This project supports a cultural anthropologist examining the nature of the peasant family in early modern Japan (1600-1868). Using a variety of historic demographic data, surveys of memorial tablets and other tombstones, the investigator will try to establish when the "stem" family system became prevalent in Japan. This research is important because the history of Japan since the Seventeenth Century has been one of impressive economic and political growth. This growth has been supported by peasant agriculture, and understanding just how these sector of society functioned will help us explain the pattern of Japanese history, and thus perhaps smooth the course of development for other, less developed nations.
