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Some Aspects of Japan Sea Trade in the Tokugawa Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Robert G. Flershem
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Extract

It is reasonable to assume that Kaga han, in view of its size, large rice and other exports, and central coastal location, provided the lion's share of ships and shipowners operating in the Japan Sea during the two centuries before Perry. Villagers were going from Noto to North Honshu and Hokkaido both for temporary occupation and for permanent residence in the mid-seventeenth century and diereafter; and some of these emigrants became useful Kaga han trade agents. Moreover, transport of rice and salt respectively to Tsuruga and Echigo from Noto villages early in the Tokugawa period can be documented. Kaga han needed an all-water route to Osaka because of the high cost of transshipping rice by land from Tsuruga to Osaka. This may have been the main reason for the development in the latter part of the seventeenth century of nishi mawari, the route for ships going from the Japan Sea through the Inland Sea.

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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , May 1964 , pp. 405 - 416
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Copyright © Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1964

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References

* The traditional regions (kuni) of Kaga and Noto and part of Etchū were included in die Kaga han domain (see Map).

1 Sōichi, Koshizaki, Kita Mae Sen (Otaru, 1957), pp. 9, 18.Google Scholar

Ryōichi, Furuta, Nihon Kaiunshi Kōyō (Tokyo, 1943), p. 56.Google Scholar

Shōichi, Sumita, Kaiji Shiryō Sōsho (4 volumes, Tokyo, 1929), IV, 1–303.Google Scholar This presents a Shimonoseki funadon'ya's record of transactions with captains of large ships throughout the nineteenth century. Although not conclusive, the material has some significance (see Kisaburō, Wakabayshi, Zeniya Gohei (Osaka, 1957), pp. 106–107).Google Scholar Kaga han ships and shipowners listed in this document from 1804 to 1867 far outnumber those of any other area, as suggested by the following approximate figures:

2 Yamagishi Mura Shinshirō Tomura Monjo, Shussen Kitte, Kammon II (1671) and Manji I (1658).

3 Wakabayashi, p. 117; Seiki, Kaburaki, Zeniya Gohei no Kenkyū (Kanazawa, 1953), pp. 164, 166Google Scholar; Koshizaki, p. 13.

4 Sato Mura Tarozaemon Tomura Monjo, Ukeharai shūnō yorozu haraikatachō, copy, Kanei 6 (1629). 575 koku of rice sent by ship from Nafune Gumi, Fugeshi Gun, Noto no Kuni to Tsuruga. Sato Mura Tarozaemon Tomura Monjo, Shio ukeharaichō, copy, Kanei 15 (1638). 860 hyō of salt sent by ship from Nafune Gumi to Niigata.

5 Furata Ryōichi, Kaiun no Rekishi (Tokyo, 1961), pp. 105–108.

6 Wakabayashi, p. 95.

7 For an account of the developing Japan Sea trade in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, see Koshizaki's Kita Mae Sen (note 1).

8 Daigaku, KanazawaHan, KagaShiryō, ShominIinkai, Chōsa, Uhikawa Ken no Kinsei Shiryō (Kanazawa, 1961), p. 89.Google Scholar

9 Koshizaki, p. 119.

10 Kyōkai, Ishikawa Ken Toshokan, Noto Shichō (Kanazawa, 1938), jō, p. 374.Google Scholar

11 Wakabayashi, p. 4.

12 Koshizaki, p. 119.

13 Noto Shichō, jō, p. 176. Mikuni in Echizen is ranked third in importance among Hokuriku ports by this source.

14 Ibid., Jō, p. 160.

15 Kitakawashiri Mura Nitta Tomura Monjo, Kaetsunō sambutsu nado ki, copy. This undated document, probably written in the last 50 years of Tokugawa period, must be regarded as a straw in the wind rather than a source of final conclusions. It lists 281 owners in Kaga of 443 trade ships (tokaisen) in the 20-koku to 1060-koku range; and 284 owners of 319 such ships in Noto. More interestingly, it reports only 6 Kaga ports of entry for ships coming from outside Kaga han as compared with 39 such ports in Noto, much the largest proportion being in Noto's Hakui Gun, which had 14. Of these 45 ports, 5 at the most were towns (machi). The rest were villages (mura) inhabited by peasants.

