日本人口学会研究企画委員会編『日本人口学会報告書

第6章

歴史人口学の課題と展望』2022 年 6 月 10 日

T h e X a v i e r D a t a b a s e o f H i s t o r i c al J a p a n

黒須里美（麗澤大学）・髙橋美由紀（立正大学）・董浩（北京大学）［要旨］
This article introduces the Xavier database, one of the major sources for studying historical
populations in Japan. The database consists of 162 years of annual observations for 28,105
individuals living in three villages and one town of the current Fukushima prefecture between 1708
and 1870. We review the extensive efforts of the founder of Japanese historical demography, Akira
Hayami, and his group in collecting, transcribing, coding, and finally making local population
registers into this database for demographic analysis. We discuss the studies that flourisheddomestically and internationally using the data in the last two decades, followed by the discussionof current and promising development.
キーワード

Japan, Historical demography, Household registers, Longitudinal data

Original Article: Kurosu, Satomi, Miyuki Takahashi, and Hao Dong 2021 “Thank You, Akira
Hayami! The Xavier Database of Historical Japan”, Historical Life Course Studies 11, 112-131.
DOI article: https://doi.org/10.51964/hlcs11113© 2021, Kurosu, Takahashi, Dong / Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

lifetime collection of materials on historicaldemography from his earlier offices including
Keio University, International ResearchCenter for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken),
and Reitaku Tokyo Center, are now hosted as
the "Reitaku Archives" at Reitaku University,organized and maintained by the Population
and Family History Project (PFHP) headed bySatomi Kurosu.
This article first introduces the sources used
for the Xavier Database and the studies ofJapanese historical demography in general.
Particular attention is paid to how Hayami's
collection of historical records, those which hecalled "treasure of humankind", weretranscribed and put into a format with linked
annual individual/household information. Next,
we discuss the process of coding andconstruction of the Xavier Database, the firstsystematic database Hayami initiated in late1980s. While there are numerous datasets andsources available across Japan by now, thesources for northeastern communities used for
the Xavier Database are known to be the mostdetailed. We review the Xavier data, focusing
on three villages (Niita, Shimomoriya,
Hidenoyama) and one town (Koriyama) in thecurrent Fukushima prefecture. Finally, we
discuss how the studies based on the dataset
advanced our understanding of people's lives

1. INTRODUCTION"Thank you, Francisco Xavier!" wrote Akira
Hayami (1928–2019), the founder of Japanese
historical demography in 1979. Without St.
Francisco de Xavier who first brought
Christianity to Japan in 1549, the ShumonAratame-Cho (SAC; religious affiliation
investigation registers) would never havestarted. SAC was the "chance by-product of theTokugawa Bakufu's fear and loathing ofChristianity" (Hayami, 1979) which serves as
the main source for Japanese historicaldemography. This article introduces the source,
the construction, as well as the impact of thefirst digitized data set in Japanese historicaldemography. The data set was named after
Xavier who was one of the founders of theSociety of Jesus.
The
constructionofindividual-levellongitudinal data based on household registers,
SAC and similar Ninbetsu-Aratame-Cho (NAC)
for early modern Japan has opened up arraysofpossibilities
forinvestigatingthedemographic behavior of commoners in the
Tokugawa period (1603–1867). Japanese
historical demography has come a long way
since Akira Hayami's application of the methodof "family reconstitution" to Japanesehousehold registers in the late 1960s. Hayami’s

55

through the analysis of behavior andorganization of individuals, married couples,and households, as well as their influence on
the studies of historical demography and family
history.

of village officials after submitting them to local
lords. The officials kept the register copies inorder to add annotations for changes ofindividual vital events (e.g., birth, death,marriage, service) that would occur until thenext survey. These annotations provide
valuable information of vital records. However,the level of details in such registers differs by
local government practices. For some han(domains, administrative units governed bydaimyo, territorial lords), SAC was not always
done every year. For other domains, only thoseafter certain ages were registered (e.g., afterage 15 for Maeda domain, after age 8 for Kishu
and Hiroshima domains). The more detailed
listings include origins and destinations of
migrants with reasons (e.g., marriage, adoption,
service), as well as household landholdings.
According to Hayami (2001, p. 25), some of thebest sources, in terms of quality and length(continuing more than one century with very
few years missing in-between) come from thevillages in Nihonmatsu domain (in current
Fukushima prefecture), and this is where thevery first attempt to systematically construct a
database was made.

