Textiles and Trade in Tokugawa Japan

University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings Textile Society of America 1990 Textiles And Trade In Tokugawa Japan William B. Hauser University of Rochester Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf Part of the Art and Design Commons Hauser, William B., "Textiles And Trade In Tokugawa Japan" (1990). Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings. 606. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/606 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Textile Society of America at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Textile Society of America Symposium Proceedings by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. -IB- Textiles and Trade: Japan shifted from subsistence to market oriented cropping TEXTILES AND TRADE IN TOKUGAWA JAPAN patterns, and new systems of production and distribution developed. In the seventeenth century Kyoto and WILLIAM B. HAUSER Osaka were the primary foci of commercial activity. Department of History, University of Rochester, The Kinki region surrounding the imperial capital of Rochester, NY 14627 u Kyoto and Osaka had long been the center of the Japa- nese economy and of handicraft industrial production. INTRODUCTION While Kyoto was the center of silk textile production, Any discussion of the textile trade in Tokugawa Osaka became a center for the cotton trade. When cot- Japan (1600-1867) requires that the socio-economic and ton cultivation and processing expanded in the six- political context first be outlined. Japan was a state teenth century, the Kinki region was of major impor- divided into many separated political jurisdictions, tance. with around one-quarter of the country controlled directly by the Tokugawa Shogunate and the other THE COTTON TRADE three-quarters under the local control of around 265 By the early seventeenth century cotton had replaced local barons or daimyo. While each of these local linen as the staple fiber for Japanese commoner clo- power-holders was subordinated to the shogun and re- thing. Cotton became a major commercial crop in the quired to spend half his time in attendance on the Osaka region and Osaka and nearby market towns devel- shogun at the Tokugawa capital of Edo (modern Tokyo), oped as cotton processing centers. By the end of the within his own domain he was an autonomous ruler. Each seventeenth century merchant and artisan guilds devel- daimyo owed fealty to the Tokugawa, but they paid no oped to focus the marketing and processing of seed taxes and were left alone so long as they were not cotton into cloth on the city of Osaka. Protective abusing the residents of their domains. Tokugawa power n trade associations or kabunakama were designed to reg- was centered in the Kanto plain around Edo but in- ularize business procedures and trade routes and con- cluded direct control of the major cities of Edo, trol access to the cotton trade. On the one hand Kyoto, Osaka, and Nagasaki as well as the foreign n guilds assured consistent quality and prices for cot- trade conducted out of Nagasaki with Dutch and Chinese ton goods; helped define roles in the collecting, pro- merchants. cessing, and distribution of seed and ginned cotton, cotton yarn, and cotton cloth; and brought order to a Major features of the Tokugawa era were domestic complex system of economic relationships. On the other peace, following a century of warfare in the battles hand, once established the guilds limited innovation, for unification before 1615; the political integration restricted access, and monopolized various aspects of of the country through the system of alternate at- the processing and marketing of cotton and cotton tex- tendance required of the daimyo; urbanization; and tiles. In the 1660s and 1670s the Osaka city economic growth together with greatly expanded demands magistrates authorized guilds for cotton buying, ship- for consumer goods. As a consequence of urbanization ping, processing and sales. The guilds helped stabi- and the withdrawal of most samurai from the villages lize the cotton trade, assisted government control of into the cities, the agrarian model of society with a commerce, and helped preserve the separation between clear separation between warrior-bureaucrats and cotton cultivators and those who processed and aristocrats at the top of society and farmers, marketed their crops. In a context in which handicraft artisans and merchants supplying their needs broke industry and trade were seen as potential contaminants down. Over the course of the Tokugawa era, increased of the purity of self-sufficient agricultural vil- commercial agriculture and by-employment activities by i lages, the kabunakama in the cotton trade were impor- farmers blurred the distinctions between handicraft tant for preserving the separation of commerce and ag- industries and trade, on the one hand, and farming, on riculture. They also assured that regular supplies of the other. This had a major impact on the textile cotton would