Open AccessLifestyle‐Determined Gender and Hierarchical Differences in the Lead Contamination of Bones from a Feudal Town of the Edo Period
Author(s) -
Nakashima Tamiji,
Matsuno Kohji,
Matsushita Takayuki
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of occupational health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 1348-9585
DOI - 10.1539/joh.49.134
Subject(s) - feudalism , demography , significant difference , period (music) , rural population , population , medicine , art , sociology , political science , politics , law , aesthetics
Lifestyle‐Determined Gender and Hierarchical Differences in the Lead Contamination of Bones from a Feudal Town of the Edo Period: Tamiji N akashima , et al . Department of Anatomy, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan —We analyzed lead concentrations in bones from both genders of Japanese merchants (including rohnin; masterless samurai) and farmer classes, and compared the findings with those of the samurai class in the Edo period (1603–1867) to clarify gender and hierarchical (or occupational) differences in lead exposure during the Japanese feudal age. Merchant class females had significantly higher lead exposure (90.8 µg Pb/g dry bone; n=20) than males of the same class (39.9 µg Pb/g dry bone; n=31) ( p <0.01), indicating a remarkable gender difference in the urban population. In contrast to these high concentrations, males and females of the farmer class living in agricultural (or semi‐rural) areas had significantly lower exposure (total mean value; 9.2 µg Pb/g dry bone; n=4) than both genders of the merchant class ( p <0.001), and the gender difference was not significant in this class.