2. SOURCES
Two primary sources used for the Xavier
Database as well as studies of historicaldemography in Japan are SAC and NAC.(1)Both of them are household registers andinclude basic information such as anindividual's name, age, and relationship to thehousehold head. A household can include not
only kin members but also non-kin andservants. Notably, households can beregistered even without any resident (e.g.,
actual residents left for work migration).
SAC was a religious investigation initiatedaround 1638 by the Tokugawa government as ameasure to prevent the entry and spread ofChristianity (Cornell & Hayami, 1986; Hayami,1979). The quality, dates of compilation, andavailability of SAC vary depending on thevillage and region. Some SACs are based on dejure information and contain excess numbers ofelderly persons, who, for example, outmigrated and possibly died elsewhere but are
still listed in their households of origin. NAC
preceded SAC and was a type of population
register in nature similar to the contents of
SAC, except that NAC excludes information on
religious affiliation of individual villagers(Hayami, 2001). Meanwhile, NAC tends torecord detailed information on population de
facto. However, in most cases, it is not easy nor
practical to distinguish between the two
becausethetwosourcesareoften
indistinguishable and are indiscriminately
compiled resulting in the title of the documents
Shumon-Ninbetsu-Aratame-Cho.
It should be noted that unlike records ofelites in other societies, both SAC and NAC
documented "commoners". They include
peasants, fishermen, merchants, etc., who werethe majority of the population in 17th- to early
19th-century Japan. Tokugawa period was ahighly stratified society. The elite bureaucrats
and administrators during the Tokugawa
period (samurai class), as well as the membersof the Imperial court whose residency was
segregated, were recorded separately from thecommoners.(2) The documents available today
are copies of the SAC/NAC, kept in the hands

Source: Microfilm, Reitaku Archives, Population andFamily History Project, Reitaku University.

Notes: NAC recorded information of all households in avillage/town sequentially in one volume (book bound withJapanese paper) per year. The red square indicates one

unit of household. Traditionally, the page reads from rightto left. "A" lists household landholdings and lands being
leased/rent. "B" lists each member of household. See text
for details.

Figure 1 Original "Ninbetsu-Aratame-Cho":
Household No.112 in Niita, year 1763

56

Figure 1 shows two pages of 1763 NAC in thevillage of Niita. The red square indicates one
household unit. Reading from right to left, theunit starts with "A" which lists household
landholding as well as lands being
leased/rented, where "B" lists each household
member
with
information
about
the
relationship to the household head, name, andage. In this example, six household members
are included: the household head (age 40), hiswife (37), his first child-son (17), his second
child-daughter (12), his third child-son (6), andhis mother (61). The indication of the birthorder of children suggests the importance ofsibling hierarchy in the area. The column on
the left side sums number of males and females
in this household followed by number of horses.

relationship, age) is transcribed on the left
panel of a BDS. Any movements or changes ofstatus, including birth, death, marriage/
adoption, and name changes, are annotatedwith a symbol and described at the bottom of
the BDS. Any household members currently
not residing in the household are placed in theright panel of the BDS with information of theirlocations and the reasons for not residing (forexample, working as servant at othervillage/household). At the very right column ofa BDS, the number of horses and thelandholdings of the household are entered.
SAC/NAC of the same household in theconsecutive years are matched and transcribedfollowing the previous year. Organized in thisway, both the information of individuals andhouseholds can be tracked for the entire
observation period.

3. COLLECTION AND TRANSCRIPTION OF
REGISTERS
The collection of SAC/NAC was initiated andled by Akira Hayami in the late 1960–80s. It
involved locating/finding SAC/NAC, contacting
theholder,getting
permission,
andmicrofilming the materials. A great number ofpeople of Hayami's research group have been
involved in the collection of sources for overfour decades. The sources for the Nihonmatsudomain in the Xavier Database were collected
in local archives and private homes. The
microfilms were then printed and transcribed
into forms and numbers.
Since SAC/NAC registers provide annual
information of household and individual life
courses spanning up to 200 years, it was noteasy to organize. Hayami's first trial was amanual organization of cards that tracked
individual households per year (kohyo, notshown). Later on, he came up with the Basic
Data Sheet (BDS) method of transcribing andorganizing information of households for 25
years per sheet (see Figure 2). Hayami recalledthat it was an "innovation" as it finally allowed
researchers to track what was happening to theindividuals and households "longitudinally".
And, indeed, BDS was a breakthrough as amethod for compiling detailed longitudinal
information. It also opened up the opportunity
for anyone with knowledge of contemporary
Japanese to understand the content of thesehousehold registers, which otherwise would be
hard to decipher without extensive training inearly modern calligraphy. The annual
information of a household member (name,Source: Copy of BDS, Reitaku Archives, Population andFamily History Project, Reitaku University.
Note: The blue arrow on the left refers to the household of
NAC shown in Figure 1, an example of the NAC source.
See text for details.

