Migration and Networks in Early Modern Kyoto, Japan

Abstract

The question of assimilation networks for migrants is usually applied to international migration. In this study, however, I use the population registers for a neighborhood in early modern Kyoto to look for possible network connections in domestic migration. I found a yearly turnover of fourteen households moving in and out of the neighborhood. Household and group migration was more important than individual migration and there is some sign of primary–secondary migration flows. Service migration did not play a major role in the migration patterns of this neighborhood, but the textile industry was probably an important attraction. Evidence of networks appears in the use of shop names that reflect a connection with a province or some specific location. These shop names usually reflected the place of origin of the household and may have been an effective method of gaining network connections and the guarantors necessary for finding housing and employment.