A Study of Fairs and Merchant Groups in Villages in Early Modern Japan

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370789
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese history
• Research Institution: Yokohama National University
• Principal Investigator: TAWADA Masayasu 横浜国立大学, 教育人間科学部, 教授 (10528392)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 日本近世史 / 地方史 / 流通史 / 在方市 / 商人 / 信濃国

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the Edo period in what is currently the northern part of Nagano prefecture, there were many small cities, where markets were held. In this scientific research, I collected information from historical materials and was able to clarify: (1) the specific ways in which goods were traded in the markets and how they changed through the Edo period; (2) the specific forms of activities of the many merchants who lived in farming villages, and the internal structure of the groups they formed; (3) their relationships with the markets, and their mutual relationships; (4) concrete images of the people who brought firewood from mountain areas and those who brought salt and fish from coastal areas (present Niigata prefecture). In conjunction, I was able to confirm that the word "market decline" found in the materials referred not to a move toward permanent stores in the fairs as was said previously, but to transactions between merchants outside the markets.

Free Research Field

日本近世史