List of Japanese Prefectures By Population - Historical Demography of Prefectures of Japan - 1868 To 1871

1868 To 1871

Several demographic data remain for three urban prefectures (府, fu]?),(i.e. Kyōto-fu, Ōsaka-fu and Tōkyō-fu), 266 domains (藩, han?), 40 prefecturess (県, ken?) and one commission (使, shi?) (i.e. Kaitaku-shi only in Hokkaidō) that existed for short time between Meiji Restoration and the Abolition of the han system, though not thoroughly surveyed. Prefectural system was only introduced to imperial territories (天領, tenryō?) which the Meiji government gained from Tokugawa shogunate or the revolted feudal lords (大名, daimyo?), while many areas still belonged to local lordship governments.

The table below shows demographic data for major prefectures and domains (over 100,000 persons) from two sources. For the demographic data of less populous areas, see 府藩県別身分人員表 in Japanese Wikipedia page, for example.

Source: (1): Kokudaka and Population Table of fu, han and ken (Ōkuma Shigenobu collection; population as of February 2, 1869 (1st day of the 1st month, Meiji 2)),

(2): Bunzo Kure, "Estate population Table of fu, han and ken" Tōkei Shūshi (Statistics Bulletin) no. 8 pp. 96–107 (1882) (statistical date uncertain, but probably as of July 28, 1870 (1st day of the 7th month, Meiji 3)). Naotarō Sekiyama noted that the population of Japan as of July 28, 1870 was 32,773,698 (Kinsei Nihon jinkō-no kenkyū (Study of the Population of Japan in the Early Modern Period) (1948)).

It is quite apparent that the above demographic data contain many textual errors, but could not be corrected because the original unpublished reports preserved at the office of the Ministry of Interior of Japan were burned by a fire after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.

For demographic data during the Edo period, see Demographics of Japan before Meiji Restoration.