Minseki registers, 1868-1945

Minseki in late Tokugawa and early Meiji

"Minseki" as a term that probably means "jinmin koseki" can be found in Great Council of State records predating the promulgation of the Family Register Law in 1871.

"minseki" and "kokumin" in Yuasa Tadanori's Kōeki jukujiten, 1874-1875 Images copped and cropped from 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション National Diet Library Digital Collections Pages read right-to-left, entries read top-to-bottom, right-to-left Transliterations, literations, and translations are mine Note differences in graph and kana editions
Yuasa 1875, kana-look-up edition	Yuasa 1874, graph-look-up edition
民籍 minseki (common) people register namahe chau (namae chō) 名前帳 name ledger Yuasa 1875, kana-look-up edition, page 170b	民籍 minseki (common) people register tami no na wo shirushita chaumen (chōmen) 民の名を記した帳面 ledger recording names of people Yuasa 1974, graph-look-up edition, page 132b
國民 kokumin nationals kuni no morobito 国の諸人 all people in the country Yuasa 1875, kana-look-up edition, page 126b	國民 kokumin nationals Nihon no tami 日本の民 (common) people of Japan Yuasa 1974, graph-look-up edition, page 056b
minseki jinmin no kokō wo shirabe kishitaru chōbo minseki register [for] examining and recording the households and populations of the people Sourced to late 11th-century Chinese RESUME Ōtsuki Fumihiko, Daigenkai, 1932, Vol 4, page 517 Image copped and cropped from National Diet Library Digital Collections 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション	minseki (1) kokuseki, (2) heimin no zokuseki, heiminseki, (3) jinmin no kokō no chōbo people register (1) nationality, (2) clan register (status) of commoners, (3) ledger of households and populations of the people Captured from Kotobank.jp (コトバンク), 15 March 2021

Minseki population registers

"Minseki" as demographic territorial affiliation

The 1871 Family Register Law calls the registers in which people considered "jinmin" or "kokumin" or "shinmin" were to be enrolled as "koseki" (戸籍) -- meaning a "household" or "family" register. However, the term "minseki" (民籍) -- meaning an "affiliate register" -- was also used in Japan at the time to describe a population register.

The term "minseki" can be seen in the notice of change of registration status that appears immediately before the text of the Family Register Law, as follows (see image above).

森岡縣士族小山田治六脱籍に付庶民に下シ民籍ニ編入
Morioka prefecture gentry (shizoku 士族) Oyamada Jiroku, on account of leaving (dropping from) his [shizoku] register (dasseki 脱籍), is lowered to [the status of] commoner (shomin 庶民) and enrolled in a [general, ordinary] population register (minseki 民籍).

The distinction being made here is between registers for the pedigreed classes -- "nobility" (kazoku 華族) and [former samurai] "gentry" (shizoku 士族) -- and "commoners" (shomin 庶民) or "ordinary people" (heimin 平民), meaning everyone else. The term "min" means "people" in the sense of ordinary folk affiliated with an entity such as a village or country, or a vocation such as agriculture or hunting.

It is clear here that "minseki" was in use before the promulgation and enforcement of the 1871 Family Register Law. In fact, it goes back to at least the 11th century in China. See Belonging in Japan past and present in the "Nationality" section for details.

The term "ippan minseki" (一般民籍) -- meaning "general affiliate (peoples) register" was used in Grand Council of State Proclamation 429 of Meiji 4-8-28 (12 October 1871), which stipulated that "eta, hinin and such" -- appellations abrogated by Proclamation No. 428 of the same date -- were to be enrolled in general population registers as "commoners" (heimin 平民). Proclamation No. 115 of Meiji 4-4-9 (15 April 1872)

The expression "jinmin koseki" (人民戸籍) also appears in the 1871 Family Register Law. My hunch -- which I am unable to substantiate at this time -- is that "minseki" is a reduction of "jinmin koseki" -- at least in cases when the "people" (jinmin 人民) were enrolled in registers by household (戸籍), which generally referred to a dwelling with an address.

"Jinmin koseki" also appears in the title of at least one contemporary guide for people engaged in the registration business -- the equivalent of today's judicial scrivener (shihō shoshi 司法書士), who are authorized to prepare and at times file legal documents related to civil matters such as household registration, inheritance, conservatorships, naturalization, and real estate transactions and title transfers and the like. See Meiji-era household registration handbooks below for examples.

The term "minseki" (民籍) generally refers a civil register (seki 籍) of affiliates (min 民) of a country or territory. To the extent that such registers embrace the entire population of a country's affilites -- and to the extent that a country's affiliates are enrolled in household registers -- "minseki" and "koseki" are synynomous with other and tantamount to "kokuseki" (kokuseki 国籍) in the sense of "nationality", though of the three terms are used differently. Otherwise, "minseki" signifies only the civil population (household) registers of a legal territory.

1874 Kōeki jukujiten definitions of "kokumin" and "minseki"

The images to the right show "minseki" defined in both the graph-look-up (1874) and kana-look-up (1875) editions of Yuasa Tadayoshi's Kōeki jukujiten (廣広熟字典), a dictionary of Sino-Japanese compounds published a couple of years after the family register law came into effect in 1872. The definitions, while not rigorous, suggest that the term refers to a register of common people as "affiliates" (min 民) of an administrative territory.

For a complete discription of the dictionary, and numerous examples of several other terms, see Belonging in Japan past and present in the the same "Nationality" section.

"Minseki" in Japan's early population reports

"Minseki" was the key word in the title of some population reports like Nihon Teikoku minseki kokō hyō (日本帝国民籍戸口表) "Japan Empire minseki household and population tables", published in 1895 (Meiji 28) by the Family Register Section (Kosekika 戸籍課) of the Police Bureau (Keihokyoku 警保局) of the Ministry of Interior Affairs (Naimushō 内務省). The bureau was established on 28 August 1872 in the Ministry of Justice ( Shihōshō 司法省), migrated to the Ministry of Interior Affairs on 9 January 1874, and operated until the Interior Ministry was dissolved by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces on 31 December 1947. The bureau's responsibilities included overseeing the enforcement of the Family Register Law and administration of the family (household) registration system, which are now under the oversight and control of municipal government offices.

"Minseki" in Korea and Chōsen

"Minseki" was used by the Korean and Japanese authors of the Empire of Korea's 1909 People's Register Law (民籍法 K. Minjŏkpŏp, J. Minsekihō). This law enabled the implementation of Korea's first comprehensive nationwide household registration system. It remained in force after Korea was annexed by Japan as Chōsen in 1910. Chōsen's houshold register system was gradually, but never entirely, Interiorized. It accommodated many features of Interior family law while retaining some elements of Chōsen family law. For example, from 1940, Chōsen's family registration system required Interior like sharing of a single family name by all members of the same family, but registers continued to record individual family clan names and their origins, which Chosenese continued to value when it came to marriage and adoption.