16 It is unclear how this was determined. It probably varied with time and place, but sometimes it was estimated or decided by the port officials in accord with local prices.

17 Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Shoyakunin seishi maegaki, copies, Tempo 9 (1838) and Kaei 6 (1853).

18 For evidence of the official interest of chiefs (tomura) of village groups (kumi), village headmen (kimoiri), and assistant village headmen (kumiaigashira) in export-import and shipping affairs, see Sato Mura Tarozaemon Tomura Monjo, Hatto, Meiwa 9 (1772), and Shimbo Mura Nishi Kimoiri Monjo, Kaisen hōyō, copy, Teiō 2 (1223). The latter is a collection of shipping rules and regulations now known as “kaisen shikimoku” (see Shōichi, Sumita, Kaisen Shikimoku no Kenkyū (Tokyo, 1943) and Furuta, pp. 43–47).Google Scholar For evidence of tomura authority over uruma aratame yakunin, see Morimoto Mura Kameda Tomura Monjo, Fure, copy, Kansei 3 (1791).

19 Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Tsudashikata kōsen tomegaki, copy, Kaei 5 (1852).

20 Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Kotaegaki, undated copy referring to an incident of Bunsei 8 (1825); Fure, copy, Kansei 12 (1800); and Gojūnanakason kyosaichō, probably Bunsei era.

21 A special office, Sambutsukata, was used at times from the early eighteenth century in attempts to promote commerce and industry. See Wakabayashi, p. 71; and Ken, Heki, Kanō Kyōdo Jii (Kanazawa, 1956), p. 377.Google Scholar

22 Kaburaki, p. 35; Ken, Ishikawa, Ishikawa Ken Shi (5 volumes, Kanazawa, 1928), II, 963Google Scholar; Wakabayashi, p. 5.

Zeniya Gohei is said to have been friendly with a student of Honda Toshiaki and with Benkichi of ōno Machi, an inventor reputed to have been opposed to national seclusion (sakoku). See Kaburaki, pp. 35. 194–195.

23 Kaburaki, pp. 167–168; Wakabayashi, pp. 121–122.

24 For an account of the han's economic policies and its relations with Zeniya Gohei, see Wakabayashi, pp. 71–95.

25 Kurami Mura Nitta Tomura Monjo, Fure, copy, Kyōwa 2 (1802).

26 Even Fugeshi and Suzu Gun rice was exported to Osaka on occasion. See Yamagishi Mura Shin-shirō, Tomara Monjo, Nengu kaisaijō, Teikyō 4 (1687).Google Scholar

27 Wakabayashi, p. 80; Kichinojō, Oda, Kaga Han Nōseishi Kō (Tokyo, 1929), pp. 651–655.Google Scholar There is some fragmentary information about han finances in these works. It is estimated that yearly rice exports to Osaka averaged 100,000 koku during much of the Tokugawa period and were providing 60 to 70 per cent of the han's annual budget in the early eighteenth century. In Hōei 2 (1705), for example, rice accounted for 64 per cent of a budget of 11,042 Kan 723 momme (Wakabayashi, pp. 41–42; and Kanai Madoka, Hansei (Tokyo, 1962), p. 85). It is estimated that a century later about 6,000 kan of the han's yearly budget came from average annual rice exports of about 150,000 koku (Oda, p. 652).

