Economic Institutional Change in Tokugawa Japan

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  • 近世大阪における商業機構の変質過程 : 大阪綿問屋の場合
  • キンセイ オオサカ ニ オケル ショウギョウ キコウ ノ ヘンシツ カテイ オオサカメン ドンヤ ノ バアイ

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This paper is an effort to investigate the Osaka cotton trade to determine the relationship between the political authority of the Tokugawa bakufu and the commercial activities of the cotton merchants. The establishment of trade associations and their transformations over time are examined with a view to discovering where the dynamics originated. Were the merchants dominated by the economic policies of the bakufu, or did bakufu policy tend to follow the lead of the merchants and of commercial activity in general? Did the role of the merchant associations change over time? If so, what were the nature of these changes? Through this analsis, the dominant role of the Tokugawa bakufu is challenged. Commercial activity was not in fact controlled in an effective fashion. Government remained dependent upon the realities of the commercial sector of society in dealing with the merchants. The process of economic institutional change continued despite efforts by the bakufu to impede it. The final section of this paper presents some ideas on "Institutionalization and Change" which have been advanced by S. N. Eisenstadt. These ideas have been extremely useful to the author in his analysis and are presented to give a background to his analytical approach.

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