Figure 2 BDS (Basic Data Sheet): Household
No.112 in Niita, years 1751–1775
The linkage of households from one year to
the next was done by matching the order of
appearance of the households and checking
names and ages of household members. Once
the BDS was written, individuals were given
unique identifiers. When the linking ofindividual information was done manually thiswas done by coders; for example, matching andgiving the same ID to an individual who left thehousehold of origin and entered anotherhousehold via marriage/service. Individuals
were matched as long as the move took place
within the village. Thus, BDS became avaluable source of longitudinal demographic

57

information that follows intriguing life
histories of commoners — like reading a
biography.
Because it was before the computer
revolution, most of Hayami’s initial work wasdone manually extracting information from
BDS to construct individual life courses andfamily. The ITS (individual tracing sheet, see
Figure 3) was Hayami's invention for tracking
individual movements. And, the FRF (Figure 4)
follows the famous "family reconstitution form"of the French historical demographer, LouisHenry. These forms are still kept at theReitaku Archives, although they are taken overby computer calculation and are no longer used.
While Hayami has been transcribing andorganizing materials that he and his groupcollected all over Japan, his researchconcentrated in the areas of Suwa (Hayami,1973) and Nobi (Hayami, 1992) — central
Japan. He rarely used BDS of the Nihonmatsudomain. Instead, Saeko Narimatsu singlehandedly transcribed the original NACs to BDS.
With the help of research assistants, she linked
individual information from SAC/NAC to BDS
andfurthercross-checked
qualitative
information of the area from local documents.
Based on this laborious work, she published
two books on Shimomoriya (Narimatsu, 1985)
and Niita (Narimatsu, 1992), which are mustreads for later researchers studying the area.
Map 1 shows the original data collection andongoing
database
construction
efforts
spreading nationwide in Japan, as well as thearea of the Xavier Database introduced in thisarticle. The steps described above are also
shown in Table 1 in relation to the figures andmaps. The Xavier Database is one of the firstseries of Japanese historical demography
datasets constructed by Akira Hayami and themembers of the Eurasia Project Japan (EAP-J
1995–2000)(3) and is the most detailed andvigorously used in the last decades.(4) Details of
Xavier construction are discussed in the next
section.

Source: Reitaku Archives, Population and Family History
Project, Reitaku University.
Note: The form follows an internationally used format forfamily reconstitution. The top part of the panel contains
information about husband and wife — name, place ofbirth, age at marriage, month/year of birth and death. No
1–4 in this example are their children with their name, sex,
birth year/month, mother's age at birth, and theirinformation on death and marriage. Information aboutbirths is summarized for every five years after marriage inthe far left of the sheet (Hayami 2001, pp. 74–79).

Source: Reitaku Archives, Population and Family History
Project, Reitaku University
Note: ITS traces individual moves from the start and end ofobservation. The form includes N=name, B=birth,
M=marriage,
R=adoption,
E=service,
and
Other
(V=branching out; I=change of residence, etc.) with year,
age, relationship to the household head, andplace/households.

Figure 3 ITS (Individual Tracing Sheet):
A female born in 1722 until her deathin 1790, Shimomoriya

Figure 4 FRF (Family Reconstitution Form):
A couple in household 112, Niita 1740–1781

58

Source: Reitaku Archives, Population and Family History Project, Reitaku University.
Note: See Table 1 for the explanation of the colored dots.

Map 1

Xavier Data and Collections of Japanese Historical Demography Sources
dots in Map 1), now hosted at the PFHP. Since
longitudinal data from various locations were
not in the same format as the data of the Xavier
Database, they were not integrated into one
database during the time of EAP-J. Crosssectional data include those with only one- or
two- year SAC records. While those crosssectional data have not been utilized for
longitudinal research in Japanese historicaldemography, it has a potential for investigating
regional variations as well as fertility dynamics(e.g., Drixler, 2013; Kurosu, 2008).
There are numerous studies using BDS
sheets of areas other than the northeasternones included in the Xavier Database. To namea few, Hayami's own work of Suwa (1973) andNishijo and the surrounding villages (1992)
and Cornell's work on Yokouchi (1981) incentral Japan; and a recent work by Nakajima
utilizing a fishing village of Nomo in southwest
Japan (2016).

Table 1 The different steps of database
construction in relation to the map/figures

Notes: While steps 1–4 were applied to make forms fromvarious sources that remain to digitize, steps 5 and 6A are
specific to our construction of the Xavier Database, thesubject of this article. Basic statistics of the Xavier
Database are reported in Table 2.
As of now, Reitaku Archives include microfilmed or
paper-copied documents of original SAC/NAC for about
1,870 villages/towns (Step 2). Among them, about 470
villages/towns (about 9960 village/town- years) transcribedin the format of BDS (Step 3). A meta-database of thesematerials has recently been made available online (limiteduse) to search the geographic location and type of historical
records held at PFHP (Kurosu, 2020).

4. CONSTRUCTIONDATABASE

OFTHE

XAVIER

No official documentation exists as to what
motivated Akira Hayami to initiate and how hepursued the construction of the Xavier
Database. However, according to the detailed
and yet complicated codebooks, as well as thememories of staff members who worked on the
project over decades, the digitization was donewith a series of trials and errors. What started

