Daily Life and Demographics in Ancient Japan
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 gr...
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| Fformat: | Online |
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University of Michigan Press
2021
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| Mynediad Ar-lein: | ONIX_20200923_9780472901968_8 |
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Dim Tagiau, Byddwch y cyntaf i dagio'r cofnod hwn!
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| _version_ | 1869522296251613184 |
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| author | Farris, William |
| author_browse | Farris, William |
| author_facet | Farris, William |
| author_sort | Farris, William |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | 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 labor-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). |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-29984 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | University of Michigan Press |
| publisherStr | University of Michigan Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-299842025-07-21T15:57:50Z Daily Life and Demographics in Ancient Japan Farris, William History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History 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 labor-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). 2021-02-10T13:37:22Z 2021-02-10T13:37:22Z 2020-09-23T15:13:42Z 2020 book ONIX_20200923_9780472901968_8 OCN: 1184507857 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/41812 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/29984 eng Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/41812/1/9780472901968.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/41812/1/9780472901968.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/41812/1/9780472901968.pdf University of Michigan Press U of M Center For Japanese Studies 10.3998/mpub.9340257 10.3998/mpub.9340257 b7359529-e5f7-4510-a59f-d7dafa1d4d17 National Endowment for the Humanities Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 0314e571-4102-4526-b014-3ed8f2d6750a 0cdc3d7c-5c59-49ed-9dba-ad641acd8fd1 U of M Center For Japanese Studies 149 Ann Arbor [grantnumber unknown] [grantnumber unknown] open access |
| spellingShingle | History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History Farris, William Daily Life and Demographics in Ancient Japan |
| title | Daily Life and Demographics in Ancient Japan |
| title_full | Daily Life and Demographics in Ancient Japan |
| title_fullStr | Daily Life and Demographics in Ancient Japan |
| title_full_unstemmed | Daily Life and Demographics in Ancient Japan |
| title_short | Daily Life and Demographics in Ancient Japan |
| title_sort | daily life and demographics in ancient japan |
| topic | History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History |
| topic_facet | History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History |
| url | ONIX_20200923_9780472901968_8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT farriswilliam dailylifeanddemographicsinancientjapan |