28 Useful sources of information about Kaga han exports and imports include Morimoto Mura Kameda Tomura Monjo, Oboe, Kansei 3 (1791) and Kakiagechō, Bunka 8 (1811); Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Negaigaki, Kaei 7 (1854). The following tentative list will probably be much amended as new material comes to light:

Kaga Han Exports

Rice (presumed to have been a principal export consisting mostly of tax rice sent to Osaka for marketing; export forbidden at certain times and places)

Salt (a han monopoly; presumed to have been a principal export marketed mostly in the north: Echigo, Aomori, Akita, Hokkaido, etc.; export forbidden at certain times and places)

Sake (Sado, Echigo, Akita, Aomori, and Hokkaido thought to have been chief areas importing from Kaga han; export sometimes forbidden)

Tobacco, rape-seed, dried sardines fertilizer, yellow-tail fish, pepper, textiles, copper, dried codfish, kindling, tree bark, china, lacquerware, bamboo products, pine boards, rain clogs, oars, snow removing implements, birds (hawks, ducks, chickens, and small birds), grass mats, red beans (export of these items known to have been forbidden at times)

Tatami omote matting and male horses over five years (Kaga Han Shiryō (Tokyo, 1958), Bakumatsu, jō, pp. 12, 142); soybeans, sesame, iron, wire, charcoal, cotton seeds, wheat (ōmugi and komugi), gun powder, lead (export of these items probably forbidden at times)

Kaga Han Imports

Timber (from Hokkaido and North Japan)

Wax and candles (from Aizu han in bakumatsu; import sometimes forbidden)

Fertilizer (from Hokkaido; import sometimes forbidden)

Rice (from Echigo, Akita, and Aizu han; import often forbidden and probably small in quantity)

Tangle (from Hokkaido)

Eggs

Cucumber (from Aizu han in bakumatsu)

Sweet potatoes (from Kyushu)

Oranges (probably from Chūgoku)

Cotton, iron, wire, sugar, seaweed, ginger, noodles, konnyaku, starch, joss sticks, clams, straw mats, linen and cotton seeds, gun powder, lead, textiles (import of these items probably forbidden at times)

Salt (import probably not often permitted)

Dyes, tea, china, rape-seed, red beans, wheat (ōmugi and komugi), soybeans, fertilizer, secondhand clothes, charcoal, grass mats, sea shells (for pharmacy), boat tools, bark, dried codfish, cut stones, and pepper (import of diese items known to have been forbidden at times)

29 Shimbo Mura Nishi Kimoiri Monjo, Oukechō, copy, Shōtoku 1 (1711). Shio Mura Kuyū Kimoiri Monjo, Fure, copy.

30 Shio Mura kuyū Kimoiri Monjo, Tasshi, copy, Teikyō 4 (1687). Abuya Mura, which was tenryō, was involved in such smuggling. Ukawa Mura Tada Tomura Monjo, Fure, copy, Genji 1 (1864). This document refers to the hiring of han individuals to deliver to extra-han territory (takoku) horse and cows being exported from tenryō. The han people mixed their own horses and cows with die shipments so that han officials could not tell which of the animals were from han and which from tenryō.

31 Ishikawa Ken no Kinsei Shiryō, p. 24.

32 Menden Mura Omote Kimoiri Monjo, Mōshiwatashichō, Tempo 15 (1844). Takasawa Tadayori (A. D. 1730–1799), Kaisaku Sūyō Kiroku, copy. In Genji 1 (1864), there are said to have been in Kanazawa, a castle town with a population of close to 100,000, only 37 apprentices who had come from the Okugōri region of Noto. See Ukawa Mura Tada Tomura Monjo, Goyōdome, copy, Genji 1 (1864).

33 Shio may have had village-type administration but retained the characteristics of machi in some other ways, as was the case with Wajima. See Wakabayashi Kisaburō, Wajima Chōshi (Wajima, 1953), p. 67.

34 The source for the facts about the 57 villages, unless otherwise indicated, is Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Gojūnanakason Kyosaichō, Bunka 3 (1806). Agricultural and commercial products and much other data are recorded in this document.

35 Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Takoku iritsu kome kaiirekata kakiagechō, copy, Bunsei 8 (1825) and related documents.

