Merchants of Edo

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. Doing Business in Edo　- 江戸の商売 .
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The rich merchants of Edo -　豪商　gooshoo

The big 18 spenders were the most famous of this group, most of them were the money-lenders of Kura-Mae 御蔵前.
Fudasashi　札差　 Rice Brokers (komedonya, see below)

Natsume Seibi 夏目成美
Ooguchiya Jihei 大口屋治兵衛
Yodoya 淀屋

. juuhachi daitsuu 十八大通 18 big spenders - Introduction .

. momendana, momen dana 木綿店 cptton shops

under construction
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Edo no Happyaku Yachoo 江戸の八百八町 Happyaku yacho - 808 towns of Edo
A phrase used to indicate the size of Edo with its many districts.
there were more 300 bridges in Edo, mostly build by the bakufu government.
For the situation in Osaka, see below.
When Tokugawa Ieyasu started building the city of Edo, there were about 300 "towns", districts.
They are now called the 古町 Old Towns.
During the great fire in 1641, about 97 of these were lost.
In 1657 there were about 674 町 CHO under the supervision of the Machi Bugyo Governor.
In 1713, they counted for 933.
In 1745, they counted for 1678 !


CLICK for more photos !

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. Echigoya 越後屋 and Mitsui　三井 .


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紀文大尽舞 - 米村圭吾

Kinokuniya Bunzaemon 紀伊国屋文左衛門
(1669–1734)
Kibun　紀文

As his name says, he is from "Ki-I no Kuni 紀伊国" , Wakayama, a region known for growing mikan.
He made a fortune with the delivery of wood for carpenters in the thriving town of Edo with its many construction projects.




He is best known for his visits to Yoshiwara, throwing gold koban among the courtesans.

- Reference -

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Koonoike 鴻池 Konoike

quote
Zen-emon Munetoshi Konoike the third, known as a wealthy merchant in Osaka, undertook construction work for redirecting the flow of the Yamato River and developing new farmland (shinden) in various locations. Among the new farmlands developed by him, Konoike shinden, developed in 1705, was the largest one, with an area of about 200 ha.
Established in 1707, the Konoike Shinden Kaisho (meeting place) functioned as what is now called a municipal government and a police department. The functions performed by the meeting place included the following: collecting farm tenancy fees from tenant farmers to pay them to the Edo shogunate government; maintaining and repairing agricultural fields, water channels, bridges in the shinden; preparing resident cards; providing elderly persons with pension; conveying messages from the shogunate government and the Konoike family to tenant farmers; and arbitrating disputes. Konoike Shinden Kaisho has a circuit-style garden characterized by the use of the natural scenery around it.


In addition, it has a main building, a rice storehouse (designated as national important cultural assets) and other important buildings that give visitors the flavor of the Edo period. These buildings were once used as venues for filming period dramas, and now they occasionally
source : www.osaka-info.jp/en

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. Oomi shoonin 近江商人 Merchants from Omi .
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Hino Shoonin 日野商人 Hino Merchants from Omi

the spirit of sanpo-yoshi, which meant,

good for the buyer,
good for the seller, and
good for society

Omi Hino Merchant Museum 近江日野商人館


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Yodoya 淀屋

Yodoya Saburōemon (淀屋三郎右衛門)
(1576-1643

quote
Yodoya was Osaka’s business tycoon in the Edo era. Yodoya bridge was built at his private expense.
Merchant Culture
In modern ages, Osaka was called Tenka no Daidokoro or the kitchen of the nation. An active economic development nurtured a rational spirit among the people’s minds. The people became more interested in learning and thought. Various educational facilities were set up and developed by their own efforts. At first there was more emphasis on practical science for their own business, but this soon led to further studies such as Confucian thought, philosophy, religious studies, natural history and astronomy.
Acquisition of scientific knowledge accumulated in modern ages enabled them to open the door to the next generation.
source : osaka-chushin.jp


The eight famous bridges of Osaka 浪華の八百八橋
build by private people for the use of townspeople
There were about 200 bridges in Osaka.
Yodoya also financed the building of the dike Yodogawa Teibo 淀川堤防

His son, the second Yodoya build a sort of first market place 天下の台所 in Osaka. Including a "rice market" 米市.

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komedonya, kome no tonya 米問屋 rice brokers
. . . the forerunners of Japan's banking system.

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Rice brokers, which rose to power and significance in Osaka and Edo in the Edo period (1603-1867) of Japanese history, were the forerunners to Japan's banking system.
Daimyo (feudal lords) received most of their income in the form of rice. Merchants in Osaka and Edo thus began to organize storehouses where they would store a daimyo's rice in exchange for a fee, trading it for either coin or a form of receipt; essentially a precursor to paper money. Many if not all of these rice brokers also made loans, and would actually become quite wealthy and powerful. As the Edo period wore on, daimyo grew poorer and began taking out more loans, increasing the social position of the rice brokers.
Rice brokers also managed, to a great extent, the transportation of rice around the country, organizing the income and wealth of many daimyo and paying taxes on behalf of the daimyo out of their storehouses.
- - - Kyoto - - - Osaka


Nihonbashi bridge in Edo, Rice brokers
36 Views of Mount Fuji by Hokusai

- - - Edo
The rice brokers in Edo were called fudasashi (札差, "note/bill exchange"), and were located in the kuramae (蔵前, "before the storehouses") section of Asakusa.
A very profitable business, fudasashi acted both as usurers and as middlemen organizing the logistics of daimyo tax payments to the shogunate. The rice brokers, like other elements of the chōnin (townspeople) society in Edo, were frequent patrons of the kabuki theater, Yoshiwara pleasure district, and other aspects of the urban culture of the time.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !


. Kuramae 倉前 / 蔵前 The Bakufu Rice Granaries .


uchikowashi, uchi-kowashi 打壊し rice riots "break them down"
They usually started during a famine, when the poor were starving. Groups went to the rice broker storehouses and broke them down.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !


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. kabunakama, kabu nakama 株仲間 merchant guild, merchant coalition
za 座 trade guilds, industrial guilds, artisan guilds .

. Doing Business in Edo　- 江戸の商売 .

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