Meanwhile, there are numerous village
records entered during and after the time of
EAP-J for both longitudinal (red dots in Map 1)
and cross-sectional data (orange dots in Map 1)
types used in historical demography and family
studies. Also, there are plenty of understudied
BDS (green dots in Map 1) and microfilms (blue59

in the 1980s remains an evolving process. In
this section, we explain how the Xavier
Database was transcribed and coded, turned
into relational databases (DB2) for separate
villages, and finally utilized for variable
construction and analysis.
The Xavier data are based on household
registers, both NAC and SAC in the northeast
Japan. While this article mainly discusses fourcommunities of Nihonmatsu domain (NACs),the Xavier Database also includes villages ofthe eastern-mountainous area of Fukushima,(5)Aizu, and the village Yanbe in the current
Yamagata prefecture (SACs). Numerous
studies used the BDS (step 4 in Table 1) of Aizu
and Yanbe with some researchers’ own data
construction efforts (e.g., Hayami & Okada,
2005; Kinoshita, 2002; Okada, 2006). Also,
since the NAC of Koriyama-shimo-machi, thenorthern town of Koriyama, has too many
missing years for longitudinal research, weonly include Koriyama-kami-machi, thesouthern town, in this article.

predated easy access to computers and evenpreceded the Japanese word processor for data
entry (Ono, 1993). It was vital to convert the
information written in BDS into numbers.
Therefore, it required detailed codebooks. For
example, there are more than 260 codes for the
relationship to the household head A7(i)distinguishing kin relations, sex, blood ormarriage/adoption relationship. Only trainedcoders could manually, using paper and pencil,
convert detailed information of BDS into
thousands of sheets that consist of sheer
numbers. While the codes made data entry
faster, the steps involved in coding costenormous time and manpower, as well as anincreasing number of errors as more steps are
required (Ono, 1993).
The forms A5, A6 and A7 were then digitizedmanually using a special computer program. As
of today, the coding of 7 villages and 2 towns
has been done(6) but the completion of the data
entry was accomplished only for the fourcommunities discussed in this article while therest was, unfortunately, only partly completed.

4.1 CODING AND DATA ENTRY
The first trial for the construction of a large
longitudinal dataset started in the 1980s.
Based on BDS, coders extracted informationand organized them by handwriting into threepaper forms, named A5, A6 and A7: household
events and information (A5), individual age(A6), and individual events and life course (A7,see Figure 5). A5 had 10 household tables ofcodes and A7 had 17 individual tables of codes— including both time-constant and timevariant information as follows. For households,
A5 codebook consists of the following tables: (A)entry and exit of households, (B) de jure or defacto, (C) head's information, (D) servants, (E)village official status, (F) size of household
structure, (G) landholding, (H) livestock (horse,
cattle), (I) ship ownership, (J) other. For
individuals, A7 codebook consists of thefollowing tables: (a) entry and exit ofindividuals, (b) birth, (c) death, (d) marriage(e) divorce, (f) adoption, (g) disowning (end of
adoption), (h) change of residence, (i) household
relationship, (j) change of name, (k) religion, (l)village official task, (m) migration, (n) otherevent with migration, (o) other event without
migration, (p) other information (pregnant,illness, etc.), (q) other information that cannot
be classified above.
The codes in each table were elaborate andcomplicated. The origin of the Xavier data

Source: Reitaku Archives, Population and Family
History Project, Reitaku University. Note: See text
for details.

Figure 5 Xavier data format A7 for the codingof individuals

604.2 THE XAVIER DATABASE AND THE EURASIAPROJECTThe database construction that started in
Keio University in the early 1980s was carriedover to Nichibunken (Kyoto), with Hayami's
move in the late 1980s. It was at this time when
the Xavier data were finally put to use.
Yoshihiko Ono, associate professor at
Nichibuken at the time, converted almost all
the files into a relational database separatingtables into time-constant and time-dependent
tables using DB2 on an IBM platform. With thehelp of an international EAP member, George
Alter, a group of EAP-J members(7) headed by
Yoshihiko Ono studied SQL and databasemanagement and started the construction ofvariables for international comparison. It was
first tested on a small village, Sasahara, andthen on the two villages of the Xavier Database(Shimomoriya and Niita) which became thebasis for the Japanese contribution to theinternational collaboration of EAP (Tsuya &Kurosu, 2004, 2010c, 2014). Constructing
variables for the EAP model required laborious
processing. We used DB2 SQL to write longcommands to construct each variable, export
them to CSV files, and import and merge themin STATA for village-based analysis. Thisrequired advanced statistical and data
management skills. It also required high levelsof concentration and patience, as we had to go
back-and-forth to the BDS and complicatedcodebooks whenever an inconsistency arose.
The inconsistency could be due to the SQL
program, data entry errors of coders, or data
entry errors of BDS transcribers. It could evenbe due to the original documents — mistakes ofvillage officials in Tokugawa period. With allthese laborious and time-consuming processes,
we were not able to add more than two villages
duringtheentireEAPinternational
collaboration (Kurosu, 2016). In the late 2000s,
however, we started to add another village andtown from the Xavier Database to our analysis:
Hidenoyama and Koriyama.

demographic characteristics and reason for
individual "entrance" under observation (due tobirth or immigration) and the month/year ofdeath and other "exits". This is the case evenfor Koriyama despite the heavy in- and outmigration of the town. Socioeconomic indicators,
which are not often recorded in SAC in otherplaces, are also abundant. The two Xavier
villages (Niita and Shimomoriya), in particular,
are among the best quality historical
population panel data available in East Asia
(Dong, Campbell, Kurosu, Yang, & Lee, 2015a).
That said, we need to be careful about one
problem inherent in "annual" household
registers: the omission of events that happened
between registers. NACs of these communities
were enumerated annually at the beginning of
the third lunar month,(8) an important point tobear in mind for demographic calculations. The
timing of marriage, for example, cannot be
determined as clearly as many Europeanparish registers. If one comes into a householdwith an annotation of enduke (marriage), theperson and his/her partner married sometime
between the two register years. An even more
serious problem for certain demographic
analysis is the omission due to infant death.
Those who were born and died between the tworegisters may not be recorded.

