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Women are found on koseki under the male head of household. Usually on a father's koseki until she is married. If her father dies before her marriage it will be under his male heir's name. When you receive your family's koseki you can then request the koseki for your ancestor's wife, as her maiden name, the head of household's name on whose koseki she is found on and the address of where she is from, are all usually recorded on her husband's koseki. This is all the information you will need to now follow all the steps above to now request her family information. | Women are found on koseki under the male head of household. Usually on a father's koseki until she is married. If her father dies before her marriage it will be under his male heir's name. When you receive your family's koseki you can then request the koseki for your ancestor's wife, as her maiden name, the head of household's name on whose koseki she is found on and the address of where she is from, are all usually recorded on her husband's koseki. This is all the information you will need to now follow all the steps above to now request her family information. | ||
=== Religious Inquisition Census === | === Religious Inquisition Census [Shumoncho] === | ||
A Religious Inquisition Census was taken periodically to classify people according to their religion and to detect illegal Christians. The government required that everyone register at their religious affiliation temple or Shinto shrine. Temple priests were required to give this information to the local authorities. They do not include Samurai. Some kinds of census records are: | A Religious Inquisition Census was taken periodically to classify people according to their religion and to detect illegal Christians. The government required that everyone register at their religious affiliation temple or Shinto shrine. Temple priests were required to give this information to the local authorities. They do not include Samurai. Some kinds of census records are: | ||
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*Individual Surveillance Registers | *Individual Surveillance Registers | ||
*Registers of Five-household Units | *Registers of Five-household Units | ||
Record type: A census or population registration prepared on the basis of periodic surveys which classified individuals according to their religious affiliation. There are several varieties of such census records including: Religion inquisition records [shumon aratamecho or shumoncho for short), the Individual Surveillance Registers [ninbetsucho] and the Registers of Five-Household Units [goningumicho]. These can all be classified into one generic category called Religious Inquisition Census Records. | |||
During the 1500s, the feudal lords began counting the inhabitants of their domains as part of their strategy of governance, and in 1644 the shogunate conducted a census [ninbetsu aratame] of its own domains [tenryo]. These censuses were usually prepared by village and town officials upon instruction from district and town administrators. After 1671 there were carried out in conjunction with religious registration [shumon aratame]. The religious registers came into existence because of a Tokugawa government policy which excluded Christian and foreign influences. This registration of the population began in the middle of the seventeenth century and continued until the Meiji restoration with varying degrees of completeness. Except for semiannual surveys of changes in the population of the city of Edo (now Tokyo), censuses were not made on a regular basis until after 1726, when national surveys were scheduled every six years. | |||
The general public was required to register their religious affiliation with the local Buddhist temple or, in some cases, with the Shinto shrine. Temple priests were required to issue attestations of temple affiliation which were then certified by the local civil authority. The ban on Christianity was vigorously enforced. Those who were found guilty of being Christians were forced to apostatize or be put to death. Individual surveillance records [ninbetsucho] and Registers of Five-Household Units [goningumicho] are variations of the shumoncho. Individual surveillance records additionally ensured thorough taxation. Goningumi registers were compiled to control the population and to deter misconduct within the neighborhood groups. These groups consisted of the five-household unit which shared responsibility and accountability for each other’s conduct and non-Christianness. | |||
Time period: 1640 to 1872. | |||
Content: Religious inquisition census records collectively described the make up of the local community, classifying families according to their status as farmers, artisans, merchants, and outcasts. These censuses did not count samurai or court nobles, and they sometimes omitted children and the marginal social groups. Because they were created before the time when surnames were used, they do not include surnames. Shumon-Aratamecho: provide the name of the head of each house and the names of household members; sex, relationship to head of household, age at the time of census, sect affiliation, confirmation of temple affiliation, location of the family temple, number of household residents (sometimes listing of servants, animals owned, and property). Ninbetsucho: give the locality and date of the document created, name of head of household, names, ages, sexes, and relationship to head of household, status of household members; animals owned, property and tax notations, and the amount of taxes paid. Goningumicho give the names each of the five household heads and the chief of the group; locality, date, the temple seal attesting to religious orthodoxy; sometimes names household members. | |||
Population coverage: Originally covered between 80 and 95% of the population. However, less than 12% of the original records still exist. These cover only about 10 to 15% of the population. | |||
Reliability: Religious Inquisition Census Records are considered to be very reliable and have been used extensively by historians and demographers. | |||
Research use: These records identify members of household units. This is unlike the kakocho, which reference specific vital events but provide only sketchy family relationships. This difference is quite significant since during the Tokugawa period commoners were not allowed to have surnames, the key identifier of lineage in most genealogical research. | |||
Accessibility: There are few complete collections in one location. These records are not easily accessible to the general population but scholars often have access.<ref name="profile">The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Japan,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1986-2001.</ref> | |||
'''Use these records to''': | '''Use these records to''': | ||
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Find the name of the head of the household and family members. Because they were created before the time when surnames were used, they do not include surnames. | Find the name of the head of the household and family members. Because they were created before the time when surnames were used, they do not include surnames. | ||
'''How to find these records''': Many of these records are on microfilm at the Family History Library. These records are written in old Japanese, so being able to read and search them you will need a knowlege of written Japanese and as well as a good kanji dictionary that will be necessary to decipher them. In order to find these records in the FamilySearch Catalog, it will be necessary to use the language bar on the computer and type in the Japanese characters under the "Keyword" tab to locate these records in the catalog. | '''How to find these records''': Location: Scattered in archives, private collections, in the homes of descendants of village headmen, and even in some Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. They must be searched out. | ||
Many of these records are on microfilm at the Family History Library. These records are written in old Japanese, so being able to read and search them you will need a knowlege of written Japanese and as well as a good kanji dictionary that will be necessary to decipher them. In order to find these records in the FamilySearch Catalog, it will be necessary to use the language bar on the computer and type in the Japanese characters under the "Keyword" tab to locate these records in the catalog. | |||
=== Resident Registration [Juminhyo] === | === Resident Registration [Juminhyo] === | ||