Human Aspects of the Merchant Enterprise in the Tokugawa Period

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  • 商業経営の主体 : 商家とその同族組織 (近世と商業経営)
  • 商業経営の主体--商家とその同族組織
  • ショウギョウ ケイエイ ノ シュタイ ショウカ ト ソノ ドウゾク ソシキ

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Here I describes how, in the Tokugawa Period, these merchant houses effectively utilized their social ties as the framework for entrepreneurial organization. The ie (house as an institutional group) is translated often to a patrilineal and patriarchal stem family, and the dozoku (institutionaiized group composed of a main house and its branches) to a patrilineal kin group, and these "kin" groups are always regarded as those which were basic for Tokugawa entrepreneurial organization. But, I must point that standerd kinship categories used by Western scholars simply do not fit the ie and dozoku of the Tokugawa Period. Kinship was an important basis for forming corporate enterprise groups among these merchant houses, yet they were not strictly kin groups. Each house could include non-kin members referring to the house head and his or her kin members. Among non-kin members of the house there were male and female persons, who were adopted as clerk apprentices and house maids. The master of the house establish for his ex-apprentices their branch houses as well as for his non-heir kin members. Such a master's house was called as main house to these kin and non-kin branches. Adoption of kin members or non-kin into the house made the merchant house be enough flexible to get serected able persons as the member. Merchant dozoku could also be enough flexible to be vital, especially through utilizing non-kin branches.

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