4.3 THE XAVIER DATABASE: POPULATION AND
SETTINGS
Table 2 shows a summary of the database forthe four communities as well as the information
available in those communities. Altogether
they cover the span of 162 years with arelatively small number of missing years. In
addition to its long coverage, the Xavier
Database provides detailed information about

Map 2 shows the location of the fourcommunities. Shimomoriya and Niita were
almost totally agricultural with an annual
average population size of about 300 and 450,
respectively. Hidenoyama, located about 3 km
from the center of the growing market town ofKoriyama, became a suburb to this town withan annual average population of about 280.
Within the 160 years of observation, however,Table 2 Summary and information of the
Xavier Database

Note: *Sex is inferred based on relationship to thehousehold head and/or name.

61the area has gone through major famines in the
1780s and 1830s, as well as various epidemics
and local disasters. The population trend in
Figure 6 reflects the hardship the villages went
through. In particular, the two agriculturalvillages, Shimomoriya and Niita, started to lose
their population before the Tenmei famine in
the 1780s and did not recover until the 19th
century. Such constant decline is not observedin Hidenoyama. As for Koriyama, being a post
town(9) with diverse economic activities, thelocal population increased over the years from
800 to about 2,600 inhabitants while
commercial sectors developed.

population growth. Although it was affected byfamines, the population of Koriyama soon
recovered because of both in-migration andnatural increase. Thus, the Xavier Databaseshows different population trends between
Koriyama and neighboring villages, suggesting
an interesting contrast of demographic
dynamics between the rural and urban
communities.

5．RESEARCH WITH THE XAVIER DATABASE
Many advances in the use of the data
occurred during the Japanese Eurasia Project.
Flat files for analysis based on the two villages,
Niita and Shimomoriya, were first madespecifically for the international comparison ofmortality in EAP (Bengtsson, Campbell, Lee, etal., 2004), and successively for marriage andreproduction (Lundh, Kurosu, et al., 2014;
Tsuya&
Kurosu,2010c).
Japanesecontributions to these volumes were based on
Niita and Shimomoriya (Tsuya & Kurosu, 2004,
2010c, 2014). Modifying the models used in theinternational collaboration of EAP, Tsuya andKurosu produced more detailed studies ofmortality and reproduction (Tsuya & Kurosu,
2005, 2010b). These studies brought new
findings about how individual demographic
behaviors were influenced by socioeconomic
statusofhouseholds(indicatedbylandholdings), household context (measured by
the presence of co-residing kin), and status in
the household (head or closeness to householdhead). Further, applying the EAP models but
going beyond the topics covered by the EAPinternational comparison, specific topics forJapan were investigated utilizing theinformation available in the Xavier Database.
These studies emphasized the hierarchy ofgender and closeness to household-head in thestem family system; for example, thedifferential stress caused by the deaths ofheads vs. fathers on women and children(Tsuya & Kurosu, 2002), household context andmigration and survivorship (Tsuya & Kurosu,
2010a, 2013), leaving home, remarriage,
divorce, and adoption (Kurosu, 2004, 2007,2011, 2013). These studies used event history
analysis and revealed how the principle of thestem family mediated individual as well ashousehold choices.
Later on, similar models for mortality andmarriage were tested with a larger sample byincluding the village of Hidenoyama (Tsuya &Present-day Fukushima prefecture —Map 2location of Niita, Shimomoriya, Hidenoyama
and Koriyama

Figure 6 Population trends of Niita,
Shimomoriya, Hidenoyama, and Koriyama
Koriyama was formally designated as a town
(machi) in 1824 and served as the economic aswell as the political center of Asaka County.
While populations of neighboring villages
stagnated, Koriyama experienced a stable

