Page 158 - Changing Living Spaces

Miyuki Takahashi

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Horses Households Population (right axis)

Figure 10 Population, Households, and Number of Horses (Komaya)

Shimomoriya. However, from about 1760, the number of horses raised
began to decline. This is followed, with a slight time lag, by a decline
in the human population and the number of households (figure 9). It is
likely that when economic difficulties arose, people first sold their hors-
es and households that were not viable were dissolved. The number of
horses per household was less than one during most of the observed pe-
riod, but toward the end the number of horses exceeded the number of
households.
Sources for Komaya are lacking for many individual years. Therefore, it
is difficult to understand the relationship between the number of horses
and the number of households in a given period. However, from 1800 and
beyond, the number of horses exceeded the number of households, and
the number of horses per household was more than two. This indicates
that horse production gradually became a common practice in the second
half of the early modern period (figure 10). This increase in the number
of horses was inconsistent with what Hayami called a ‘declining trend in
livestock’ from the end of the seventeenth century to the beginning of
the eighteenth century. However, a declining number of horses is also ob-
served; thus, it should be noted that different sources from different pe-
riods may offer different views.

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