Talk:Hiraizumi

Populatino of Hiraizumi: a million?
I've never heard that the population of Hiraizumi was 1,000,000! The most accepted population of Japan is ca. 6,800,000 in AD 1150, estimated by Akira Kitō based on the rice field areas for each former province reported in Shūgaishō. He also estimated the population of Tohoku region at ca. 600,000, or that of Mutsu at 330,000, which suggests that the population of Hiraizumi was much lower.

Actually, many books on Hiraizumi written in Japanese say, "it is said that Hiraizumi once had a population of more than 100,000", "100,000 to 150,000" or "nearly 200,000," but I could not find out any explanations on their population estimates. Probably the estimated figure may be based upon an old map of Hiraizumi, where a built-up city with planned roads similar to Kyoto is ilustrated, but recent research suggested that this map was actually written in Edo period.

At least, Tertius Chandler estimated the populatoin of Hiraizumi at 50,000 in AD 1150, based upon the number of former provinces under control of Fujiwara clan ("Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 1987).Aurichalcum (talk) 13:40, 27 November 2009 (UTC)Aurichalcum (talk) 13:53, 27 November 2009 (UTC)