62

Kurosu, 2017, 2020). Further, including thetown of Koriyama, we started to systematicallycompare patterns of marriage between village
and town populations (Kurosu, Takahashi, &Dong, 2017). The EAP model was also tested
with more rigorous statistical analysis toinvestigate the association between types ofpost-marital residence and reproduction (Dong& Kurosu, 2017). These studies demonstrated"northeastern characteristics" of marriage andreproduction influenced by the norm of"primogenitor" (succession by first childregardless of sex) that distinguished the area,
going even beyond rural and urban
differentials.
Researchers who shared knowledge andmethods for working with the Xavier Databaseflourished in the Japanese Eurasia Project.
They used various methods (both descriptive
and statistical) to empirically tackle issues offamily history which had been confined to
institutional or household-based approaches.
Comprehensive studies of Koriyama and Niita
appeared in two Ph.D. dissertations using the
Xavier Database and complementary local
historical records (Hirai, 2008; Takahashi,2005).(10) Takahashi (2005) was one of the first
who systematically studied a booming town,
Koriyama, and indicated the importance ofunderstanding migration as well as domanial
population policy in the demographic model.
The urban graveyard theory was examined but
found not to be applicable for this town. Hirai(2008) studied the dataset of Niita from acomprehensive approach to individual life
courses and households and found thathouseholds became more resilient and stabletowards the 19th century.
Xavier data allowed a dynamic approachfrom individual life course perspectives
providing new findings and detailed accounts
for marriage, adoption, and their outcomes(Hirai, 2006a, 2015; Kurosu, 1997, 1998, 2007,2009, 2011, 2012b; Takahashi, 2012), living
arrangements (Hirai, 1998; Nakazato, 1999,
2009; Ochiai, 2001, 2006c), leaving home
(Kurosu, 2004), service and labor migration(Nagata, 2001, 2004; Ochiai, 2002; Takahashi,2019), and name changing (Nagata, 1999, 2009).
These studies found how individual life courses
were stratified by the rule of stem familyorganization, i.e., the overall aim of thecontinuity of households that shaped individual
demographic events in order to overcome
various demographic and economic constraints.

The Japanese historical family was further
examined in an international comparison
aimed at comparing stem family societies in
Europe and Japan (Fauve- Chamoux & Ochiai(Eds.), 2009). Individual-level studies ofmarriage,
name-changing
andlivingarrangement based on the Xavier Database(Kurosu, 2009; Nagata, 2009; Nakazato, 2009)
reveal the dynamics of individual life courses
within the stem family system.
The longitudinal data of the Xavier Databasealso offered dynamic approaches to "old"questionsabouthouseholdstructure,continuity, and succession. Okada applied thestudies of household cycles to Nihonmatsu
villages and asserted a modified version ofHammel-Laslett in order to show the clear
cyclical change of Japanese households as wellas succession strategies (1998, 2000, 2002). The
stem family orientation of the peasant family
became clear, particularly among land-owningpeasants. Hirai identified characteristics of thecontinuity of households spanning over a
century (e.g., 2003, 2006b).
This series of studies on individual life
courses and household cycles written in both
English and Japanese became the coreachievements of the Japanese Eurasia Project(Ochiai, 2006b) and affected the fields ofhistorical demography and family history andsociology in various ways. First, the novelty offindings sustained by detailed and statisticallysound analysis painted clear and fresh picturesof commoners' life courses and families in the
18–19th centuries. For example, universal
marriage was followed by flexible divorce andremarriage. Early marriage did not necessarily
bring an early start of childbearing. Fertility
was extremely low because of the practice of
sex-selective
infanticide,andadoptioncompensated for demographic constraints
when sons or daughters were lacking. These
demographic behaviors were in accordancewith peasants' strategy of keeping the stem
family intact. These new findings were
surprises to family sociologists influenced by
the western tradition of family modernization,whichemphasizes
monolithic
anddevelopmental changes. They also madedemographers and historians reconsider theimportance of households and the stem familysystem in understanding the contrasting
population dynamics in Japan compared withother countries (e.g., Ochiai, 2009; Saito, 1998,
2000).

63

Studies based on Xavier data opened
possibilities for broadening research into two
directions:longitudinal
andregional
approaches. First, within about 160 years ofobservation, a general improvement of climate
and development of cash crops as well as
sericultural industries in the region boosted
development of the regional economy. Various
improvements in demographic behaviors areobserved, particularly related to females:
increase in the female age of marriage (Kurosu,
2012a; Kurosu, Takahashi, & Dong, 2017;
Tsuya & Kurosu, 2014), decline of female infantmortality (Tsuya & Kurosu, 2004), and increaseof reproduction (Tsuya & Kurosu, 2010b, 2010c).
Also, homogenization of age at marriage andshortening of length between marriage anddivorce were associated with increasing
household size and complexity making
households more stable towards the end of
Tokugawa period. Hirai calls the process"emergence" of Japanese traditional family
that emphasizes its continuity and the stem
family household (Hirai, 2003, 2006a, 2006b,
2008).
Second, the characteristics of northeastern
population
andfamilywereclarifiedempirically in the comparative framework ofregional variation in Japan (e.g., Kurosu, Tsuya,& Hamano, 1999; Ochiai (Ed.), 2006a; Okada &Kurosu, 1998; Takahashi & Kurosu, 2020).
While fertility was generally low in earlymodern Japan, it was very low in the northeast(Takahashi, 2005; Tsuya & Kurosu, 2010b,
2010c). The survival rate tends to be lower thanother studied areas of Japan (Tsuya & Kurosu,
2004). Marriage was early, universal, and more
flexible than in the rest of Japan (Kurosu,
Tsuya, & Hamano, 1999). Labor migration
before marriage delayed marriage in central
Japan, but in the northeast migration took
place after marriage, making marriage a safety
net for households to have them return for sure
after service (Nagata, 2001, 2004). Researchers
argue that the strategy was intended toincrease the working-age population inhouseholds
toovercome
environmental
hardships in the northeastern region (Hayami,
2009; Hayami & Kurosu, 2001). Thesearguments, however, are only based on limited
village studies of the northeast, Nishijo incentral, and Nomo in the southwesternJapan,(11) and await further investigation.