be available for the urban residents of trade in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Osaka and, to a lesser extent, Edo. While largely secluded from the outside world, As cotton cultivation became increasingly common as Tokugawa society was by no means static and unchang- a cash crop in Kinki area villages, cotton processing ing. Between 1600 and 1867 the economy became in- also increased. Initially villagers processed enough creasingly monetized and commercialized, farming cotton to provide cloth for household consumption. But -112- n • 114- -115- Textiles and Trade: Japan Textiles and Trade: Japan from the 1730s on, cotton cultivating villages in- chanisms with closer ties to government power were re- creased the volume of processed goods they produced. quired. Reorganized kabunakama protected the interests This was especially true for cotton ginning and the of the Osaka cotton merchants. Direct sales by rural dominant position of Osaka cotton ginners was chal- cotton producers, new marketing and distribution lenged. Local cloth production increased as well and strategies by rural jobbers and transport merchants, this threatened the position of the Osaka cotton and increased rural processing of cotton collectively weavers. The Osaka guilds of seed and ginned cotton weakened the dominant position of the "Osaka guild mer- dealers, processors and shippers declined in influence chants in the cotton trade. Kabunakama formation in and appealed to the city government for protection. In the 1770s and 1780s served to reassert Osaka merchant 1772 the Osaka city government ordered all those com- controls and limit the expansion of rural processing peting with the Osaka cotton guilds to join them and and trade.3 abide by their regulations. The city government stepped in to reinforce the position of the Osaka cot- Village processors and merchants were not the only ton guilds. In doing so, the city government demanded sources of competition for the Osaka cotton merchants. new monetary contributions from the guild members, and Local daimyo also worked to augment their incomes from these licensing fees strengthened ties between the the cotton trade. In 1785, Wakayama domain tried to cotton merchants and the city administration. established a ginned cotton buying office in Osaka to improve access to supplies for its domain sponsored Similar actions were taken to defend the interests reeled yarn industry- The domain tried to evade the of the guilds of cotton cloth merchants. During the Osaka guild system and buy directly from ginned cotton 1770s and 1780s, they too formed revised trade associ- shippers in Osaka. The Osaka guild merchants protested ations in association with the Osaka city government. to the city government that this violated their Included were the Osaka cotton cloth wholesalers monopoly rights and Wakayama domain was forced to fol- nakama fmomen ton'y_a nakama) and the Osaka cotton low established market procedures. The city government cloth dealers nakama (nanakumi momen'ya nakama). The protected the cotton merchants' interests against an cloth wholesalers purchased cotton cloth and sold it encroachment by Wakayama domain.4 to the cloth dealers for storage and distribution. While a licensed monopoly the wholesalers guild of- A more serious domain challenge came in 1821. Himeji fered to admit any newcomers who could afford its li- domain established a domain monopoly for marketing its cense fees and wished to enter the trade. The cotton bleached cotton cloth and omitted the Osaka cotton dealers guild included merchants who warehoused and cloth merchants. Until 1821, all Himeji cloth exports shipped cotton cloth to Edo and other areas of Japan passed through the Osaka cloth merchants and the new as well as local retailers. Each of its seven member domain monopoly abruptly altered the marketing system. groups had long histories, with the Edo shippers asso- The new monopoly increased domain revenues from cotton ciation dating back to 1616. exports. By shipping cloth directly to the higher priced Edo market, all profits went directly into the The reinforced kabunakama served several purposes. domain treasury and the Osaka merchants were excluded. First, they enhanced the cotton merchants access to The impact of this and other challenges to the Osaka the juridical power of the city administration to pro- cotton merchants was dramatic. White cotton cloth im- tect them from outside competition. Second, they in- ports to Osaka declined from 8 million tan (12 yard tensified the pressures on guild members to adhere to bolt of cloth suitable for one garment) in 1810 to an established business practices and limited the ability average of 3 million tan between 1832 and 1841. At the of guild members to innovate. Third, they provided a same time the price of cloth increased in Osaka by 50 new source of revenues—through licensing fees—to the per cent, even though cloth production in Himeji and city government.

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