"Minseki" in national censuses

"Minseki" was used within the Empire of Japan to refer to the population register systems of the 4 legal territories that comprised its sovereign dominion -- Interior, Taiwan, Karafuto, and Chōsen. National censuses from 1920 to 1945 reported breakdowns of Japan's population by minseki and nationality (kokuseki 国籍). Japanese were broken down by minseki, and foreigners -- meaning people who do not possess Japan's nationality -- were broken down by nationality. Both breakdowns were based on a person's "honseki" (principle domicile register) status -- registration within one of Japan's territories, or within the territory of another country. Aliens were deemed (as a legal fiction) to have a honseki in another country, which made them a national of the country. People with no nationality were stateless aliens.

See examples of census classifications immediate below.

"Minseki" in Manchoukuo

"Minseki" was used by the Manchoukuoan and Japanese authors of the Empire of Manchoukuo's 1940 Provisional People's Register Law (暫行民籍法 WG Chanhsing minchifa, PY Zanxing minjifa, SJ Zankō minsekihō). The enabled the first nationwide household population registration system in the country.

Naimushō Keihokyoku Kosakika 1896 Meiji 28-12-31 Nihon Teikoku minseki kokō hyō [ 31 December 1895 Tables of Imperial Japan people's register households and populations ] Yosha Bunko scans Click on text images to enlarge
Colophon (15 December 1896 publication)	Cover (31 December 1885 datum)
Table of contents (2)	Table of contents (1)
Page 10 Before Table 2 (right) -- Movements (status migrations) Table 2 (left) -- Rural & urban by region & province	Page 1 Table 1 -- General figures Households, and populations by sex, status, and years lived
Page 69 Table 4 -- Births By legal circumstances of child's birth, plus rates of birth per 100 population	Page 64 Table 3 -- Household populations by province Honseki and actual residence populations, plus average persons per household
Page 78 Table 7 -- Populations by status and prefecture Domicile of head and family by status and sex, abandoned children and unregistered people, plus average persons per household	Page 76 Table 6 -- Late notifications and other actions Additions -- late reports of death et cetera Deletions -- late reports of death et cetera Migrations from and to foreign registers

1895 Minseki households and populations

Who was born, who died, and who resided where,
double registration, unregistered persons,
migrations to and from foreign registers,
late registration, abandoned children,
by sex, age, and lineage status

内務省警保局戸籍課
明治二十八年十二月卅一日調
日本帝国民籍戸口表
[東京府東京市] 京橋區：注愛社 [印刷所]
明治廿九年十二月十三日印刷
明治廿九年十二月十五日發行
2 (目次)、128 (表)、1 (奥付け)

Naimushō Keihokyoku Kosekika
[ Interior Ministry, Police Bureau, Family Register Department ]
Meiji 28-nen 12-gatsu 31-nichi chō
Nihon Teikoku minseki kokō hyū
[ Japan-empire peoples-register housholds-populations tables ]
[ 31 December 1895 survey ]
[Tokyo-fu Tokyo-shi] Kyōbashi-ku: Chūaisha [printer]
13 December 1896 printed
15 December 1896 published
2 (contents)、128 (tables)、1 (colophon)

This paper bound report measures 18.2 x 25.4 cm -- a standard B5 publication, the most common size for government reports until fairly recently when the slightly larger A4 size became more popular. B5 remains the most common size for weekly magazines.

An errata sheet in pasted inside the front cover, which bears a small seal. Worms had a field day on the back free fly, were working on the colophon, and just began eating into the last two pages before they had retreated.

Population statistics

The demographic history of Japan is fascinating and complex, as it is for any old, large, and complex poluation. Historical demography is mainly concerned with population estimates before the start of so-called "national census" (kokusei chōsa 国勢調査) surveys in 1920. But census counts, every 5 years in Japan, continue to exist alongside running estimates based on household (family) registration data, which changes every day, and has been reported at least annually since early in the Meiji period.

Japan's population was first nationalized in 1868, at the start of the Meiji Restoration, when all local domains were prefecturized under the authority of a central monoarchal government and subjected to nationwide laws. The first major and most important law was the 1871 Family Register Law, which came into force on Meiji -5-2-1 -- the 1st day of the 2nd month of the 5th year of Meiji on the lunar imperial reign calendar -- which corresponded to 9 March 1872 on the solar Gregorian calendar. Later that year, Japan adopted a reign-year solar calendar, which begin from Meiji 6-1-1 corresponding to 1 January 1873.

The political objective of the Family Register Law, as stated in its preamble (above), was to know the number of people in the realm, and their personal and family conditions, in order to govern them effectively. Several Two kinds of interests had a stake in generating accurate estimates of Japan's population by sex, age, place of birth, place of residence, and location of primary family domicile, among several other categories. By 1883, these interests were represented by the "Health (Hygiene) Bureau" (Eiseikyoku 衛生局) and the "Family Register Bureau" (Kosekikyoku 戸籍局) of the Internal Affairs Ministry or "Interior Ministry" (Naimushō 内務省) (Naimusho and resresidence, and placand other Estimates of populations have originated from various sources in Japan over the centuries. The topic of historical demographology

Since 1 January 1948, family registers in Japan have been under the jurisdiction of municipal governments. From the enforcement of the Family Register Law in 1872 and until 31 December 1947, they were under the jurisdiction of bureaus in various ministries, most of the time of the Police Bureau of the Ministry of Interior. 中央政府による全国人口の把握は、1871（明治4）年の「検戸ノ法」（戸籍法）による戸籍事務とは別に、文部省医務局（1873年）とその後継の内務省衛生局（1875年）を中心とした衛生行政部門においても、人口動態を把握するためのシステムが整えられていった。「醫制」（1874年）が、東京、大阪、京都府に達せられると、三府は管区内の死亡数およびその死因を調査し報告することとされた。1876年にはこの制度は全県に拡げられ、全国的に死因統計を作成する体制が一応整ったことになる。内務省衛生局は1877年より『衛生局年報』を発行し、その統計を公表している。1879年の「府県衛生課事務条項」により各府県に衛生課が設置され、その所掌事務のひとつとして統計報告の事務が規定された。各町村における出産・死亡・流産（1870年から婚姻・離婚含む）の情報は、戸長から群区長を経て府県衛生課に報告され、そこで集計、統計表の作成がおこなわれることとされた。 The ministry and the bureau were abolished on 31 December 1947. Policing functions were continued through a network of municipal and prefectural police forces that were eventually placed under the National Police Agency, a 1954 reincarnation of the Police Bureau. Family register and residence register functions transferred to municipal governments.

