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Demographic history of Japan before the Meiji Restoration

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Population before Edo era

Total population

Before the establishment of the religious and population investigation registers system by the Tokugawa shogunate, several less reliable sources existed upon which an estimate of the population was made. The first record of the population was the Chinese text "Records of Three Kingdoms" where the summated number of houses in eight countries of Wō is given as 159,000.

The household registration system (Hukou (simplified Chinese: 户口; traditional Chinese: 戶口; pinyin: hùkǒu) or Huji (simplified Chinese: 户籍; traditional Chinese: 戶籍; pinyin: hùjí)), which is called koseki (戸籍, family registries) in Japanese, was introduced from ancient China to Japan during the 7th century. According to "Nihon Shoki (日本書記)", the first koseki system, called Kōgo no Nen Jaku (庚午年籍) or Kōin no Nen Jaku (庚寅年籍), was established between 670 or 690, and was to be readministered every six years. However, most of the original koseki texts were lost because they were to be preserved only 30 years. The oldest koseki fragments - which were reused as reinforcement papers (Shihai Monjo (紙背文書, scroop document)) in Shōsōin (正倉院) - records names, ages and estates of people including slaves (e.g. 1,119 persons were recorded for the village named Hanyū (半布里) (present day Tomika-chō (富加町)) in 702)). A discarded lacquer-coated paper document (Urushigami Monjo (漆紙文書, lacquer paper document)) found in Kanoko C Ruins (鹿ノ子C遺跡), Ishioka, Ibaraki records the total population of families of taxpayers in Hitachi no kuni (常陸国) in 795 was 191,660 (excluding families of officers, families of workers for Shintō shrines and slaves); this is the only reliable remaining census recorded for a whole province before the Edo period. The ancient koseki system later collapsed during the early Heian period, when aristocrats achieved power as landowners of Shōen.

The following estimates by different scholars are based upon the number of houses, villages, kokudaka, areas of rice fields and soldiers which were recorded in "Wamyō Ruijushō (和名類聚抄)" (10th century), "Record of Song or History of Song (Chinese: 宋史; pinyin: Sòng Shǐ)", "Shūgaishō (拾芥抄)" (14th century), "Tenshōki (天正記)" (late 16th century), "Tōdaiki (当代記)" (early 17th century), or fragments of papers of the Shōsōin (8th century) and others, as well as remnants of specific periods.

Urban population

Since Kyōto (or Heian-kyō) became the capital of Japan in 794, it has been one of the most important cities in Japan. Hiraizumi and Kamakura flourished under Northern Fujiwara clans (during 12th century) and Kamakura shogunate (1192 to 1333), respectively. The urban area of Kyōto suffered from the Ōnin War (1467 to 1477) and split into two districts, but coalesced into a great city of more than 400,000 inhabitants after the end of Sengoku period. The Christian missionaries led by Francis Xavier reported that the number of houses in Kyōto, Yamaguchi or Hakata was more than 90,000, more than 10,000 or 10,000, respectively, in the late 16th century according to History of Japan written by Luís Fróis. After the unification of Japan by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Ōsaka grew into a populous city with tens of thousands of people. Several castle towns also began to grow, where samurai classes were settled.

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