International marriages, 1873-1899

Statistics based on Koyama Noboru's 1995 study

By William Wetherall

First posted 24 December 2006
Last updated 1 January 2008

Koyama's study of Meiji mixed marriages

The most comprehensive study of marriages between Japanese and foreigners, recognized by under Great Council of State Proclamation No. 103 of 1873, is by Noboru Koyama, Koyama, the librarian for the Japanese Collection in the Cambridge University Library.

Koyama Noboru
Kokusai kekkon daiichigo: Meiji hitotachi no zakkon kotohajime
[The first international marriage: The beginnings of mixed marriages of Meiji people]
Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995
282 pages, paperback

See Koyama 1995 for a review of this publication and related information.

At the end of his book, Koyama lists, in chronological order, 260 marriages between Japanese and foreigners that are known to have been recognized by Japan between 1872 and 1897. The list begins with the Minami-Pittman and Kitagawa-Freame unions, and ends with two unions between Japanese women and Chinese men. (Koyama 1995:263-271)

Koyama reduced his data to statistics, but he lumps together nationalities with few cases as "Other". While he tabulates spouses of Japanese nationality by their provincial origins, he does conflates British subjects from India, Penang, and Singapore with other British nationals. There is a pie chart with an incomplete breakdown of foreign husbands by nationality, but no chart showing a breakdown of foreign wives by nationality. (Koyama 1995:104-116)

In order to confirm Koyama's tabulations, and to clarify details that are lost in his analysis, I tabulated his data in a way that better illuminates the trends I wish to discuss.

Top


Marriages between Japanese and foreigners, recognized by Japan, 1873-1897

By year, sex of Japanese spouse, and nationality of foreign spouse

Tabulated, computed, and designed by William Wetherall (December 2006)
Based on cases collected and listed by Koyama Noboru (1995)

		Japanese men marrying foreign women									Japanese women marrying foreign men
			Wife's nationality at time of marriage									Husband's nationality at time of marriage															Became Japanese
	Totals	Totals	GB	Bel	Fra	Ger	Spa	USA			Totals	GB	Ind	Pen	Sing	AH	Bel	Chi	Den	Fra	Ger	Hol	Port	Rus	Swi	USA	Yoshi	Nyufu
																											[ Included in totals ]
1873	4	1	1							1873	3	1			1			1
1874	2	1	1							1874	1							1											1875
1875	6	1						1		1875	5	1						4											1876
1876	10	1				1				1876	9	5						1		2				1					1877
1877	7	3				3				1877	4	2		1												1			1878
1878	3	0								1878	3							1					1	1					1879
1879	6	2				1		1		1879	4	2									1					1			1880
1880	16	2	1	1						1880	14	6	1					5					1			1	1		1881
1881	11	1				1				1881	10	5	1					1			1				1	1	1	1	1882
1882	11	0								1882	11	4						3		1		2				1	1		1883
1883	3	0								1883	3	2												1					1884
1884	3	2	1			1				1884	1	1																	1885
1885	3	1				1				1885	2	1								1								1	1886
1886	8	3				2		1		1886	5	3							2										1887
1887	6	2				1		1		1887	4	2								1	1								1888
1888	9	3	1		1			1		1888	6	2						1			1					2			1889
1889	6	6	1		2	2		1		1889	0																		1890
1890	6	3			1			2		1890	3	2						1										1	1891
1891	5	3	1			1		1		1891	2	1														1		1	1892
1892	4	1					1			1892	3							1			1				1				1893
1893	21	4	1		1	1		1		1893	17	5					1	7		1	1					2		3	1894
1894	21	0								1894	21	4						12	1	1	2	1							1895
1895	20	0								1895	20	7				1		3		3	3	1	1			1		2	1896
1896	22	6	4			1		1		1896	16	3						7			1	1		2	1	1		1	1897
1897	17	4				2	1	1		1897	13	2						8			2					1

Total	230	50	12	1	5	18	2	12		Totals	180	61	2	1	1	1	1	57	3	10	14	5	3	5	3	13	3	10
Percents		100.0	24.0	2.0	10.0	36.0	4.0	24.0	Percents		100.0	33.9	1.1	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	31.7	1.7	5.6	7.8	2.8	1.7	2.8	1.7	7.2	1.7	5.6
			GB	Bel	Fra	Ger	Spa	USA				GB	Ind	Pen	Sing	AH	Bel	Chi	Den	Fra	Ger	Hol	Port	Rus	Swi	USA	Yoshi	Nyufu
																											[ Included in totals ]

Totals and percents by nationality and sex

Nationality of foreign spouse					Marriages by sex of Japanese spouse

				Couples				Percents of total
				M	F	Tot		M	F	Tot

GB	Great Britain (Brit)			12	61	73		5.2	26.5	31.7		GB
Ind	India (Brit)				2	2			0.9	0.9		Ind
Pen	Penang (Brit)				1	1			0.4	0.4		Pen
Sing	Singapore (Brit)				1	1			0.4	0.4		Sing
AH	Austria Hungary				1	1			0.4	0.4		AH
Bel	Belgium			1	1	2		0.4	0.4	0.9		Bel
Chi	China				57	57			24.8	24.8		Chi
Den	Denmark				3	3			1.3	1.3		Den
Fra	France			5	10	15		2.2	4.3	6.5		Fra
Ger	Germany			18	14	32		7.8	6.1	13.9		Ger
Hol	Holland				5	5			2.2	2.2		Hol
Port	Portugal				3	3			1.3	1.3		Port
Spa	Spain			2		2		0.9		0.9		Spa
Swi	Switzerland				5	5			2.2	2.2		Swi
Rus	Russia				3	3			1.3	1.3		Rus
USA	United States			12	13	25		5.2	5.7	10.9		USA

	Totals			50	180	230		21.7	78.3	100.0
				M	F	Tot		M	F	Tot


Source		Koyama Noboru
		Kokusai kekkon daiichigo: Meiji hitotachi no zakkon kotohajime
		[The first international marriage: The beginnings of mixed marriages of Meiji people]
		Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995
		Pages 263-271

Nationalities		GB -- Nationals of Great Britian (Eikoku) other than those Koyama identifies as being from India, Penang, or Singapore.


		India, Penang, and Singapore -- Nationals of Great Britain (Eikoku) who Koyama specifically identifies as being from these British colonies. He does not identify other British nationals as being from Australia or other such territories, and his own statistics conflate British subjects of India, Penang, and Singapore with other British nationals.





		China -- Nationals of Qing [Ching] (Shinkoku), i.e., the Qing Dyansty.

Top