Periodically, sometimes every year, the Family Register Department of the Police Bureau published tallies of registration figures as of the end of the previous year. These were not "censuses" of the kind that began from 1920 (see next), which were based on door-to-door canvassing. Rather they were counts of registers, people in registers, and register actions like additions, removals, and transfers for various reasons, most related to vital events like birth, death, marriage, divorce, and adoption, but some related to Japanese nationality changes.

Population estimates based on door-to-door canvassing, and those based on registers, typically disagree. Census counts are typically smaller than register counts, and demographers speculate why. This becomes a problem when computing, say, mortality or morbidity rates, in which counts of reported deaths and reported illnesses are divided by the population. Statisticians have to choose between census populations or register populations -- or come up with populations they compute using both census and register counts.

Here, though, I want to focus only on the categories in which the register populations are reported, as they reflect the way the law and bureaucracy viewed and understood the population -- in terms of sex, lineage status, locality, nationality, and mobility and the like.

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Selected tables

The tables shown to the right dramatize the parameters of the 1895 people's register household population breakdowns.

Table 1 (Page 1)

General figures -- households, populations by sex
and lineage statuses, years lived by sex,
and sundry vital statistics by sex

Table 1 is mainly a table of populations by "sex" (taishō 体性 "somaticy") and "age" (shōnen 生年 "years lived") from 1 year to 110 years and "Lived years unknown" (pages 1-9). The age breakdowns are preceded by total households, total population by sex, and total population by lineage statuses (page 1), and are followed by totals of married and unmarried people, totals of births, deaths, and stillborn, and total incarcerated persons without registers, all by sex (page 9), and various statistics reflecting "movements" (page 10, see next item.

The following figures are my arrangements of general statistics from pages 1 and 9.

Households    7,935,969

Population   42,270,620
-----------------------
  Male       21,345,750
  Female     20,924,870

Lineage      42,270,620
-----------------------
  Kazoku          4,162
  Shizoku     2,050,144     
  Heimin     40,216,314

Have spouse  15,468,152
-----------------------
  Male        7,734,076
  Female      7,734,076

No spouse    26,802,468
-----------------------
  Male       13,611,674
  Female     13,190,794

Births        1,246,427
-----------------------
  Male          638,895
  Female        607,532

Deaths          852,422
-----------------------
  Male          448,873
  Female        403,549

Stillborn       117,215
-----------------------
  Male           60,130
  Female         57,085

In prison with
no register       1,319
-----------------------
  Male            1,252
  Female             67

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End of Table 1 (Page 10)

Movements by types of register actions

The vital statistics at the end of Table 1 are followed by the following statistics representing "movements" (異動) -- changes in the form of additions, deletions, transfers, and other "register actions" that can be characterized as "status actions" or "migrations" resulting from vital events such as birth, death, marriage, divorce, alliances or dissolutions of adoption, imprisonment, sojourning, and change of nationality.

Marriages                 365,633
Divorces                  110,838

Created registers          54,875

Entering register
  Within prefecture       574,279
  From other prefecture   193,316

Entering temporary residence [roll] (Note 1)
  From [other] county, city, ward 1,147,650
  From other prefecture           1,781,536

Leaving temporary residence [roll] (Note 1)
  For [other] county, city, ward    655,910
  For other prefecture              659,157

People with register (Note 2)
in prison 
  To other prefecture      46,108 
  From other prefecture    64,131

Army or Navy barracks (Note 3)
  People in [barracks]       90,759
  Entering from prefecture  104,560

Registers sent [to other municipalties]
  Within prefecture       566,495
  To other prefecture     187,814

Remove registers            7,444

[Registrant] went
to other country           49,762

Disappearances            299,232

Notes

Note 1   "Kiryū" (寄留) means to "stay" (tomeru 留める) at a place one "stops by" or "puts in at" (yoru 寄る) for a while -- hence "temporary residence" or "soujourn". People who lived somewhere other than in their "honseki locality" (honsekichi 本籍地) were required to register in their "temporary residence locality" (kiryūchi 寄留地). The Family Register Law was revised in 1886 (Law No. 27) with provisions for maintaining "Entering temporary stay rolls" (入寄留簿) for "inflowers" (流入者) and "Leaving temporary stay rolls" (出寄留簿) for "outflowers" (流出者). A dedicated "Temporary stay law" (Kiryūhō 寄留法) was promulgated and came into force in 1914. Article 1 of the 1914 law requried that people register a residence other than at their primary domicile (honsekichi) if away for 90 or more days. This law was replaced by the "Resident Registration Law" (Jūmin Tōroku Hō 住民登録法) in 1952, which in 1967 was replaced by the current "Residents Basic Registry Law" (Jūmin Kihon Daichō Hō 住民基本台帳法).

The 1914 Temporary Residence Law, like the Family Register Law, was an Interior law. It was also applied in Karafuto, as Karafuto was treated according to Interior laws, but was not applied in other Japanese territories, which were under their own laws and ordinances. As an Interior law, "honseki" meant a honseki in the Interior (or Karafuto). Hence in Article 1, the phrase "one who doese not have a honseki" (honseki o yū sezaru mono 本籍ヲ有セザル者) referred to Chosenese, Taiwanese, and South Seas Isanders, while the phrase "Nihon no kokuseki o yū sezaru mono" (日本ノ國籍ヲ有セザル者) referred to foreigners including stateless persons. . "persons who did not have ", and . 1872 and 1886, and 1914

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Table 2 (Page 10)

Houshold populations, domicile by locality and sex, plus
occupants and households, and occupants per household, by locality

Forthcoming.

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Table 3 (Page 64)

Houshold populations, domicile by locality and sex, plus
occupants and households, and occupants per household, by province

Forthcoming.

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Table 4 (Page 69)

Births by sex by region of domicile,
abandoned children and

Incarcerated people were also called "zaikansha" (在監者). Today they are usually called "shūyōsha" (収容者) or "inmates".

Forthcoming.

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Goto Shinpei's involvement in Soma incident For an account of the Soma incident and Gotō's involvement in its investigation, see my article, Nishigori Takekiyo: Kinsei Jinbutsu Shi, Yamato Shinbun Furoku, No. 10, about Yoshitoshi's portrayal of Soma's former retainer Nishigori Takekiyo. The article includes an enlargeable scan of a copy of this woodblock print in Yosha Bunko.

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Table 6 (Page 76)

Delayed and other special status actions

Forthcoming.

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Table 7 (Page 78)

Houshold populations, domicile by locality and sex, plus
occupants and households, and occupants per household, by locality

Forthcoming.

