Host: The Association of Japanese Geographers
The Edo era regional market system of Musashi Province was composed of many periodic markets. Previous research includes detailed investigations of some of these periodic markets. However, some periodic markets in this region, such as Tokorozawa Town have not received adequate attention. And in spite of its economic significance, there are few extant records about this periodic market.
The official dedication ceremony, written and presented in 1639 provides the earliest record of a periodic market in Tokorozawa Town in the Edo era. There is, however, little information about the periodic market in the records that we have access to. The earliest record of an original market day in the Tokorozawa periodic market was the regional geography of Kawagoe Domain, which was written in 1702.
In the late eighteenth century, Tokorozawa Town had six town blocks, and each block had its own market day, this suggests that Tokorozawa was a big town in the mid-eighteenth century. The principal goods of the Tokorozawa periodic markets in this period were dried fish, secondhand clothes and other secondhand articles. Traders bought these goods to Kawagoe Castle Town and sold them in Tokorozawa.
The area served by the Tokorozawa periodic markets was large, particularly the Musashino Plateau to the south. Because of low water levels in Musashino, people could not cultivate rice. Therefore they depended on market towns to buy rice and other daily goods. And since a big town never emerged in this low population region, the people from Musashino had to go to market towns as far away as 10km or more. Thus the Tokorozawa market town was particularly important for the people of the Musashino Plateau.
As the town grew, an increasing number of lawless individuals began to assemble within the Tokorozawa market town. For example, in the middle of nineteenth century, gamblers assembled there every market day, even though gambling was illegal. As a result, the village unions around Tokorozawa and Musashino asked the local government to crack down on these gamblers in 1845. The author contends that this indicates that the periodic markets of Tokorozawa were becoming increasingly crowded.
