Structure and association of prices in urban and rural soy sauce markets during the Meiji and Taisho periods: Quantitative analysis of the Takanashi Honke Documents

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K01795
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 07070:Economic history-related
• Research Institution: Keio University
• Principal Investigator: Maeda Kiyotaka 慶應義塾大学, 文学部(三田), 准教授 (90708398)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 伊藤 幹夫 慶應義塾大学, 経済学部(三田), 教授 (70184695)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 日本経済史 / 日本経営史 / 日本近代史 / 醤油醸造業 / 在来産業 / 髙梨兵左衛門家 / 価格連関 / 製品ポートフォリオ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study investigates soy sauce prices to analyze the multi-layered product market structure in urban and rural areas during the turn of the twentieth century when the domestic commodity market expanded. Economic historians have explored market price formation by focusing on primary products. However, they ignored the product market, which is exposed to the price fluctuations caused by various complex factors. To tackle that task, this study focuses on soy sauce, which became one of the representative mass consumer goods when the modern commodity market was formed. It creates a database of soy sauce prices from 1887 to 1917 by utilizing the Takanashi Honke Documents held by the Kamihanawa Historical Research Institute to analyze them. Concretely, this study has two research tasks: examining the relationship among the prices of different brands and investigating the price convergence between urban and rural areas within the Kanto region.

Free Research Field

日本経済史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は，現代に至るまで国内商品市場で大衆的な消費財として取引されている醤油に着目し，その価格形成メカニズムを分析した。従来の経済史研究も商品価格形成を分析してきたが，都市における1次産品（食料・原燃料）を考察対象としてきた。以上の先行研究とは対照的に，本研究は①農村，②最終消費財を分析対象とした点が特徴である。その成果として，第1に都市と対照的に農村市場における異地点間の価格連動性は低かったこと，第2に醸造家は農村市場向け低級品の販売拡大によって成長したこと，第3に低級品販売拡大を目的に醸造家は「印」と称された多様なブランドを市場へ供給していたことが解明された。