Naikaku Tōkei Kyoku [Cabinet Statistics Bureau] 1928 Taishō 9-nen Nihon kokusei chōsa hōkoku Zenkoku no bu Dai-1-kan Jinkō, Taisei, Shusseichi, Nenrei Haigū kankei, Kokuseki minseki, Setai [ 1920 Japan national census report ] [ Entire nation (Nationwide) part, Volume 1 ] [ Population, Sex, Place of birth, Age ] [ Marital status, Nationality / Subnationality, Household ] Yosha Bunko scans Click on text images to enlarge

Yosha Bunko scan

Yosha Bunko scan

1920 national census report

Interior population by place of birth
and by nationality and subnationality

Interiorites (including Hokkaidō natives) and Colonials
Chosenese, Taiwanese, Karafutoans, South Sea Islanders

内閣統計局
大正九年 國勢調査報告 全國の部 第一巻
人口 體性 出生地 年齢
配偶關係 國籍民籍 世帶
東京市京橋區：東亞印刷株式會社 (印刷所)
昭和三年十月十三日印刷
昭和三年十月十四日發行
1 (例言)、2 (目次)、 1 (注意)、277 (結果表)

Naikaku tōkei kyoku
[ Cabinet statistics bureau ]
Taishō 9-nen Kokusei chōsa hōkoku
[ 1920 National census report ]
Zenkoku no bu Dai-1-kan
[ Entire country (Countrywide) part, Volume 1 ]
Jinkō, Taishō, Shusseichi, Nenrei
Haigū kankei, Kokuseki / Minseki, Setai
[ Population, Sex, Birthplace, Age ]
[ Marital status, Nationality / Subnationality, Household ]
Tokyo-shi Kyōbashi-ku: Tō-A Insatsu Kabushiki Kaisha (Printer)
13 October 1928 printed
15 October 1928 published
1 (Preface), 2 (Contents), 1 (Notes), 277 (Tables)

Naikaku Tōkei Kyoku [Cabinet Statistics Bureau] 1935 Shōwa 5-nen Nihon kokusei chōsa hōkoku Dai-1-kan Jinkō, Taisei, Nenrei, Haigū kankei, Shusseichi, Minseki / Kokuseki, Setai, Jūkyo [ 1930 Japan national census report (Volume 1) ] [ Population, Sex, Age, Marital status, ] Place of birth, Subnationality / Nationality, Household, Residence ] Yosha Bunko scans Click on text images to enlarge
Yosha Bunko scan	Yosha Bunko scan

1930 national census report

Interior population by subnationality and nationality

Interiorites and Exteriorites
Chosenese, Taiwanese, Karafutoans, South Sea Islanders

内閣統計局
昭和五年 國勢調査報告 第一巻
人口 體性 年齢 配偶關係
出生地 民籍國籍 世帶 住居
[東京市]：[?]
昭和十年 [印刷、發行]
1 (例言)、2 (目次)、[?] (結果表)

Naikaku tōkei kyoku
[ Cabinet statistics bureau ]
Shōwa 5-nen Kokusei chōsa hōkoku [ 1930 National census report ]
Dai-1-kan
[ Volume 1 ]
Jinkō, Taishō, Nenrei, Haigū kankei
Shusseichi, Minseki / Kokuseki, Setai, Jūkyo
[ Population, Sex, Age, Marital status ]
[ Birthplace, Subnationality / Nationality, Household, Residence ]
[ Tokyo-shi ]: [?]
1935 [printed, published]
1 (Preface), 2 (Contents), [?] (Tables)

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民籍国籍別人口 / 全国 Minseki kokuseki betsu jinko / Zenkoku
[ Population by (imperial territorial) population registers
or (alien) national registers / Entire country ]
= prefectural Interior (Naichi) of Empire of Japan  

内地人   Naichijin [Interiorites]
         = Subjects of Japan in prefectural Interior registers
総数     Sosu [Total]

外地人   Gaichijin [Exteriorites]
         = Subjects of Japan in Exterior (non-Interior) registers
総数     Sosu [Total]
  朝鮮     Chosen (non-Interior territory)
  台湾     Taiwan (non-Interior territory)
  樺太     Karafuto (non-Interior territory)
             Legally subject to Interior laws under 1918 Common Law
             Integrated into Interior as Japan's 48th prefecture in 1943
  南洋     Nan'yo [South Seas] (South Seas Islands 南洋諸島 Nanyo Shoto)
           = German Pacific islands occupied by Japan in 1914
             Recognized as being occupied by Japan in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles,
             and administered by Japan under a League of Nations mandate until 1945
             Occupied and administered by U.S. military forces until 1947
             Administered by U.S. as U.N. trust territory from 1947-1994

外国人    Gaikokujin [Aliens]
総数      Sosu [Total]
  中華民国  Chuka Minkoku [Republic of China (ROC)]
  [ 省略 ]  [ 36 other foreign states, 
              plus other foreign states,
               omitted here ]

See 1936 Japan Year Book for examples of how Japan's territorial census figures were differently reported in Japanese and English.

Subnationality

I regard "minseki" in the context of Japan during its imperial years, when the term was used to differentite territorial registers within Japan's sovereign dominion, as "subnationality" -- i.e., a territorial legal status within an overarching "nationality" (kokuseki 国籍) status. The 1920, 1930, and 1940 censuses, for example classified Japanese according to the "minseki" of their "honseki" (本籍) -- the territoriality of their principle domicile register -- whether it was affiliated with the prefectural Interior (Naichi 内地), Chōsen (朝鮮), Taiwan (台湾), or Karafuto (樺太).

The need to differentiate Japanese by territoriality -- i.e., subnationality -- was anticipated by the 1918 Common Law. As a domestic law of laws, the Common Law determined which territory's laws applied in interterritorial civil matters, such as alliances marriage or adoption, and dissolutions of such alliances, between Japanese affiliated with different territories

Say, for example, that a Chosenese man and an Interiorite woman marry. This is a private matter, governed by the laws of Chōsen and the Interior. She might migrate to his Chōsen register and become Chosenese. Or he might migrate to her Naichi register as an "incoming [adopted] husband" and become an Interiorite.

Both would continue to be Japanese, since both territories were part of Japan's sovereign dominion, and Japan's nationality is an artifact of territorial affiliation. Both statuses -- nationality and subnationality (territoriality) -- were strictly civil status. Race or ethnicity have not been matters of law in Japan, much less of registration or change of registration.