36 Kawaidani Mura ōsawa Kimoiri Monjo, Mura Kagamichō. Among examples of rural trade, there can be found such curiosities as export outside the han territory of a medicine for boils and hot spring resort proprietorship by a village headman (kimoiri). See Sanden Mura Adachi Kimoiri Monjo, YuraigaKi, Shōho 4 (1647) and Sadamegaki, Bunsei 2 (1819); Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Goyōdome, copy, Kaei 7 (1854).

37 Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Tsudashi no shinamono kōsen toritatechō, Genji 1 (1864); Negaigaki, Bunkyū 3 (1863).

38 Information about these families derives from official and private documents which are preserved in their houses. The variety of the material is indicated by the following list of types of documents which have been used for this article but are not cited: Kitakawashiri Mura (yuishochō, Kenjō mokuroku, kaisai hōjō, tsūtatsu, negaigaki, mōshiwatashi, oboe, nimmei daishi, kagamichō, mochidakachō, nenki azukaridaka oboechō, baibai shōmon, goin mono, todokegaki, azukari tegata, nikki, kōjōgaki, shodōgudai chōrichō, and tokaisen deki kakiagemōsuchō); Imahama Mura (kansatsu, tegami, tsūtatsu, mōshiwatashi, omeshijō, negaigaki, mikomisho, tomegaki, sashihiki mokuroku, kai shikiri, uri shikiri, keizu, kenjō mokuroku, hairyō mokuroku, haninchō, san'yōkiki no nimmeisho, san'yōkiki tsutomekata, ukegaki, and kakitsuke no oboe).

39 Wakabayashi, , Zeniya Gohei, pp. 90–91.Google Scholar

40 The biggest holdings were in Uwadade Uwada, and Kon'yamachi Mura in the Temmei era (1781–1788). In Kyōwa 2 (1802), shortly after achieving tomura status, Ichijūrō's holdings increased to almost 2,000 koku through land reclamation near Kahoku-gata in Kahoku Gun.

41 Such donations by more prominent merchants than the Kitas were of course common. For Kiya Ke's gifts to the han, see Tsutarō, Ueda, Kiya Ke Monjo Mokuroku (Kanazawa, 1961), 3-rui, pp. 13–15.Google Scholar

For Zeniya Ke's donations to the han, see Wakabayashi, , op. cit., p. 127Google Scholar; Kaburaki, pp. 128–161. Among many examples of loans and gifts to the han by these merchant families during the last century of Tokugawa period, an interesting case was the request by the han in Tempo 15 (1844) to Kiya, Shimazaki, Zeniya, and 20 other merchants for a loan and gift of money so that the han, in its turn, could accede to a bakufu request for a loan. For details of the response from the 23 merchants, see Kurushima Mura Morioka Ke Monjo, Chōtatsukin mokuroku, copy, Tempo 15 (1844). The total loaned by the 23, who included at least one merchant in bakufu territory (tenryō, taryō), was 2,620 kan. In addition, they donated 500 mai (gin).

42 The son and grandson of the last Kita Tomura, who are still living, say that they were told by their fathers that the ship was one important reason for the punishment. Other tomura were punished at the same time and in previous years, though the possibility that shipowning and extra-han Japan Sea trade were a reason or excuse for the punishment existed, so far as we know, only in the case of Kita Tomura. In all these cases, whether of great merchants or rural landlords, the basic reason for punishment, regardless of how it was officially rationalized, is presumed usually to have been periodic pressure on the han to repair its financial fences and to reduce the power of the victims through punitive confiscations.

43 Kakumi Jinja Monjo, Yuraigaki, Bunsei 9 (1826) and Tempo 11 (1840).

44 Bunzaemon sometimes traded with tenryō. His relations with shipping agents and owners in Nara and Sakai, which involved a quarrel and litigation in one case, illustrate the tribulations, customs, and operating methods of late Tokugawa small ship captains and their principals.

