The Use of Telecommunications in the Raw Silk Sales Networks of Meiji Japan

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Other Title
  • 明治期の生糸販売における情報伝達システム : 合資岡谷製糸会社と純水館の電信利用
  • メイジキ ノ キイト ハンバイ ニ オケル ジョウホウ デンタツ システム ゴ

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Description

After the opening of Japan to the west, the raw silk export industry experienced very rapid increases, as raw silk became Japan's most important export item. During the Meiji-era, the sales network for raw silk went through various changes. One of the most visible characteristic changes was the disappearance of speculative; merchants who bought raw silk directly from makers in productive regions remote from Yokohama. Makers had their own contracted commission-agents in Yokohama, and asked the agents to sell their raw silk to the exporters as profitably as possible. The agents in Yokohama tried to finance as many makers as possible for the purpose of increasing their commissions. Thus, raw silk makers and the agents had a cooperative relation in the production and the sale of raw silk. However it has heretofore been ignored that relations of this type were based on the utilization of the telegraph. This paper attempts to survey the information system in raw silk sales in modern Japan as a case study. Referring to the documents of two raw silk makers, Okayaseishi-kaisha and Junsui-kan, the author examines the telegrams related to their raw silk sales. These telegrams show us how raw silk makers received a variety of information on the raw silk market from their agents in Yokohama and were able to send their directions back to the agents promptly. This is the first case study in this area Meiji-era telecommunications, and should contribute much to demostrating the validity of this approarch to economic and business history.

Journal

  • SHIGAKU ZASSHI

    SHIGAKU ZASSHI 102 (10), 1824-1842,1911-, 1993

    The Historical Society of Japan

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