Author year Title Yosha Bunko scans Click on text images to enlarge

"Minseki" as "subnationality"

Territorial affiliation not ethnicity

"Minseki" (民籍) is an older term for registers (seki 籍) of people (min 民) residing in, and belonging to, a locality under the control and jurisdiction of a lord or other authority with reason to want to know who lives where -- typically for purposes of levying taxes or conscripting people for military service or labor. "Min" as word for "people" typically implies politica affiliation with a demographic entity, whether a village or a state, in the sense of being subject to the entity's laws or other forms of authority, and owing the entity and or its overlords one's allegience.

The term "minseki" was used in Japan in the middle of the 19th century, during the late Tokugawa and early Meiji periods, to mean the registers of commoners. The title of a 1895 population report, of enumerations of people in Japan by age, sex, and other categories in household registers, uses "minseki" or "peoples (civil) registers" as a synonym for "koseki" (戸籍) or "household (family) registers".

Membership in a koseki in Japan -- possession of a "honseki" (本籍) in Japan -- was tantamount to having the "standing of being Japanese" (日本人タルノ分限) until the adoption of the term "kokuseki" (国籍) to mean "nationality" shortly before the promulgation and enforcement of Japan's 1st operational Nationality Law (Kokusekihō 国籍法) in 1899.

The 1899 Nationality Law, which originated as an Interior (Naichi 内地) law, was extended to Taiwan the same year. Taiwan, when ceded to Japan by China in 1895, became part of Japan's sovereign dominion. It came, however, with its own legal system, including population registers and regulations for their administration. Japan's nationality is territorial, in the sense that it is an artifact of membership in a household register under the control and jurisdiction of a municipality (village, town, city, or ward) within Japan's sovereign dominion. Hence people in Taiwan who remained affiliated with Taiwan register, through membership in a Taiwan register, rather than declare an affiliation with a foreign state, had already become Japanese when the Nationality Law was extended to Taiwan. Japan's Nationality Law does not declare who is Japanese, but determines who becomes Japanese or ceases to be Japanese when applied to individuals and their personal circumstances. Because the law also began to operate in Taiwan, it's provisions for naturalization through permission, as well as for acquisition of Japanese nationality through marriage or adoption into a Japanese household, and loss of Japanese nationality through marriage or naturalization, meant that (1) aliens could naturalize in Taiwan, or become Japanese through marriage or adoption into a Taiwan register, while Taiwanese could lose Japan's nationality through marriage to an alien or naturalization in another country.

The Empire of Korea's 1909 Minsekihō or "People's register law", established with the insistence and assistance of Japanese advisors in Korea, then a dependency of Japan, doubled as a national register (nationality) law, much like Interior and Taiwan household registers were also registers of Japanese nationality. In other words, enrollment in a household register under Korea's minseki system implied possession of Korea's nationality.

When Japan annexed Korea as Chōsen in 1910, Chōsen -- like Taiwan -- came with its own legal system, including minseki population registers. Korea's Minsekihō continued to operate in Chōsen as a territorial rather than national register law. And because Chōsen was part of Japan's sovereign dominion, membership in a Chōsen minseki was deemed to mean possession of Japanese nationality.

In other words, people in Taiwan and Chosen household registers, as registers under Japan's sovereign control and jurisdiction, were Taiwanese and Chosenese by regional territorial status within Japan, but were subjects and nationals of Japan, hence Japanese both nationally and internationally.

Japan's earliest national censuses, which enumerated people living throughout the Empire of Japan, including territories within its sovereign dominion (Interior, Taiwan, Karafuto, and Chōsen), but also territories outside its dominion but under its legal control and jurisdiction (such as Kwangtung Province and the South Sea Islands), broke down people by "kokuseki minseki" in 1920 and "minseki kokuseki" in 1930. Both breakdowns amounted to classifying people affiliated with Japan by their regional "minseki" status, and aliens by their country of nationality. Since 1918, Japan had a domestic Common law, a domestic law of laws that determined which regional law within the Empire of Japan would apply in private matters between legal persons of different regionality within the empire -- Naichi, Taiwan, Karafuto, Chōn, and so forth.

Because "regionality" or "territoriality" is a sub-category of "nationality", I have called minseki statuses in Japan "sub-nationality". Legally, it compares with considering someone who legally resides in, say, California a "Californian" as a matter of state affiliation, within the broader category of "American" as a matter of nationality. Before becoming Japanese, I resided in Japan as an alien. The question arose as to how my assests in Japan would be treated should I die in Japan. Inheritance laws in Japan's Code Code did not automatically apply to me. Under Japan's Laws of laws, which govern determinations of applicable laws in private international matters, my assets would be subject to "home country laws" (hongokuhō 本国法) -- i.e., the laws of my country of nationality. Since I was an American, most people would think that my "home country" was the United States. It would have been in a criminal matter involving extradiction or deportation. But in private matters such as disposition of personal assets in case of death, my "home country law" was California law. The United States is a federation of states which have their own constitutions and civil and penal codes, among other laws that make them all but sovereign states like Japan. As it turns out, because I was legally domiciled in Japan California law deferred to Japanese law. So my children would be able to inhert whatever I leave through the application of Japan's Civil Code. I became Japanese, so my former status as an American affiliated with California -- a American of California regionality or territoriality, or California sub-nationality if you will -- is moot.

"Honseki" as a legal fiction

"Honseki" (本籍) -- a keyword in both population register and census reports -- means "principal (primary, permanent, home) register". It refers to the locality where one "belongs" as a matter of civil record -- an address within a municipality or province or other administrative region within a country. Japanese nationality is territorial in that anyone who possesses a "honseki" within Japan's sovereign domininion is regarded as possessing Japan's nationality. Aliens -- people who don't possess Japan's nationality -- are deemed to have a "honseki" in their country of nationality. And on Japanese administrative forms, in the "honseki" (本籍) or "honsekichi" (本籍地) box where Japanese write their "honseki" address, aliens write their country of nationality -- or "stateless" (mukokuseki 無国籍) if they have no nationality.

When I was an American, I wrote 米国 (Beikoku) -- meaning "USA" -- in honseki boxes on Japanese forms. My honseki address is the first part of my postal address down to but not including my house number. It begins with a prefecture, followed by either a county and then a village or town, or a city, then a the name of a neighborhood or other district of the municipality, and by at least 1, but usually 2, and less commonly 3 numbers representing parcels within parcels within parcels of land. A a full postal address will include the number of the lot or building thereon and possibly a unit or room number therein. Practically all people in Japan have distinct mailing addresses. I share my honseki address with several neighbors within the same larger block. Our postal addresses include a number which is specific for each lot. My daughter, on the other side of town, lives in a home that was built at the same time as several others when a parcel was subdivided. All homes share the same street and house address down to the final number. Only the names of the addresses are different. Without a name, or just "Resident", delivery people don't know where to go. This is not common but neither is it that rare.

