Well before the onset of industrialization, Edo was one of the biggest cities
in the world, with a population of one million or more by the beginning
of the eighteenth century. For next 150 years, until just before Edo
changed its name to Tokyo in 1868, it is believed that Edo maintained this
population level of one million, with about a half of the population being
samurai and their families. In 1872, having seen a massive exodus of ex-shogunal retainers and their families, triggered by the collapse of the
Tokugawa shogunate and the social and political uncertainties that
followed, Tokyo's population stood at just 580,000, close to half the
previous size. In addition, it is believed, the city's administrative
functions were rapidly deteriorating. The population began to recover
from about 1880 and exceeded the one-million mark in the 1890s. In other
words, as many as half a million people migrated to Tokyo during this
twenty-year period. In 1908 when a population survey was taken, the total
population was then 1,626,000, and the number of people, particularly
males, in each of the age groups 15–19, 20–24 and 25–29 was greater than
the number in the 5–9 or the 10–14 group. There is a marked contrast with
the situation in the late 1860s when the 20–24 group was smaller than the
10–14 or the 15–19 group. This survey suggests that many of the migrants
who arrived at Tokyo in the period of growth were male, young and,
probably, unmarried.