Late Edo Period Research Articles

Secular Changes in Japanese Crania from the Late Edo Period to the Modern Period.

Characteristics of the modern Japanese show a concentric circular geographic distribution: the people in central Japan around the Kinki District are morphologically different from those in peripheral Japan around the Tohoku District and the Kyushu District. In 1983 and 1986, Kouchi thought that the concentric distribution might have appeared between the late Edo period (the 18th to the early 19th century) and the modern period (the early 20th century). The purpose of the present study is to examine the morphological secular changes in Japanese crania from the late Edo period to the modern period and to clarify the formation of the concentric distribution of the cranial morphology. The results is that, first, the tendencies of the secular changes from the late Edo period to the modern period are similar in all regions. Second, the inter-regional differences of craniofacial characteristics have been becoming smaller from the late Edo period to the modern period. Such changes have also been found among the secular changes from the early to the late 20th century. Therefore, it is considered that the secular changes between the late Edo period and the modern period continue to the present day. Next, the present study shows that a concentric distribution of morphological characteristics existed in the late Edo period, and continues to exist in the modern period. Thus, it is possible that the concentric distribution of morphological characteristics of the modern Japanese was formed before the late Edo period, and that the secular changes between the Edo period and the modern period did not influence the formation of the observed concentric distribution. The concentric distribution might have appeared between the prehistoric Jomon period (before the third century B.C.) and the Edo period, because such a concentric distribution has never been demonstrated based on the materials from the Jomon period. Although the reasons for the concentric distribution are not fully understood, both the influx of immigrants from the Asian Continent during the Yayoi period (the third century B.C. to the third century A.D.) and the environmental events occurring between the Kofun period (the third to the seventh century A.D.) and the Edo period could be possible influences.

江戸時代後期に作られた錫糸の微細構造と腐食

The microstructures and corrosion behavior of tin thread made in the late Edo period have been investigated. Specimens are obtained from brocades made using the tin thread and from a sample book of tin brocade. Reflectance is measured with a spectrophotometer. Fine structures are observed using a transmission electron microscope. An X-ray diffractometer and X-ray photospectrometer are used to identify corrosive matter. Sn foil glued on Japanese paper shows a brownish black color spectrum. The thickness of the corroded Sn foil is 8∼10 μm. SnO2, SnO, and Sn3O2(OH)2 are detected in the corroded Sn foil. The top layer consists of the most stable SnO2, and there is a SnO layer beneath the SnO2 layer. A Sn3O2(OH)2 layer exists between the SnO layer and the unreacted Sn layer. From these results, corrosion has been promoted in the order of Sn3O2(OH)2, SnO and SnO2.

肥後藩における寺社建築に対する文政御改について : 江戸時代後期の肥後藩における寺社建築規制に関する研究 その1

肥後藩における寺社建築に対する文政御改について : 江戸時代後期の肥後藩における寺社建築規制に関する研究 その1

Localized Religious Specialists in Early Modern Japan: The Development of the Ōyama Oshi System

This paper discusses the emergence of oshi, lay religious specialists who contributed to the spread of regional pilgrimage cults in the Tokugawa period, by focusing on the example of Oyama, Sagami Province. Over the course of the seventeenth century, Oyama's oshi developed gradually as successors of shugenja and shrine priests who had lost much of their authority to the Shingon temples on the mountain in the first decade of the seventeenth century. In the second half of the seventeenth century the tradition of mountain asceticism largely disappeared from Oyama. The former mountain ascetics of Oyama needed new means of income, forcing them to run inns and develop parishes throughout the KantŌ region. These parishes, from which most of Oyama's pilgrims came, became the single most important source of income for Oyama. The system spread from areas near Oyama across the entire KantŌ region. It was these oshi who sustained the bonds between parishioners and the mountain by making annual visits to their parishes and providing accommodations for pilgrims. Despite their conflict-laden genesis, the oshi were not in constant opposition to Oyama's Shingon temples. They developed customary networks with temples to handle pilgrims and received licenses from the head Shingon temple of the mountain, Hachidai-bo, which helped them to distinguish themselves from their competitors in neighboring villages. Another reason why the oshi did not voice a united opposition to the temples was that they were a fairly diverse group with different lineages and levels of wealth. Some oshi were in the employ of Hachidai-bŌ and therefore shared the Shingon temples' interests. It was only in the late Edo period that several wealthy oshi began to seek affiliation with external sources of authority such as the Shirakawa house and to engage in anti-Buddhist rhetoric culled from the nativist Hirata School. This led to friction between the Shingon temples and the oshi and provided the basis for the