My residential address happens to be my honseki address address, because I was living at my present home when I naturalized. I could have chosen any other address, in principle, including the address of the Imperial Palace or the Prime Minister's residence, though of course local registrars would have discouraged me from doing so. My daughter and her husband and children are legal residents of the city having jurisdiction over their home, but their honseki address is in a differen municipality in a different prefecture. Their Japanese nationality, like mine, is linked to their honseki address, not their legal residence. They can move anywhere in the world, and their legal residence will change, but their honseki address will remain the same -- unless they change it. So long as they change their honseki address to another address within Japan's sovereign dominion, they will remain Japanese. Naturalizing in another country is deemed as a change in their honseki address to an address outside Japan's sovereign dominion, hence they stand to lose Japan's nationality.

Having a "honseki" is a legal reality for Japanese, for whom it represents an actual physical record -- in the form of a "koseki" or "family register" linked by its nominal address with a locality -- a named and numbered parcel of Japan's sovereign dominion. For most Japanese, their "honseki address" (honsekichi 本籍地) is a "place" or "locality" (chi 地) where a living parent or grandparent may still reside. They themselves may have been raised there, and they may visit during holidays when families commonly get together. Even if their parents or grandparents die, their honseki address may remain the same -- even if new owners acquire the home on the lot, or the home is torn down and rebuilt, or the lot is renamed or renumbered. Even if they change their honseki address to another locality, they may visit family graves in the "home town" or "home country" locality.

Some Japanese refer to their present or childhood "honseki" as their "kuni" (国), their "home province" or "home town" -- or as their "shusshinchi" (出身地), their "place of origin" or "native place" or "birthplace".

Historically, migrants and refugees from other places, who arrived in a territory reached by the authority of the Yamato court, were settled in a locality within the dominion, and enrolled in its registers, in return for submitting to the emperor's authority in what amounted to a change of allegiance. The term for this process was "kika" -- which more than a millennium later was used to in Japan's 1899 Nationality Law to mean "naturalization". In other words, membership in the population that owed allegiance to the court -- to the reigning tennō (emperor, empress) -- became a matter of settlement and registration in a locality within the court's realm.

The "identity" established by local registration was primarily local, as the locality -- while part of the imperial realm -- was also part of the province within the domain of a local authority who was allegiant to the Yamato court. The province was a "kuni" (國), and provincial people were "kokumin" (國民), which signified that they were "affiliates" (min 民) of province.

As late as the 1895 population report, some statistics are reported by "kuni" (國) -- corresponding roughly to "provinces" or "countries" within the "domains" (han 藩) that had been nationalized as prefectures.

"Japanese territory" as perceived by Japan

Note that the territorial equivalency of honseki with nationality is based on honseki affiliation with Japan's national territory as defined by Japan -- including territories that Japan claims but either does not or cannot actually occupy for the purpose of control and jurisdiction. Japan claims that Takeshima (竹島) is part of Shimane prefecture and that the Southern Chishima (南千島) islands ("Northern Territory" Hoppō Ryōdo 北方領土) are part of Hokkaidō prefecture. But the Republic of Korea (ROK) claims, occupies, and controls Takeshima as Dokdo, and Russia claims, occupies, and controls the Southern Chishima Islands as part of the Kurils.

Japan has formally claimed the Sentaku Islands (Sentaku Shotō 尖閣諸島) since 1895 and had regarded them as part of Yaeyama county (Yaeyama-gun 八重山郡) in Okinawa prefecture since 1 April 1896. In 1971, after the United States confirmed that it would return Okinawa "including the Sentaku Islands" to Japan in 1972, first the Republic of China (ROC), and then the People's Republic of China (PRC), insisted that the Tiaoyutai (ROC) aka Diaoyu (PRC) islands belong to them. PRC, which claims that ROC belongs to it, as of now (2021) patrols and sometimes crosses the perimeter of Japan's economic zone around the islands and insists that it will not allow Japan to actually possess the islands.

The Senkaku Islands are now part of Ishigaki city on Yaeyama. No one lives there today. There was a fish processing plant on the main island during the early 20th century, but the islands became uninhabited shortly before the start of the Pacific War. A lighthouse was built on the main island and couple of goats were grazed there by an activist group, but the activists left and the goats stayed. Some research groups have conducted geological, zoological, and botanical surveys on the islands. Today, however, no one sets foot on the islands.

There are, of course, no Japanese municipal government offices on any of these disputed territories. Records were probably kept of the fish plant employees and others who lived on the Senkaku Islands, but my guess is that their registers were not affiliated with the islands. Takeshima, a much smaller group, was sometimes visited but does not seem to have occupied -- until recently by some Koreans. When the Soviet Union invaded Karafuto and the Chishima islands in the closing days of the Pacific War, Japan evacuated Karafuto and Chishima residents, and their household registers and other records, to Hokkaido, where most residents resettled with new register addresses.

Today however -- because Japanese are free to affiliate their "honseki" with any part of Japan's sovereign domain as defined my Japan -- about 300 Japanese have established honseki addresses in these contested territories. The 26 January 2011 issue of Sapio magazine reported that, between 2008 and 2010, honseki increased from 118 to 132 in the Northern Territory, and from 39 to 50 in Takeshima. The same article estimated that about 20 Japanese had established honseki in Sentaku. It also said that some 210 people had honseki addresses for Okinotorishima Tō (沖ノ鳥島), a coral surrounding a few rock outcroppings reinforced with ferro-concrete tetrapods and concrete encasings, that are part of the Ogasawara Islands that define Ogasawara village. ROC, PRC, and ROK claim that the shoal does not qualify as a territory that warrants Japan's claim to a 200 nautical mile economic zone around the shoal -- the southermost part of Japan, in the Philippine Sea, below the Tropic of Cancer.

