The current dissertation is an attempt to reconstruct patterns of<br />health and disease during the Edo period (1603-1867 AD) in urban and<br />rural populations in Japan and observe the effects of urbanization in<br />them from a more comparative approach, utilizing a wide range of<br />skeletal indicators, including infectious diseases, trauma, dietary<br />indicators and non specific stress indicators. This study tried to test<br />the hypotheses that: 1) urbanization in the Edo period, despite the<br />improvement of the living conditions, led to a negative effect on the<br />overall health of the populations, 2) that the effects of urbanization<br />had a significant impact on the lifestyle of the urban individuals,<br />changing the gender roles in their society and therefore their<br />susceptibility to disease and 3) that despite the temporary residential<br />character of the people in the urban centers, the duration of their stay<br />was long enough to affect their health status. <br /> For the purposes of the current research two urban and four rural<br />populations from the Kanto region, Japan, dated in the Edo period <br />(1603-1867 AD) were utilized. Non specific stress indicators (porotic<br />hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, enamel hypoplasia, periostitis), specific<br />infections (Tuberculosis, Syphilis), dental pathological conditions (caries,<br />antemortem tooth loss, periapical lesions), trauma and degenerative joint<br />diseases were all studied and compared in terms of prevalence and severity<br />in regards to sex, age and geographic distribution. <br /> The results indicated that nutritional stress, epidemics and overcrowding<br />conditions were some of the key factors that increased the health risks of<br />the Edo period people in the urban centers. Urbanization and the rapid<br />increase of productivity during this period appeared to have had a profound<br />effect on the health of urban adults associated to a change in gender roles.<br />Urban males followed a more intense lifestyle, where infectious diseases,<br />hard labor and accidents, due to activity or interpersonal violence, were<br />more prevalent. In addition urban females, although equally exposed to the<br />effects of urbanization as males, however, they appear to have experienced<br />a change in activity patterns compared to rural females, while they were<br />affected by nutritional deficiencies early in life, owing possibly to<br />differential nutrition, an early age of marriage, increased birth rate and<br />prolonged breast feeding in the urban Edo setting. In addition, despite of<br />the continuous migration from and to urban centers, the length of residence<br />was long enough to affect and change health patterns. Finally, rural adults<br />appeared more uniform reflecting a lack of considerable gender differences<br />in regards to daily lifestyle and division of labor, maintaining a harsh and<br />pathogenic living environment for both sexes.
HEALTH AND DISEASE IN THE KANTO REGION DURING THE EDO PERIOD (17th-19th CENTURIES), JAPAN
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