Sources for the Study of Religion and Society in the Late Edo Period

This study introduces late Edo-period gazetteers (chishi) as valuable sources on the institutional history of Japanese religions. Using two gazetteers of the KantŌ area, it explains how these sources may be used to calculate the number of temples, shrines, and other religious institutions to produce a statistical portrait of religious institutions and their relation to society. Using the gazetteers as a database, we can discover the distribution of Buddhist temples by sect, the head temple of each local temple, as well as information on each sect's administration of shrines. One can learn how many shrines existed, the identity of their principal deities, and how many shrines of each type existed in a given area. Shrines can be sorted according to their administering agency, whether it be a temple, a village, a shrine priest, or a private individual. Shrines listed in the Engishiki of 927 can be identified, as can shrines traditionally titled ichinomiya and ninomiya, and those regarded as tutelary shrines (chinjusha, ubusuna-gami). Temples and shrines holding shogunal land grants (shuinjŌ) can be identified. It is possible to compile a list of all area shrine priests and to determine how many of them held Yoshida or Shirakawa licenses. Since the gazetteers are arranged by village and state the population of each, it is possible to determine how many temples and shrines existed on average per village, and also how many households on average supported each temple and shrine. These features make it possible to derive an outline of religious institutions in relation to the population.

Demonic Affliction or Contagious Disease? Changing Perceptions of Smallpox in the Late Edo Period

This article examines the ways in which smallpox epidemics were perceived in premodern Japan. It is a study of the ways of thinking that crystallized around the struggle to eradicate smallpox, and aims to clarify the formative elements of the now extinct cult of the smallpox deity. In this struggle against smallpox, practices based in magical thinking and measures that were strikingly modern in nature existed side by side until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the practice of vaccination finally prevailed.

A Study on the harbor facilities in Tomonoura Hiroshima during early modern times

In Edo period, coastal service played an important role. The harbor facilities-“Gangi”, “Hato”(a breakwater), “Tadeba”(Docks), “Jyoyatou”(a lighthouse), “Funagura”(a ship house) were built up in many port towns of the Inland Sea. Now, most of these facilities were broken down and rebuilt. But at Tomonoura Hiroshima, several facilities are still existed and being used. Recently they are recognized as cultural assets by a resident's movement. So we need systematize a history and a function of them. For this purpose, this paper tries to understand over the general state of habor facilities in Tomonoura by following three steps. Firstly we collect each material of historical harbor facilities at Tomonoura, secondly make a drawing of facilities arrangement, thirdly excavate and measure existent habor facilities.This paper indicates the characteristics of historical facilities at Tomonoura from the following three view points:1) There were at least three times big constructions in the late Edo period.2) An remaining rate of “gangi” is estimated 44%.3) A size and a location of “Tadeba”(Docks) is presumed.

The Formation of Small Social Groups in a Village and Social Unity of the Smallest Unit-Area

A great deal of effort has been made to study social relationships in the village, but no attention seems to have been paid to the smallest unit-area. The purpose of this paper is to explain social unity in the smallest unit-area and to analyze the relationships among social groups within the village. Social groups may be divided into two types-lineage and territorial groups. Although we regard territorial groups as important in geographical studies, we have to pay attention to lineage groups as well as territorial ones. We cannot identify the smallest unit-area without understanding the two types of social groups simultaneously.The author selected Kawanami as a typical example of a village in which there are two types of groups. Both lineage and territorial groups in the ko (fraternal society for religious bands). Kannnon-ko and Yakushi-ko are organized on a hierarchy of lineage. Six sets of Jizo-ko are organized in terms of territorial relations. All households of the village join Kannnon-ko or Yakusi-ko and at the same time they join Jizo-ko.Kannnon-ko is organized by the upper class (Moroto) and Yakusi-ko by the lower class (Hira). Moroto class had the privilege of autonomy in the village during the Edo period, but in the late Edo period, Hira class has had a greater say. Since Hira class has become equal to Moroto class, Kannnon-ko and Yakusi-ko have formed as dual organizations.Six sets of Jizo-ko (by the place name of Satonaka/Hinode/Daimon/Kitago/Nishide/Yanagi) were organized by territorial groups. The former four sets of Jizo-ko were organized in the late Edo period. Jizo-ko of Nishide seceded from Jizo-ko of Daimon in the early Meiji period, and Jizo-ko of Yanagi seceded from Jizo-ko of Hinode in the Taisho period. Jizo-ko, as territorial groups, appeared to weaken social unity in the village as the smallest unit-area.As mentioned above, there is simultaneously in existence two type of groups; on the one hand, small territorial groups act to weaken social unity and on the other hand dual organization acts to strengthen social unity in a smallest unit-area from the end of Edo period to Meiji period.

