Center for Northeast Asian Studies Tohoku University Faculty

Kenichiro Aratake
Professor

Japanese history, Economic history

Theme: Identifying the economic exchange in the early modern Japanese archipelago

I mainly study the history of Japanese economy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. My research findings on night soil transactions in the Osaka region have been summarized in my book (Kenichiro Aratake, Shinyo o meguru kinsei shakai: Osaka chiiki no noson to toshi [The Night Soil of Early Modern Society: The Farming Villages and Cites of the Osaka Region], Osaka: Seibundo, 2015). This study of these transactions has led me to begin studies of merchants and goods distribution across Japan. For example, I studied old manuscripts to examine the state of kitamaebune (northern-bound ships), which played a significant role in an early modern western marine route (Osaka - Ezo) and local markets. I feel it important that specialty goods of one region were distributed across the Japanese archipelago and that commoners were conscious of local brands. Also, the economic centers of the time were generally Osaka, Kyoto and Edo (called the “big three cities” of the Edo period), and the merchants who thrived there had gathered attention. There is also great historical significance in making clear the existence of the merchants who cooperated with merchants of the three cities and created footholds across Japan. Shiroishi city, Miyagi prefecture functioned as a castle town / post-station town in the Edo period; there, the influential local merchants engaged in active transactions with other city merchants. This did not only mean one merchant was managing business skillfully, but also carried great significance in the regional economy. I aim to produce research that connects small villages and towns with the history of Japan, Asia, and the world.

A document stating that a merchant vessel was in an accident in the Japan Sea (Held by the Yamagata Prefectural Museum, nineteenth Century)

Un’yo Koseki: Illustration of Shiroishi Castle (Possession of Shiroishi city, Miyagi prefecture, nineteenth century)

Principal areas of interest
● Night soil transactions in early modern Japan
● History of goods distribution in the Japan archipelago
● Domain finance of the Edo period

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