Using the local population registers, this study examines and compares the patterns and consequences of first marriages among women in four villages in three regions in the latter half of Tokugawa Japan. The study found clear regional variations in the timing and distribution of women's first marriages though marriage was almost universal in all villages. Marital disruption was more common in the northeast but all regions were beset with the institution of remarriage. Local differences in ecological and socioeconomic settings are discussed in relation to differential patterns of first marriage and remarriage.