Abstract
This paper addresses the relationship between the growth of infants and the feeding process in rural Japan during the Taishō period. First, it will be shown that during this period the growth rates of infants living in rural areas were lower than the rates that characterized the mid Meiji period (1890–1896) and the beginning of the Shōwa period (1927–1929). It will also be established that most infants living in rural areas during the Taishō period continued to be breast-fed until the end of their first year. It will therefore be proposed that the decline in growth rates of rural infants can be attributed to breastfeeding practices. In the next section, evidence is presented to show that when mothers were engaged in heavy agricultural work soon after childbirth this was likely to result in a decrease in daily opportunities for breastfeeding. Finally, the evidence and analyses will be used to develop the hypothesis that decreased daily breast feeding as a result of engagement in heavy agricultural labor led to diminished milk production among mothers for several months after delivery. Despite this, many infants continued to be breast-fed, resulting in decreased growth during the latter half of infancy.
This chapter is a translation of an article that originally appeared in Shakai Keizai Shigaku 74(3) (September 2008), pp. 65–83.
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- 1.
Since the original publication of this chapter, the writer has presented an analytical framework for the explanation of the decline in post-neonatal mortality rates from 1926 (Murakoshi 2018). In Murakoshi (2017) the proposition suggested in this chapter has been developed, and its validity has been examined. According to the revised proposition, women in farming communities continued to bear heavy workloads into the later 1920s, so that infants did not receive sufficient breast milk. However, because measures had been taken to improve infants’ nutrient intake the post-neonatal mortality rate fell. It was also shown that the powdered milk that was used to improve nutrient intake influenced this fall. For an outline of these investigations, see Shimizu, “Commentary” (1990, pp. 44–47). For the way in which the surveys were planned, see Murakoshi (2005), pp. 13–26.
- 2.
For the history of the Institute, see the history section of the Ōhara Memorial Institute for Labour Science website at http://www.isl.or.jp/information/history.html. It has been ascertained that fifty-three issues of Nōgyō Rōdō Chōsasho hōkoku (Reports of the Agricultural Labour Research Centre) were published during the years 1933–1939 and are in the collection of the National Diet Library of Japan. Nos. 1–34 were edited by the Kurashiki Institute for Labour Science, and Nos. 36–53 by the Japan Institute for Labour Science. The articles that appeared in the reports were also published separately, in Rōdō kagaku (The journal of labour science), which is included in the digital archives of the Ōhara Memorial Institute for Labour Science, at https://darch.isl.or.jp).
- 3.
The data is available as an appendix titled “Nihon shōni hatsuiku ichiranhyō” (Table showing the growth of Japanese infants) in Mishima (1902). It can also be found in the reprint of Kami (1997), and online as part of the National Diet Library’s digital collection at http://dl.ndl.go.jp.
- 4.
Due to verification of homoscedasticity, it seems reasonable to assume a variance equal to the weighted average value of variation for each of the three ambulation groups, (Levene test for equality of variance 1.100, p value 0.335). As a result of variant analysis, a statistically significant variance was found in the weighted average value of variation according to ambulation group (F(2‚227) = 13.747, p < 0.001). Further, multiple comparisons using Fisher’s LSD method showed that there were variations in the weighted average value of variation between the ambulation groups of (1) < (2) for (1) and (2), and (1) < (3) for (1) and (3).
- 5.
Early resumption of work, fatigue and loss of stamina have been cited as agents that worsen conditions such as subinvolution of the uterus and puerperal fever (Imazu 2006, pp. 76, 78). Moreover, expectant and nursing mothers in farming communities during the Taishō period had a high mortality rate, at 317 per 100,000 births. The figures for births and maternal mortality used to produce this mortality rate were taken from Shimizu (1990, p. 589). In “Table 12: Deaths classified according to sex, cause of death, and age”, the prefectural surveys gave the number of deaths caused by “pregnancy and childbirth” (the maternal mortality rate) in the ten years preceding the time of the survey as 179, out of a total number of 56,483 births (“Table 5: Resident population, deaths, stillbirths and live births classified according to permanent residence”, Shimizu 1990, p. 589).
- 6.
For late infancy (from six months), the sample size for group (1) (shorter than customary rules) is 67, and the average value of growth indicators is −0.057 (standard deviation 0.028), while for the total of groups (2) and (3), the sample size is 75 and the average value of growth indicators is +0.017 (standard deviation 0.024). The variation in average value between the two groups is statistically significant. (t = − 2.014, df = 140, p < 0.05).
- 7.
Judging by the items included in the surveys, it appears that at the time of the health and hygiene field investigations in farming communities, it was thought that bottle feeding might be linked to high infant mortality rates, but no consideration was given to the possibility that there might be any problem with breast milk or breastfeeding. It was only in the late 1920s, after these surveys had finished, that concern began to be directed towards breast milk. In 1939 there was a nationwide survey of farming communities that looked into the frequency of breastfeeding times and the feeding methods that were adopted when mothers could not produce sufficient milk (Ai’iku Kenkyūjo 1943). This was also when research into breast milk began. For example, Komiyama (1942) and Takahashi (1941) pointed to the insufficient production of breast milk in farming communities, while Hayashi (1942) pointed to low frequencies of breastfeeding as well as insufficient production.
- 8.
The numerical values for the time spent on breastfeeding are taken from Graph 2 on p. 13 in Masataka (1999).
- 9.
Malnutrition continued to be a cause of infant deaths in Japan until around 1950. Indigestion during the period of weaning frequently developed into lienteric toxicosis, resulting in death. In fact, this was a major reason for infant mortality, with malnutrition said to have been the primary cause (Futaki 1989, pp. 1–2, “Introduction”). The general causal relationship between decreased growth (malnutrition) and infant mortality rates, particularly after the neonatal stage, presumably applies to the Taishō period as well.
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Murakoshi, K. (2019). Childrearing Methods and Decreased Growth: An Examination of Infant Health in the Farming Communities of Taishō Japan (1912–1926). In: Okuda, N., Takai, T. (eds) Gender and Family in Japan. Monograph Series of the Socio-Economic History Society, Japan. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9909-1_3
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