Shinto und die Konzeption des japanischen Nationalwesens (kokutai). Der religiose Traditionalismus in Neuzeit und Moderne Japans

The subject of this volume is the historical development of shinto and national thought in premodern and modern Japan. After examining the first instances of shinto-confucian syncretism in the early Edo period, the author investigates the function of shinto as a religious system to legitimize political power and explores how during the late Edo period this culminates in the concept of a specific Japanese national polity(kokutai). Though the main caesurae in the process of modern Japanese history (e.g. Meiji restoration and the end of the Pacific War in 1945) play a dominant role in this context, the author points out that the main historical, religious and ideological continuities are of much greater importance; The ideas and concepts elaborated by shinto thinkers during the Edo period became reality in modern Japan.

Markets and Transport of Mino Porcelain in the late Edo Period

Markets and Transport of Mino Porcelain in the late Edo Period

京都・新京極の成立母胎としての寺町 : 伝統都市の近代における歓楽街形成に関する史的研究 その1

The purpose of this sturdy is to clarify the formation process of an amusement quarter, Shinkyogoku, in the modernization of a traditional city, Kyoto. This paper attempts to examine the space composition of some temples and shrines grounds in Teramachi as the matrix of the amusement quarter. This examination was advanced by menans of the restoration grounds plan that was made from the document stored in Konrenji temple and so on. As a result, it became clear that a places of amusement had already been formed in the late Edo period. And its spatial composition had adapted itself to the traffic line of the people who visited the grounds, and its existence had been temporary to correspond with the condition of the formation process.

Research on the Relation between Construction System and Architectural Style of Main Shrine in the Late Edo Period Transformation Process of Main Shrines in OKI Islands

Research on the Relation between Construction System and Architectural Style of Main Shrine in the Late Edo Period Transformation Process of Main Shrines in OKI Islands

Inó Tadataka, les premiers pas de la géographie moderne au Japon

While all Japanese know the name Inô Tadataka, a self-taught scholar of the late-Edo period and amateur surveyor, he is practically unknown in the other countries. His maps are graphically remarkable and constitute an unquestionable advance in Japanese cartography in the sense that it was the first time Japan had been accurately depicted and precisely situated on a world scale, even if these maps did not provide any technical innovations. Inô the individual is interesting for his serious-mindness, perseverance and the enormous task that he achieved during the last twelve years of his life by unrelentingly traveling all over the country to measure the coasts and to draw up an accurate map, a long, laborious and meticulous task of no concern with the political changes of the times. However, this remarkable work would serve no purpose as the bakufu would keep these maps secret for a long time ; indeed by the irony of fate, they would be printed in Europe long before being distributed in Japan. They would be used by Europeans, precisely what the bakufu wished to avoid. The bakufu feared the use of the maps for hostile purposes at its expense, without seeing the advantage they could have provided. This is an example of the Edo governement's lack of judgement and its policy of closing the outside world.

江戸後期の垣根図譜『藩籬譜』について

江戸後期の垣根図譜『藩籬譜』について

The Counteraction the Effect of Poisonous water of Tama River in Edo Priod

In the late Edo period, Kouemon Taguchi-a merchant of Akitahan-tried to counteract the effect of poisonous water of Tama River. The objective of this work was increase of agriculture along the river.This work is unique from the points of view, he didn't have knowledge of chemistry and he had no finansial supports.I saw that he had the rational thinking, and he started on this attempt for the purpos of finance.In this study, I evaluated his radical thinking and rational idea. And I show his work was not only Akitahan's need but also his investment.

La médecine d'Ishizaka Sōtetsu (1770-1841) en tant que modèle culturel de l'époque d'Edo

Ishizaka Sōtetsu (1770-1841), physician-acupuncturist of the late Edo period, is mostly known as the founder of the school bearing his name, which is still active to-day. Even if the acupunctural points generally used in that school do not correspond to those which are mentioned in the Chinese classics, the abundant writings of Ishizaka Sōtetsu show that he mastered these classics, but, according to him, they needed to be almost entirely remoulded, because they had been heavily corrupted with the passing of time. In order to remould them, Ishizaka Sōtetsu first used some elements of the classics with which he agreed, but he also made use of elements from Western medicine. For him, Western medicine not only does not contradict Chinese medicine, but helps a better understanding of it. Although using classical Chinese terminology, he is obliged to alter the meaning of some terms in order to agree with results of Western anatomy to which he was introduced by Japanese translations, his relations with Ōtsuki Gentaku and two meetings, in 1822 and 1826, with Tullingh and Siebold. The Ei e chūkei zu (plates showing the arteries, veins and portal veins) of 1825 is an example of Ishizaka Sōtetsu 's inclusive approach. It shows his concrete way of integrating fundamental anatomic notions of Western medicine, such as veins and arteries, in the frame of traditional Chinese medicine. This method seems of course to be at the antipodes of Western scientific thought. Nevertheless, we have to take into account that he applied a much diffused way of thought of pre-modern Japan to the medical field. Moreover, it cannot be forgotten that he contributed to the modernisation of Japanese medicine during his time as his inclusive and syncretistic method made innovations look familiar, integrated as they were in a system claiming to remain traditional. In the conclusion is shown the parallelism between the syncretic attitude of Sōtetsu in the medical field and predecessors like Kūkai and Yoshida Kanetomo (especially Yoshida Shintō, which encompasses Shintō, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, enjoyed a general acceptance from the Muromachi period until the end of Edo). A syncretist like Sōtetsu is now considered as marginal, because of being alien both to the radical modernisation of medicine and to the pure conservation of tradition. Nevertheless, in his time, he was important and merits the historian's consideration: his misinterpretation of negating the difference between Chinese and Western medicine probably made the swift triumph of Western medicine in the following age easier.

