50
4.76
4.52
7.09
5.39
difference(0)(1.90)(-0.73)(-0.07)(1.03)(2.16)(-0.60)(1.77)(-2.45)National average
118.80118.60118.80119.20119.30119.70119.85120.40120.83
Zakoujiaverage121.65123.87123.40122.70123.62
126.15125.97126.89125.09
N
23
56
79
56
96
112
128
101
96
SD
5.72
5.20
4.65
5.30
5.69
5.32
5.16
6.18
5.42
difference(0)(2.21)(-0.46)(-0.70)(0.91)(2.53)(-0.17)(0.91)(-1.79)National average
123.60123.30123.50123.70123.60124.20124.85125.20125.73
Zakoujiaverage
127.17128.70127.66127.90129.25131.31130.49131.57130.28
N
24
48
85
56
89
111
129
98
93
SD
5.76
6.04
5.35
5.40
5.08
5.52
5.44
5.95
5.94
difference(0)(1.53)(-1.04)(0.23)(1.34)(2.06)(-0.82)(1.08)(-1.28)National average
128.30128.20128.60128.80129.20129.40130.10130.77131.20
Zakoujiaverage133.59133.91132.51131.85133.35136.27135.21134.85133.30
N
23
25
43
34
44
60
73
62
52
SD
5.11
6.65
6.61
8.33
5.16
6.32
5.40
7.00
5.90
difference(0)(0.32)(-1.40)(-0.65)(1.50)(2.91)(-1.06)(-0.35)(-1.55)National average
133.80133.80134.93135.07135.40136.10137.20137.93138.43
Zakoujiaverage
135.01138.71138.08138.62140.46141.91139.09140.37140.53
N
27
20
25
20
36
47
50
45
37
SD
6.41
6.38
6.97
6.69
4.86
4.91
4.81
5.73
5.26
difference(0)(3.69)(-0.62)(0.53)(1.83)(1.44)(-2.81)(1.28)(0.16)
National average
139.00139.40140.10140.70141.40141.05142.73143.40143.70
Zakoujiaverage134.80139.71
136.65138.55
141
N
10
2
6
4
0
0
1
0
0
SD
4.95
2.71
7.94
4.61
0
difference(0)(4.90)(-3.05)(1.89)
National average
143.60144.00144.93145.27145.60146.20147.10147.50148.0322

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