Income Inequality in Tokugawa Japan -The Choshu Economy of the 1840s-

近世イングランドや低地諸邦における経済成長は所得不平等の拡大を伴っていたが，徳川後期の日本では格差の拡大はみられなかったといわれている．本稿は，1840年代に長州藩が行った村別調査報告集である『防長風土注進案』にもとづき，身分階層間格差は実際に小さかったことを示す．武士の一人当り所得は農家の一人当り可処分所得の1.8倍，工商世帯は1.6倍にすぎなかったのである．この背景には，可処分所得の42％を非農生産活動によって稼ぎだす農家兼業の拡がりがあった．The suggestion has recently been made that unlike north-western European countries, where early-modern economic growth was accompanied by increasing inequality, income differentials did not widen during the latter half of the Tokugawa Period. This paper, based on a region-wide survey conducted by Chôshû han in the early 1840s, provides evidence to show that the level of inequality among status groups was actually low by early modern standards. According to our calculations, the samurai's income per capita was only 1.8 times, and the non-farm group's 1.6 times, larger than the per-capita disposable income of the farm population who earned as much as 42 per cent of their total disposable income from non-farm pursuits in the form of farm family by-employment