SHORT TAILORS AND SICKLY BUDDHIST PRIESTS - BIRTH-ORDER AND HOUSEHOLDEFFECTS ON CLASS AND HEALTH IN JAPAN, 1893-1943

This study of 20-year-old youths recruited into the military suggests that household members in early-twentieth-century rural Japan tended t o be similarly educated but to hold diverse occupations. This resulted in little social mobility through education, and produced stable hous eholds which perpetuated themselves by spreading occupational, hence e conomic, risk among their members. The status of one's household withi n the community influenced educational attainment, whereas one's birth order within the household mattered more in choice of occupation. Bir th order and occupation may have also affected physical wellbeing. Fir st-born sons tended to enjoy good health and tall stature relative to their later-born and illegitimate counterparts. Short stature was also associated with craftsmen, possibly because of their low socioeconomi c status, the repetitive and sedentary nature of their work, or the fa ct that many later-born sons, who tended to be shorter, went into craf twork.