近世農村における利子率とその変動要因 : 播州近藤家の各種証文にあらわれた利子率を中心として

The author, studying the various deeds which have been preserved by the Kondo family in Harima province and classifying the rates of interest written on them, attempts to interpret those rates of interest firstly in terms of fluctuation of the amount of loan, which is the index of demand for funds; secondly in terms of disbursed money from the shogunate government, which might be deemed to reflect the behaviour of the amount of money supply; and thirdly in terms of the price of rice at Osaka, which is a substitute index for the conjectured rates of fluctuation of prices in general and of market price of gold. Although no correlation is to be found between the fluctuation of the amount of loan and the rate of interest on the debt paid within the time for payment, correlation, if not very high, can distinctly be found out between the fluctuation of the amount of loan and the rate of interest curriculated from deeds of transfer or mortgages of land. There may be some problems involved in the use of disbursement from the shogunate government as an index of money supply, but it can be seen that the level of the rate of interest changes with some time-lag after the change in the disbursement of money. Falling tendency of the rate of interest in the days of Meiwa-An-ei almost stopped in the days of Meiwa, and it did not give so great an influence on the fall of the rate of interest of An-ei nishu silver. Moreover it is remarkable that before 1764, the 4th year of Miwa, a strong inverse correlation existed between the disbursement from the shogunate government and the rate of interest gained from the deeds of transfer and mortgages of land. It is evident that there existed some correlation between the rate of interest and the conjectured rate of fluctuation of prices though it was impossible to find any correlation between the rate of interest and conjectured rate of fluctuation of the market price of gold. Lastly an observation is made on the Kondos' measure to meet the regulation of the rate of interest by the shogunate government. In order to meet fluctuations of prices and the regulation of the rate of interest they endeavoured to maintain their assets by varying the forms of loan. What is intended is to make clear the interrelationship of prices in rural villages in the Edo period, and here in this article are taken up the rate of interest and some of the factors in its fluctuation. As a procedure, changes in social structure of the rural villages which defined the way of these interrelationship are taken for datum, and not taken into account as one of the explanatory factors in the fluctuation of the rate of interest. It is difficult to do so with the present limited materials and must wait for future research.