6. CONCLUSION
This article introduced one of the major
databases of Japanese historical demography,
called the Xavier Database, which includes
individual-levellongitudinal
dataofpopulations in three villages and one town of
the current Fukushima prefecture between
1708 and 1870. We discussed the long andcomplicated process used by the founder ofJapanese historical demography, Akira
Hayami, and his colleagues to collect,transcribe, code, and finally put the content of
the historical population registers into a
database. We also reviewed the content andstudies that flourished domestically andinternationally using these data in the last two
decades.
During the last decade, new attempts arebeing made into at least four directions. First,
the two villages of the Xavier Database, Niita
and Shimomoriya, are harmonized and used forseveral comparative studies with other East
Asian historical populations from northeastern
China, Taiwan, and Korea — a collaborative
effort sometimes referred to as the East Asia
Project or EAP II (Dong et al., 2015a). The
standardization and harmonization of different
East Asian population datasets, an effort led by
Hao Dong in collaboration with each relevant
research team, have enabled detailed,systematiccomparative
studiesabout
similarities and differences in population
dynamics and family histories within East Asia
(e.g., Dong, 2016; Dong, Campbell, Kurosu, &Lee, 2015b; Dong, Kurosu, & Lee, 2019; Dong,
Manfredini, Kurosu, Yang, & Lee, 2017).
Second, although still being at theexperimental stage, comparative studies of
early modern and post-modern Japanesefamilies reveal some interesting resiliency orcontinuity of Japanese family. These studies
bridge Tokugawa and contemporary Japan
applying the same model for divorce andmarriage to Xavier data and contemporary
survey data (Kurosu & Kato, 2018; Tsuya &Kurosu, 2019). Third, there is a new effort
coding and adding more information to theoriginal Xavier Database from records of
migration and land-lease. In the last few years,
we identified geographic locations of 5,000
migration records from the Xavier Database.
We can track where migrants came from andwent to and the reasons for migration such asservice, marriage, or adoption. This will add aspatial dimension to the longitudinal analysis

64

of Education Grant-in-Aid for Creative Basic
Research (PI Akira Hayami). Official
members in Japan included at least 37
scholars from various disciplines (history,sociology, anthropology, and information
science). Further collections of original
sources and numerous data entry, data baseconstruction, as well as collaborative studies
were pursued during this period and after.
The international collaboration of Eurasia
Project (EAP) continued until recently (three
volumes are found here:
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/series/
eurasian-population-and-family-history).
(4) Another useful database is constructed by amember of the Japanese Eurasia Project,
Hiroshi
Kawaguchi,
DANJURO(http://www.danjuro.jp/).
The
databaseincludes Aizu villages in Fukushima and ispublicly released (registration required).
(5) There is yet another village, Sasahara(NAC) in Nihonmatsu. As the size of thevillage was very small, it was conveniently
used to test SQL runs but is not included inthis article.
(6) This includes Shimomoriya, Niita,
Hidenoyama, Sasahara, Koriyama-kami,
Koriyama-shimo in Nihonmatsu which arecomplete, and Kuwahara, Kanaizawa,
Ishibuse in Aizu, and Yanbe in Murayama.
The continuation of data entry unfortunately
was disrupted due to Hayami’s move from
Keio University to the International
Research Center for Japanese Studies(Nichibunken).
(7) Satomi Kurosu and Hideki Nakazato
worked intensively with Ono. Noriko O.
Tsuya was instrumental in defining
demographic variables proposed in the EAPmodel for the context of Japan.
(8) The timing of NAC/SAC varied by region.
(9) Post towns, Shukuba-machi in Japanese,were constructed along the major routes/
streets in the Tokugawa period. They
provided lodgings for public officials, whowere forced to periodically travel between
their domain and Edo with their vassals; aswell as rest for travelers, who were observed
more frequently as traveling became more
popular throughout the country during thisperiod. Commercial sectors also developed inthese towns and catered to the needs ofcommoners and neighboring villagers(Kurosu, Takahashi, & Dong, 2017).

