Thank you Francisco Xavier: an essay in the use of micro-data for historical demography of Tokugawa Japan

The author describes the Religious Affiliation Investigation Registers (Shumon Aratame Cho), which constitute the best available population data for pre-modern Japan. These registers are a result of the anti-Christian policies of the Tokugawa regime, which governed Japan from 1603 to 1868. The methodology for using these registers in historical demographic analysis is discussed, and the work of a research group that is currently conducting such an analysis is described.