Tokugawa population surveys

Beginning in 1721, the Tokugawa shogunate ordered all domains to perform population surveys once every six years, and to report the results to the shogunate. These censuses can provide very useful information to historians about local and domainal demographic history, but also have their advantages and disadvantages.

The survey results were generally compiled from separate reports submitted by village headmen, heads of city districts, and the like from each village, district, or the like. While conducted regularly every six years, it can be difficult to see in these reports population impacts across more short-term events, such as natural disasters and famines. Further, the surveys only count commoners, including peasants, townsmen, and clergy, excluding retainers and their servants.

References

• Luke Roberts, Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa, Cambridge University Press (2002), 58-59.