(Kurosu, 2020; Kurosu, Takahashi, & Nagaoka,
2017; Nagaoka, Kurosu, & Takahashi, 2020).
Other unique information of the Xavier
Database not used until now is land lease/rent
and livestock. We added more details of theland transactions (from whom, to whom) for thevillage of Niita. This has started to show us how
land transactions were associated with social
mobility and equality as well as demographic
patterns of the villages (Arimoto & Kurosu,2020). We are also constructing a database on
livestock based on the records of horses andcattle in BDS. This will make additional useful
information about agricultural conditions andthe peasant economy related to population
dynamics (Takahashi, 2018). Finally, efforts led
by Satomi Kurosu with the cooperation of Hao
Dong have been undertaken at PFHP tointegrate various data collections and sources
to advance larger-scale, longitudinal researchof family behavior and population history inearly modern Japan.(12) The comparative andinterdisciplinary approach applied to records ofthousands of lives promises new understandingof our history and the resilience of people tosocioeconomic and environmental changes.
As the foundation for all, the Xavier
Database still inspires us with interesting
research topics and possibilities going beyond
the field of historical demography and thefamily. We are extremely grateful for the
inexhaustible research opportunities provided
by the database.
Thank you, Francisco Xavier! Thank you,
Akira Hayami!!

NOTES(1) Other sources not discussed in this article
include temple death registers (Kako-Cho),pregnancy records (Kainin-Kakiage-Cho),records of population increase and decrease(Zogen-Cho), and Hokonin-Uke-Jo, a registerof servants (hokonin) that recorded thecontract detailing the type of service andlength. Availability and accessibility of thesesources vary greatly by region. When ZogenCho and Hokonin- Uke-Jo were available,
they were matched with SAC/NAC to either
check the content or to supply additional
information for analysis.
(2) For studies of samurai demography andfamily, genealogies are often used.
(3) Eurasia Project of Population and Family
History was funded by the Japanese Ministry65

(10) Yet another dissertation by Okada (2006)
demonstrated the developmental cycle ofhouseholds in Aizu domain proposing amodified Hammel-Laslett model. She did not
directly use the Xavier Database but BDS of
Aizu villages from which the Xavier
Database was constructed.
(11) Databases for Nishijo (NOBI) and Nomo
(NOMO) were constructed during theJapanese Eurasia Project, and also gave
opportunities for developing sociologicaland/or statistical investigations using
historical records (e.g., Nakajima, 2016;
Nakazato, 2004).
(12) This project is supported by "Social andgeographic mobility and life course: Studies
using multi-generational panel data" Grants
in Aid for Scientific Research (B), Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKEN
19H01569).

Bengtsson, T., Campbell, C., Lee, J. Z., et al.
(2004). Life under pressure: Mortality andliving standards in Europe and Asia, 1700–
1900. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Cornell, L. L. (1981). Peasant family andinheritance in a Japanese community: 1671–
1980: An anthropological analysis of local
population registers (Doctoral dissertation).

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.
Cornell, L., & Hayami, A. (1986). The Shumon
Aratame Cho: Japan's population registers.
Journal of Family History, 11(4), 311–328.
doi: 10.1177/036319908601100401
Dong, H. (2016). Patriarchy, family system andkin effects on individual demographic
behavior throughout the life course: East
Asia, 1678–1945 (Doctoral dissertation). The

Hong Kong University of Science andTechnology, China.
Dong, H., Campbell, C., Kurosu, S., Yang, W.,& Lee, J. Z. (2015a). New sources forcomparative social science: Historical
population panel data from East Asia.
Demography,
52(3),
1061-1088.
doi:
10.1007/s13524-015-0397-y
Dong, H., Campbell, C., Kurosu, S., & Lee, J. Z.
(2015b). Household context and individual
departure: The case of escape in three"unfree" East Asian populations, 1700–1900.
Chinese Journal of Sociology, 1(4), 515–539.
doi: 10.1177/2057150X15614547
Dong, H., & Kurosu, S. (2017). Postmarital
residence and child sex selection: Evidence
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Dong, H., Kurosu, S., & Lee, J. Z. (2019,
November). The making of missing girls:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Akira Hayami (1928–2019)
for leaving us amazing sources and datasets,
and for his leadership, insights, and guidancein the studies of historical demography. Part ofthis article is based on the paper we coauthored with Hayami and presented at the2019 Annual Meeting of the Social Science
History
Associationin
Chicago,IL,"Constructing Individual-Level Longitudinal
Data for Japanese Historical Population:
Challenges and Opportunities". We would liketo thank Saeko Narimatsu and all the current
and former project members who contributed tocollecting, transcribing, and organizing old
documents as well as entering and cleaning thedata sources. We would like to thank Shoko
Hirai, Hideki Nakazato, Aoi Okada, andAtsushi Nagaoka, researchers who worked
with Xavier data; Toshiko Mochida, Hirofumi
Ohnuma, and Yuriko Kikuchi, research
assistants at PFHP for preparing this draft.

Evidence from northeast China and Japan,
1708–1909. Presentation at the annual

meeting of Social Science History Association,
Chicago, IL.
Dong, H., Manfredini, M., Kurosu, S., Yang, W.,& Lee, J. Z. (2017). Kin and birth order effects
on male child mortality: Three East Asian
populations, 1716–1945. Evolution of Human
Behavior, 38(2), 208–216.
doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.10.001
Drixler, F. (2013). Mabiki: Infanticide and

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