抄録
Researches on honai-shonin have been made on the assumption that they were za-shonin living in villages (sonraku-za-shonin). One of the issues that these researches have pointed out is that their assertion about monopoly changed in the sixteenth century from the monopoly of transaction (ichi-za-ken) to that of trade routes. In this paper we have inquired into this change from the viewpoint that this was the change of their organization and creed of business. The main points we have clarified are as follows :
First, they asserted their monopoly of trade routes upon being recognized as a corporation. We have reached this conclusion as a result of the elucidation of the process of their getting out of the control of shoen-ryoshu (sanmon), and of the above-mentioned recognized by shugo-Rokkaku-shi.
Secondly, the reason of their assertion is that the goods they dealt in increased in amount. They no longer were able to assert the monopoly with the sales method relying upon za. So they were forced to assert the monopoly of trade routes connecting suppliers and retailers. This change in the form of business was in correspondence with the emergence of a local economy on the eastern coast of Lake Biwa in Omi-no-kuni.
Thirdly, the reason why they could change the form of business is that their policy was in accordance with that of shugo-Rokkaku-shi
Finally, having passed through the process mentioned above, honai-shonin transformed themselves from medieval za-shonin to a new type of merchants which adapted themselves to the local economy in the sixteenth century, namely, shingi-shonin.
