Local population registers were compiled in Japan from about 1670 on and continued for the next two centuries. Established as part of an effort to exterminate Christianity, these "registers ofreligious investigation" (shumon aratarne cho) list the name, age, and relationship to head of household for individuals in villages and towns throughout Japan. This article describes their origin, the type and quality of information they contain, their uses for demographic and social structural analysis, and their availability to scholars.
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Cornell et al. (1986) studied this question.
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