Betts's portable terrestrial globe imported from England to Japan in the late Edo Period

Betts's portable terrestrial globe imported from England to Japan in the late Edo Period

The Tectonics of Japanese Style

U tntil recently, wooden architecture of modern period and role of carpenter in development of modern Japanese architecture 28 have not been carefully studied.' The literature on late nineteenthand early twentieth-century architecture has tended to emphasize two important concerns: first, genesis of a newly imported Western architectural profession and its developmental progress on Japanese soil; and second, transformative effects of this new profession that involved mastery of Western building technology and what has been called the problem of style.2 However, in broader built environment of Meiji Japan, there was no abrupt break with building practices of premodern Japan. Meiji-era construction was overwhelmingly executed by carpenters using methods and materials not unlike those used in late Edo period (1600-1868). In both public and private sectors during first half of Meiji period, master carpenter and architect were parallel and even rival professionals working in similar capacities but in different materials. Traditionally trained master carpenters acted not only as craftsmen, but as design professionals and equivalent of structural engineers. They continued to have an important role even in construction of national monuments as long as Meiji government's K6bush6, or Department of Construction, sponsored traditional wood construction.

Vertebral Osteoporosis in Late Edo Japanese.

Osteoporosis was discovered in three individuals out of nine skeletons excavated in Mukai, Tokyo. The materials were dated to the late stage of the Edo period. The severely deformed thoracic and lumbar vertebrae were from mature and elderly individuals. In the first case, the 8th thoracic to the 5th lumbar vertebral bodies showed the so-called “fish vertebrae.” The traces of Schmorl's nodes were also visible in the upper two lumbar vertebrae. This individual probably had a kyphotic deformity resulting from wedging of the 10th to 12th thoracic vertebral bodies. In the second case, both the 12th thoracic and the 3rd lumbar vertebral bodies were wedge-shaped, the latter exhibiting a slight formation of “fish vertebra.” In the final case, the centrally indented body of the 4th lumbar vertebra contained a Schmorl's node. It is highly possible that the vertebral deformations are due to heavy labor in agriculture, as well as to chronic malnutrition among those who lived in Mukai in the late Edo period.

The Development of Small Mines in Nakatsugawa Village, Chichibu, in the Edo Period

This study historically examines regional factors of small mines of Nakatsugawa in Chichibu in the Edo period through analyses of the developers, techniques, labor force, developmental funds, and the villagers' involvement in the exploitation.Mines in Nakatsugawa were exploited in different periods when the national demand for mine resources was large. Notable developments were concentrated in the late 18th century and in the late Edo era (1825-1859).The exploitation of the mines in the late 18th century was carried out as a joint business by various individuals. Most of them were influential Chichibu farmers and Edo merchants without mining skills. Technical experts and workers were supplied from other mines, and were already available through the diffusion of techniques by the mid-18th century. When developers were short of funds, they sought a few wealthy capitalists who could support their projects. Most capitalists as well as developers were from Edo. Some influential farmers became administrative staff of the mine busiess. Other villagers also played major roles in the mine developments by selling lumber or dirt and leasing land for exploitation.Capitalists began to develop their own mines in 1825. Technical experts and workers were from other mines as before. Capitalists in the late Edo period were merchants who also managed other mines. They sometimes brought experts and workers from one of those mines. In this period, the yield of minerals was stable. Then profit from mines increased and bacame important for villagers. On the other hand, the villagers thought that they did not receive a reasonable share, even though the capitalists made much profit from the expansion of the exploitation, which caused the devastation of the villagers' woodland.The strong relation of Nakatsugawa Village to Edo was one of the important factors of the exploitation of small mines. The role of villagers in the development was also important. The villagers' involvement in the mines included their participation in the administration and supplying of labor, land, and goods.