Nihon Kokusei Chōsa Kinen Shuppan Kyōkai 1921 Nihon kokusei chōsa kinen chō [ Japan national census commemoration book ] Yosha Bunko scans Click on text images to enlarge
Gilted map of Empire of Japan Cover of clasped board wrapper End of wrapper showing clasps Bottom edges also gilted
Volume 2 Overview of Japan's 1920 census including actual survey sheets	Volume 1 History of population censuses in Japan and other countries
Volume 3 Aichi prefecture census takers	Colophon for 3-volume set Publication data at end of Volume 3
Census particulars by country Japan and other countries compared against International Statistical Congress categories	Volume 1 Preface Association director Count Komatsu Shigeharu celebrates completion of commemorative publication
Yosha Bunko scan	Yosha Bunko scan
Yosha Bunko scan	Yosha Bunko scan
Yosha Bunko scan	Yosha Bunko scan
Yosha Bunko scan	Yosha Bunko scan
Yosha Bunko scan	Yosha Bunko scan

1920 Japan national census commemoration

"Investigate without omitting anyone"

"Report [matters] as they are"

恒次九水 (編輯兼發行)
日本國勢調査記念出版協會 (編)
日本國勢調査記念帖
大正9年10月1日國勢調査の記録
日本國勢調査記念出版協會
大正十一年五月二十日印刷
大正十一年五月廿五日發行
全三巻、秩入
定價金貳拾四圓
第一巻、187頁、＋約120頁
第二巻、264頁、＋5頁
第三巻 (愛知県)、572頁、＋約100頁

Tsuneji Kyūsui (compiler-cum-publisher)
Nihon Kokusei Chōsa Kinen Shuppan Kyōkai (hen)
[Japan National Census Commemmoration Publication Association (editer) ]
Nihon kokusei chōsa kinen chō
[ Japan national census commemoration (string-bound) book ]
Taishō 9-10-1 Kokusei chōsa no kiroku
[ Record of 1 October 1920 National census ]
Nihon Kokusei Chōsa Kinen Shuppan Kai
[ Japan National Census Commemoration Association ]
20 May 1922 printed
25 May 1922 published
3 volumes in folding wrapper with bone clasps (chitsu)
Standard price 24 yen
Volume 1, 187 plus about 120 pages
Volume 2, 264 plus 5 pages
Volume 3 (Aichi-ken), 572 plus about 100 pages

Attributed and dated materials in front matter of Volume 1 are as follows.

The volumes shown to the right the Aichi prefecture edition of the 3-volume set of publications commemorating the complete and the success of Japan's 1st "Kokusei chōsei" or "National census" in what was foreseen as the start of a mission to evaluate the country's population every 5 years. Volumes 1 and 2 are the same for all prefectures. Volume 3 introduces the taking of the census in a specific prefecture, and consists mostly of photographs and information on each census official and census taker in the prefecture.

The first document in Volume one is a facsimile of a handwritten request dated 25 May 1922, from the Imperial House Minister Viscount Makino Nobuaki (牧野伸顕 1861-1949) to Baron Komatsu Shigeharu (小松重春 1886-1925), conveying that Tsuneji Kyūsui, compiler and publisher of Japan national census commemorative book, in 3 parts, be presented to the emperor and empress [Yoshihito (Taishō) Sadako (Teimei)] and the crown prince [Hirohito (Shōwa)].

The 3 volumes in the Yosha Bunko copy the set for Aichi prefecture have brown covers and the wrapper is blue. Another copy of only Volume 1 in Yosha Bunko, from an unknown set, has a black cover. Other volumes sold by antiquarian book deals have either brown or black covers.

Each volume is bound with strings between two board covers measuring 26.2 cm wide and 19.0 cm tall. The 3-volume set was distributed in a box cover closed with what is called a "shitsu" (執SSSS. There appears to have been a set for each prefecture, and some of the volumes went through multiple printings. An antiquarian dealer offered a set from Shiga prefecture in which the 1st and 2nd volumes were 6th printings and the 3rd volume was a first printing. 一・二巻：6版　三巻：初版

The pages, all glossy, are A binding error resulted in three copies of the "Imperial sanction" (gosatasho 御沙汰所) transmitted by Grand Chamberlain Baron Oogimachi Sanemasa (正親町実正 1855-1923) to Cabinet Prime Minister Hara Takashi (原敬 1856-1921).Kei (年the "Gosatasho" The contents include numerous photographs beginning with portraits of the highest ranking members of the imperial family other than the emperor and his immediate family, followed by and explanations of the purpose of the census, how it was conducted, and how various figures were compiled from survey sheets, and examples of the sheets. There are also overviews of censuses in other countries.

大正9年10月1日国勢調査の理由や実行の記録を写真で纏めたものです。

Pages 64-65 国勢調査の目的
Pages 136-136 国籍民籍

日本国勢調査記念録 [147]

標題
目次
第一卷
御沙汰書
通牒及訓示
題字及序文
凡例及目次
天照大神御神影
伊勢大廟
??宮御正殿と??宮全景
神武天皇御神影
神武天皇畝傍山御陵
神武天皇＠原御神宮
明治天皇御神影
明治天皇桃山御陵
明治天皇代々木御神宮
天皇陛下御尊影
皇后陛下御尊影
皇太子殿下御尊影
淳宮高松宮澄宮三殿下御尊影
各皇族殿下御尊影
各國務大臣眞影
貴衆兩院議長及議員眞影
國勢院總裁本協會總裁及會長眞影
國勢調査評議會職員眞影
國勢院職員眞影
國勢調査/1
國勢調査の意義/2
國勢調査の起原/6
國勢調査の沿革/11
國勢調査の使命/55
國勢調査の目的/64
國勢調査の樣式/66
國勢調査の事項/87
國勢調査の地域/123
國勢調査の結果表/130
國勢調査の機關/138
國勢調査の費用/152
國勢調査の整理/155
參考用寫眞

The census-taker slogans on the cover read "Investigate without omitting anyone" (Hitori mo morenaku chōsa suru koto (一人も漏なく調査すること) and "Report [matters] as they are" (Ari no mama shinkoku suru koto 有りのまま申告すること). The preface by Navy Vice Admiral Baron Nashiha Tokioki (1850-1928) reiterate that the census takers are to "carry out the investigation accurately, without omitting anyone".

The "Introduction" s the slogans on

Two terms caught my eye when purusing Volume 1 of The 1920 census commemoration book.

Beginning in 1920, Japan began conducting empire-wide censuses based on door-to-door canvassing. The censuses sought to count everyone living in the territories that defined Japan's sovereign dominion, and in the territories under Japan's legal control and jurisdiction outside its dominion. Some tallies were based on place of birth, others on residence, yet others on locality of primary domicile or "honseki".

As Japanese nationality was territorial, people in family registers affiliated with the territories that made up Japan's sovereign dominion -- the prefectural Interior (Naichi), Chōsen, Taiwan, and Karafuto -- were subjects and nationals of Japan, hence were Japanese by nationality and Interiorites (Naichijin). Chōsen and Taiwan came with their own legal systems, including household registers and the family laws that governed them. Karafuto had been under Japan's control and jurisdiction for quite a while before it was traded to Russia in 1875 for the northern Chishima islands, and when Russia ceded the territory to Japan after the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), Japan quickly "Interiorized" Karafuto to the point that, under the 1918 Common Law, a domestic rules of laws, Karafutoans was treated under Interior laws in cases of private matters like marriage and adoption between Karafutoans and other Japanese -- Interiorites, Chosenese, and Taiwanese.

