Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Japan --- Japon --- Social conditions --- Population --- History. --- History --- Conditions sociales --- Histoire --- J4000.40 --- J3340 --- Japan: Social history, history of civilization -- Kamakura period, Yoshino (1185-1392) and Chūsei in general (1185-1600) --- Japan: History -- Chūsei (1185-1600), Kamakura, Muromachi and Momoyama periods --- Nihon --- Nippon --- Iapōnia --- Zhāpān --- I︠A︡ponii︠a︡ --- Yapan --- Japão --- Japam --- Mư̄ang Yīpun --- Prathēt Yīpun --- Yīpun --- Jih-pen --- Riben --- Government of Japan --- 日本 --- 日本国 --- Nipponkoku --- Nippon-koku --- Nihonkoku --- Nihon-koku --- State of Japan --- Япония --- Japani --- اليابان --- al-Yābān --- يابان --- Yābān --- Japonsko --- Giappone --- Japonia --- Japonya --- Jepun --- Yapon --- Yapon Ulus --- I︠A︡pon --- Япон --- I︠A︡pon Uls --- Япон Улс

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

For centuries, scholars have wondered what daily life was like for the common people of Japan, especially for long bygone eras such as the ancient age (700–1150). Using the discipline of historical demography, William Wayne Farris shows that for most of this era, Japan’s overall population hardly grew at all, hovering around six million for almost five hundred years. The reasons for the stable population were complex. Most importantly, Japan was caught up in an East Asian pandemic that killed both aristocrat and commoner in countless numbers every generation. These epidemics of smallpox, measles, mumps, and dysentery decimated the adult population, resulting in wide-ranging social and economic turmoil. Famine recurred about once every three years, leaving large proportions of the populace malnourished or dead. Ecological degradation of central Japan led to an increased incidence of drought and soil erosion. And war led soldiers to murder innocent bystanders in droves. Under these harsh conditions, agriculture suffered from high rates of field abandonment and poor technological development. Both farming and industry shifted increasingly to labor-saving technologies. With workers at a premium, wages rose. Traders shifted from the use of money to barter. Cities disappeared. The family was an amorphous entity, with women holding high status in a labr-short economy. Broken families and an appallingly high rate of infant mortality were also part of kinship patterns. The average family lived in a cold, drafty dwelling susceptible to fire, wore clothing made of scratchy hemp, consumed meals just barely adequate in the best of times, and suffered from a lack of sanitary conditions that increased the likelihood of disease outbreak. While life was harsh for almost all people from 700 to 1150, these experiences represented investments in human capital that would bear fruit during the medieval epoch (1150–1600).

Japan --- Social conditions --- Population --- History. --- al-Yābān --- Giappone --- Government of Japan --- Iapōnia --- I︠A︡ponii︠a︡ --- Japam --- Japani --- Japão --- Japon --- Japonia --- Japonsko --- Japonya --- Jih-pen --- Mư̄ang Yīpun --- Nihon --- Nihon-koku --- Nihonkoku --- Nippon --- Nippon-koku --- Nipponkoku --- Prathēt Yīpun --- Riben --- State of Japan --- Yābān --- Yapan --- Yīpun --- Zhāpān --- Япония --- اليابان --- يابان --- 日本 --- 日本国 --- History --- Population. --- Jepun --- Yapon --- Yapon Ulus --- I︠A︡pon --- Япон --- I︠A︡pon Uls --- Япон Улс

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Inscription, Japanese. --- Wooden tablets --- History. --- Japan --- Japan --- Korea --- Japan --- Japan --- History --- Relations --- Relations --- Capital and capitol --- History. --- Antiquities.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This volume charts a course through never-before-surveyed historical territory: Japan's medieval population, a topic so challenging that neither Japanese nor foreign scholars have investigated it in a comprehensive way. And yet, demography is an invaluable approach to the past because it provides a way-often the only way-to study the mass of people who did not belong to the political or religious elite. By synthesizing a vast cache of primary and secondary sources, William Wayne Farris constructs an important analysis of Japan's population from 1150 to 1600 and considers social and economic developments that were life and death issues for ordinary Japanese. Impressive in his grasp of detail and the scope of his inquiry, Farris makes the argument that, although this age initially witnessed the continuation of a centuries-old demographic stasis, a far-reaching transformation began around 1280 and eventually gained momentum until it swept through the Japanese archipelago. Between 1280 and 1600, Japan's population approximately trebled, growing from 6 million to 17 million. Crucial to the demographic breakthrough was the resolution of two central problems facing both the rulers and the ruled. The first was how to supply a burgeoning population with sufficient food; the second, how to keep the peace.Japan's Medieval Population will be required reading for specialists in pre-modern Japanese history, who will appreciate it not only for its thought-provoking arguments, but also for its methodology and use of sources.

Japan --- Social conditions --- Population --- History. --- History

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Japan --- History, Military --- History