National Market and Local Market viewed from the Activities of Merchants -from the Tempo Era to the Second World War-

Research Project

Project/Area Number	07303009
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	総合
Research Field	Economic history
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	ISHII Kanji Univ. of Tokyo, Fac. of Economics, Professor, 大学院・経済学研究科, 教授 (20012122)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	NAKAMURA Naofumi Univ. of Saitama, Fac. of Economics, Associate Prof., 経済学部, 助教授 (60262086) YAMADA Takehisa Nara Industrial Univ., Fac. of Economics, Lecturer, 経済学部, 講師 (10243148) TAJIMA Yoshiya Univ. of Kanagawa, Junior College, Professor, 短期大学部, 教授 (40201610) OKADA Mitsuyo Prefectural Univ. of Osaka, Fac. of Economics, Associate Prof., 経済学部, 助教授 (70213949) NAKANISHI Satoshi Univ. of Hokkaido, Fac. of Economics, Associate Prof., 経済学部, 助教授 (20251457)
Project Period (FY)	1995 – 1996
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1996)
Budget Amount *help	¥8,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥8,400,000) Fiscal Year 1996: ¥3,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000) Fiscal Year 1995: ¥5,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,100,000)
Keywords	Merchant / national market / local market / shipping / business in rice / sardine fertilizer / herring fertilizer / invest in stocks / 地域市場 / 北前船 / 化学肥料 / 米穀
Research Abstract	1. We have carried out investigations six times on the historical materials kept by the Hiroumi family who had been engaged in domestic shipping and trade in rice and fertilizer at Kaizuka in Osaka Prefecture. We have taken photographs of the main account books and put the business letters into our special envelopes. 2. Having analyzed these historical materials, we found out many interesting facts. Firstly, Kaizuka Port, which prospered as a trading center for rice and fertilizer after the 1830s, began to decline in the 1880s because of the inadequateness for steamships. Secondly, the returns from the trade decreased after the 1890s as the Hiroumi family changed their way of trade from selling on commissions to selling on their own accounts. Thirdly, the Hiroumi family, who began to invest their money in the joint-stock companies in the 1880s, increased their investments during the boom in the 1910s so that the amount of the returns from the investments in the stocks overwhelmed those from the trade in fertilizer. In short, we found out the fact that the merchants grown in the Tokugawa Era not only developed the market economy but also financed the joint-stock companies in modern Japan.