Pursuant to a League of Nations mandate, the South Seas Islands (Nan'yō Shotō 南洋群島) were consigned to Japan's administration for the purpose of control and jurisdiction but not sovereignty. The islands, formerly been under German control and jurisdiction, had had occupied by Japan in 1914 at the start of the what became World War I, during which Japan was a member of the Allied Powers.

The territory was formally called "I'nin-Tōchi-ryō Nan'yō Shotō (日本委任統治領南洋群島), which means "Japan mandate-governed territory South Sea Islands", and it was governed by the "Nan'yō-chō" (南洋廳). The term "chō (庁), commonly used today in the sense of "agency" or "headquarters", signified a imperial government organ that served as the "government" of the territory.

People affiliated with the islands were called "Nan'yōjin" (南洋人) or "South Sea Islanders" -- a short form of "Nan'yō Shotō jin" (南洋諸島人).

Japan lost most of the islands during the last year or so of the Pacific War and surrendered the others after the war. The mandate began on 7 November 1919 pursuant to the Treaty of Versailles, and ended with the establishment on 18 July 1947 of the "Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands" (Taiheiyō Shotō Shintaku Tōchi Ryō 太平洋諸島信託統治領).

Chosenese (Chōsenjin), Taiwanese (Taiwanjin), and Karafutoans (Karafutojin) were Japanese by Japanese, but their domicile registers were affiliated with territories outside the Interior. Legally, South Sea Islanders had no nationality, but as they were affiliated with a territory under Japan's legal control and jurisdiction, they had territorial identities within the Empire of Japan. They were duly registered in local family registers, and the few South Sea Islanders that traveled or resided elsewhere in the empire carried transit permits that identified them as South Sea Islanders. Hence they enumerated as "South Sea Islanders" in national censuses. The 1920 census, taken less than year after the start of the mandate, counted a total of 3 South Sea Islanders in the prefectural Interior -- all in Tokyo prefecture.

Nomenclature in 1920 census

The 1920 census was taken barely 10 years after Japan annexed Korea as Chōsen. The empire was still reeling from the 1 March 1919 independence uprisings in Chōsen and elsewhere. Chosenese became Japanese through the artifact of Chōsen's incorporation into Japan's sovereign dominion, but the Nationality Law was never formally applied to the peninsula. Customary law provided for ordinary nationality acquisition through birth but not for naturalization (which began with the 1899 Nationality Law) or renunciation (which became possible through a 1916 revision in the 1899 law).

Taiwan, by 1920, had settled into a fairly peaceful colony after 25 years under Japanese rule, which at first met considerable resistance from some Taiwanese. Taiwan was not a contested territory during the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), but Japan had been involved with Taiwan for many years and demanded that China cede it the islands as part of the settlement under the Simonoseki Treaty. The treaty provided Japanese nationality to people in Taiwan who did not formally declare and confirm their status as subjects of another country. And Japan extended its 1899 Nationality Law to Taiwan, which thus became on a par with the Interior as far as nationality was concerned.

Karafuto -- the southern half of Sakhalin -- had essentially been under Japan's control and juristiction in 1875 when Japan traded its interests in Karafuto for Russia's northern Kurils, which Japan calls the northern Chishima islands. Karafuto became part of Japan's sovereign dominion in 1905 when Russia ceded the territory to Japan as partial settlement following the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). The Portsmouth Treaty provided that people in Karafuto who did not chose to remain Russian would be nationals of Japan. Customary law determined nationality matters until 1924, when Japan extended the operation of the Nationality Law to Karafuto. Some Karafuto Ainu had relocated to Hokkaidō rather than remain in Karafuto and become Russians in1 1875. By 1905, Karafuto Ainu, significantly Russified, became Japanese, as did other indigenous people in the territory.

Hokkaidō Ainu became essentially Japanese when the largest part of "Ezo" (蝦夷) or "Ezochi" (蝦夷地) was nationalized and incorporated into Japan's sovereign dominion in 1869 as the territory of Hokkaidō. In 1882, the territory became 3 prefectures, which were merged as Hokkaidō prefecture in 1886.

In 1920, Hokkaidō Ainu were still enrolled in the distinct (segregated) registers which had been established in Ainu villages before the formation of the prefectures -- to somewhat simply a more complex historical reality. Though still in their own registers, Ainu were nonetheless affiliated with the prefectural Interior and hence were enumerated as "Interiorites" (Naichijin 内地人). The 1920 shows 55,884,992 Interiorites (males 27,980,989, females 27,904,003) -- including [15,575] Ainu (males 7,304, females 8,271). In 1924, Ainu registers were merged with general registers, as they are today, with no distinction, ending the tabulation of "Ainu" on national government population figures. Ainu populations today are estimted by various interest groups. A special "Ainu living conditions survey" (Ainu seikatsu jittai chōsa アイヌ生活実態調査) carried out in 66 municipalities (cities, towns, and villages) in Hokkaidō in 2013 sized up the lives of 16,786 people who identified as Ainu. The membership of Hokkaido Ainu Association (Hokkaidō Ainu Kyōkai 北海道アイヌ協会), an all-Ainu organization founded in 1930 -- Hokkaido Utari Association (Hokkaidō Utari Kōkai 北海道ウタリ協会) from 1961-2009 -- was about 3,200 as of this writing (2021).

"Colonies" and "colonials"

In 1920, Japan's policies regarding the governing of its non-Interior territories -- how far to make them more like the Interior, and whether to someday integrate them into the Interior -- were still very fluid. The point here is that the 1920 census report, as published by the Cabinet Statistics Bureau, collectively called Japan's non-Interior territories "colonies" (shokuminchi 植民地) and their register-affiliated inhabitants "colonials" (shokuminchi-jin 植民地人). At the same time, the 1920 report digested here uses "Zenkoku" (全國) -- meaning "entire country/nation" -- to refer to the prefectural Interior -- which makes sense if the other territories of the empire were regarded as "colonies".

"nationality by subnationality"

Notice also the order of the expression "kokuseki minseki" (國籍民籍) signifying "national register" (kokuseki) or "nationality" -- "people's register" (minseki) or what I call "territoriality" or "subnationality". This turns out to be odd, because the first breakdowns in all the tables are by "minseki" (Interiorites, Chosenese, Taiwanese, Karafutoans, South Sea Islanders) within Japanese nationality (except South Sea Islanders, who had no nationality) -- followed by foreigners (gaikokujin 外國人) broken down by nationality. Later censuses reversed the order in the table titles to "minseki kokuseki" (see 1930 census below).

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Volume 2

Volume 2 includes the 1920 National census enforcement order (pages 13-17).

The first 2 articles are as follows (pages 13-14, my transcriptions and translations).