45 We have more information about the Sanada and Yamada ie than other families in Imahama, although yuisho or keizu have not been found for the Yamadas and only two genealogical tables (keizu) for the Sanadas. Research in Imahama has been difficult because a fire destroyed most records which might otherwise have been preserved and because the descendants of many Tokugawa period Imahama Mura officials have moved to Hokkaido.

46 Mr. Sanada of Imahama says that villagers used to drink otonosama's bath water after his bath in the “Kadoya” house, thinking that this would make them immune to disease. Otonosama gave the name “Seiji” to “Kadoya” Sōsuke. Mr. Sanada's name today, accordingly, is “Seiji.”

47 Ishikawa Ken Shi, II, 969.

48 Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Tasshi, copy, Kaei 7 (1854); Fure, copy, Ansei 4 (1857); and Fure, copy, Ansei 2 (1855). For accounts from which can be sensed some of the turmoil stirred in Noto villages by the actual appearance of foreigners, see Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Chōrikakiagechō, Mciji 3 (1870). See also Shio Mura Kuyō Kimoiri Monjo, KaKiagechō, copy, Shishukuki, and Oboegaki, Meiji 4 (1871); Fure, Obocgaki, and Sakibure, copies, Keiō 3 (1867).

49 Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Tsūtatsu, copy, Keiō 3 (1867); Tegami, Ansei 2 (1855).

50 Hōdatsu Mura Okumura Ke Monjo, Oboegaki, Ansei I (1854).

51 Shio Mura Kuyū Kimoiri Monjo, Oboegaki and Tsūtatsu.

52 Ukawa Mura Tada Tomura Monjo, Goyōdome, copy, Genji I (1864).

53 Kaga Han Shiryō, Bakumatsu, Ge, pp. 620–627.

54 Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Goyōdome, copy, Kaei 3 (1850).

55 Shio Mura kuyū Kimoiri Monjo, Kōjōgaki, copy, Bunka 9 (1812). The capture of Takadaya Kahci was a celebrated incident.

56 Shio Mura Kuyū Kimoiri Monjo, Kuchigaki, copies, Tempo 3 (1832); Bunsei 10 (1827); Tempo 9 (1838); and Kaei 6 (1853).

57 A Kaga han decree of Bunsei 5 (1822) allowed inhabitants of inland as well as coastal localities to own ships for trade. One wonders what the situation had been previously. Had inhabitants of large population centers such as Kanazawa, Komatsu, and Takaoka, which were not on the coast, been barred from owning such ships? If so, diis would in effect have confined the owning of merchant ships mostly to coastal villages. See Kaga Han Shiryō, XIII, Fun of Bunsei 5 (October 24, 1822).

68 Kurami Mura Nitta, Tomura Monjo, Sekitan horidashikata goyō ninsoku ōserare ikkan, Genji I (1864).Google Scholar A mining specialist, hired by Kaga han, came from Kyushu and searched for coal deposits in Noto rural areas. Kitakawashiri Mura Kita Tomura Monjo, Negaigaki and Mawashijō, copies, Meiji 2 (1869). Villagers from the 57-village area went to the Okayama area to learn the use of new mining machinery.

59 The classic example was Zeniya Gohei. A chōnin, himself, he wanted his son, a hyakushō, to become a tomura, which was a hyakushō position. Zeniya's attempt to reclaim land in Kahoku-gata, moreover, was one of the main links in the chain of events which led to his imprisonment and death. See Kaburaki, pp. 229–231.

60 Hyakushō appear in the village records as a special group, the landholders. “Peasantry” (nōmin) or “villager” (sommin) may, therefore, be more appropriate words than “hyakushō” for use in this discussion.

61 There were many Noto villagers in the Kaga han force which campaigned in Echigo during fighting associated with the Meiji Restoration. See Kitakawashiri Mura Nitta Tomura Monjo, Echigoji deyakuchū zappichō and Nikki, Meiji I (1868).

62 Unoke Mura Hayashi Tomura Monjo, Tasshi, copy, Meiji 4 (1871).