Page:EB1911 - Volume 15.djvu/181

Japanese archipelago, and several others have since then been added to the list. As for the land and fresh-water molluscs, some 200 of which are known, they are mainly kindred with those of China and Siberia, tropical and Indian forms being exceptional. There are 57 species of Helix (maimaitsuburi, dedemushi, katatsumuri or kwagyū) and 25 of Clausilia (kiseru-gai or pipe-snail), including the two largest snails in Japan, namely the Cl. Martensi and the Cl. Yokohamensis, which attain to a length of 58 mm. and 44 mm. respectively. The mussel (i-no-kai) is well represented by the species numa-gai (marsh-mussel), karasu-gai (raven-mussel), kamisori-gai (razor-mussel), shijimi-no-kai (Corbicula), of which there are nine species, &c. Unlike the land-molluscs, the great majority of Japanese sea-molluscs are akin to those of the Indian Ocean and the Malay archipelago. Some of them extend westward as far as the Red Sea. The best known and most frequent forms are the asari (Tapes philippinarum), the hamaguri (Meretrix lusoria), the baka (Mactra sulcataria), the aka-gai (Scapharca inflata), the kaki (oyster), the awabi (Haliotis japonica), the sazae (Turbo cornutus), the hora-gai (Tritonium tritonius), &c. Among the cephalopods several are of great value as articles of food, e.g. the surume (Onychotheuthis Banksii), the tako (octopus), the shidako (Eledone), the ika (Sepia) and the tako-fune (Argonauta).

Greeff enumerates, as denizens of Japanese seas, 26 kinds of sea-urchins (gaze or uni) and 12 of starfish (hitode or tako-no-makura). These, like the mollusca, indicate the influence of the Kuro Shiwo and the south-west monsoon, for they have close affinity with species found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. For edible purposes the most valuable of the Japanese echinoderms is the sea-slug or bêche de mer (namako), which is greatly appreciated and forms an important staple of export to China. Rein writes: “Very remarkable in connexion with the starfishes is the occurrence of Asterias rubens on the Japanese coast. This creature displays an almost unexampled frequency and extent of distribution in the whole North Sea, in the western parts of the Baltic, near the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and the English coasts, so that it may be regarded as a characteristic North Sea echinoderm form. Towards the south this starfish disappears, it seems, completely; for it is not yet known with certainty to exist either in the Mediterranean or in the southern parts of the Atlantic Ocean. In others also Asterias rubens is not known—and then it suddenly reappears in Japan. Archaster typicus has a pretty wide distribution over the Indian Ocean; other Asteridae of Japan, on the other hand, appear to be confined to its shores.”

Japan is not rich in corals and sponges. Her most interesting contributions are crust-corals (Gorgonidae, Corallium, Isis, &c.), and especially flint-sponges, called by the Japanese hoshi-gai and known as “glass-coral” (Hyalonema sieboldi). These last have not been found anywhere except at the entrance of the Bay of Tōkyō at a depth of some 200 fathoms.

II.—The People

Population.—The population was as follows on the 31st of December 1907:—

Population.	Males.	Females.	Totals.	Population  per sq. m.
Japan proper	24,601,658	24,172,627	48,774,285	330
Formosa (Taiwan)	1,640,778	1,476,137	3,116,915	224
Sakhalin	7,175	3,631	10,806	0.1
	—————	—————	—————
Totals	26,249,611	25,652,395	51,902,006

The following table shows the rate of increase in the four quadrennial periods between 1891 and 1907 in Japan proper:—

Year.	Males.	Females.	Totals.	Average  increase  per cent.	Population  per sq. m.
1891	20,563,416	20,155,261	40,718,677	1.09	272
1895	21,345,750	20,904,870	42,270,620	1.09	286
1899	22,330,112	21,930,540	44,260,652	1.14	299
1903	23,601,640	23,131,236	46,732,876	1.54	316
1907	24,601,658	24,172,627	48,774,285	1.13	330

The population of Formosa (Taiwan) during the ten-year period 1898–1907 grew as follows:—

Year.	Males.	Females.	Totals.	Average  increase  per cent.	Population  per sq. m.
1898	1,307,428	1,157,539	2,464,967	—	182
1902	1,513,280	1,312,067	2,825,347	2.70	209
1907	1,640,778	1,476,137	3,116,915	2.37	224

According to quasi-historical records, the population of the empire in the year A.D. 610 was 4,988,842, and in 736 it had grown to 8,631,770. It is impossible to say how much reliance may be placed on these figures, but from the 18th century, when the name of every subject had to be inscribed on the roll of a temple as a measure against his adoption of Christianity, a tolerably trustworthy census could always be taken. The returns thus obtained show that from the year 1723 until 1846 the population remained almost stationary, the figure in the former year being 26,065,422, and that in the latter year 26,907,625. There had, indeed, been five periods of declining population in that interval of 124 years, namely, the periods 1738–1744, 1759–1762, 1773–1774, 1791–1792, and 1844–1846. But after 1872, when the census showed a total of 33,110,825, the population grew steadily, its increment between 1872 and 1898 inclusive, a period of 27 years, being 10,649,990. Such a rate of increase invests the question of subsistence with great importance. In former times the area of land under cultivation increased in a marked degree. Returns prepared at the beginning of the 10th century showed 21/2 million acres under crops, whereas the figure in 1834 was over 8 million acres. But the development of means of subsistence has been outstripped by the growth of population in recent years. Thus, during the period between 1899 and 1907 the population received an increment of 11.6% whereas the food-producing area increased by only 4.4%. This discrepancy caused anxiety at one time, but large fields suitable for colonization have been opened in Sakhalin, Korea, Manchuria and Formosa, so that the problem of subsistence has ceased to be troublesome. The birth-rate, taking the average of the decennial period ended 1907, is 3.05% of the population, and the death-rate is 2.05. Males exceed females in the ratio of 2% approximately. But this rule does not hold after the age of 65, where for every 100 females only 83 males are found. The Japanese are of low stature as compared with the inhabitants of Western Europe: about 16% of the adult males are below 5 ft. But there are evidences of steady improvement in this respect. Thus, during the period of ten years between 1893 and 1902, it was found that the percentage of recruits of 5 ft. 5 in. and upward grew from 10.09 to 12.67, the rate of increase having been remarkably steady; and the percentage of those under 5 ft. declined from 20.21 to 16.20.

Towns.—There are in Japan 23 towns having a population of over 50,000, and there are 76 having a population of over 20,000. The larger towns, their populations and the growth of the latter during the five-year period commencing with 1898 were as follow:—

Urban Populations

	1898.	1903.
Tōkyō	1,440,121	1,795,128
Osaka	821,235	988,200
Kiōto	353,139	379,404
Nagoya	244,145	284,829
Kobe	215,780	283,839
Yokohama	193,762	324,776
Hiroshima	122,306	113,545
Nagasaki	107,422	151,727
Kanazawa	83,595	97,548
Sendai	83,325	93,773
Hakodate	78,040	84,746
Fukuoka	66,190	70,107
Wakayama	63,667	67,908
Tokushima	61,501	62,998
Kumamoto	61,463	55,277
Toyama	59,558	86,276
Okayama	58,025	80,140
Otaru	56,961	79,746
Kagoshima	53,481	58,384
Niigata	53,366	58,821
Sakai	50,203	———
Sapporo	———	55,304
Kure	———	62,825
Sasebo	———	52,607

The growth of Kure and Sasebo is attributable to the fact that they have become the sites of large ship-building yards, the property of the state.

The number of houses in Japan at the end of 1903, when the census was last taken, was 8,725,544, the average number of inmates in each house being thus 5.5.

Physical Characteristics.—The best authorities are agreed that the Japanese people do not differ physically from their Korean and Chinese neighbours as much as the inhabitants of northern Europe differ from those of southern Europe. It is true that the Japanese are shorter in stature than either the Chinese or the Koreans. Thus the average height of the Japanese male is only 5 ft. 31/2 in., and that of the female 4 ft. 101/2 in., whereas in the case of the Koreans and the northern Chinese the corresponding figures for males are 5 ft. 53/4 in. and 5 ft. 7 in. respectively. Yet in other physical characteristics the Japanese, the Koreans