近世における金銀相場変動の呉服問屋への影響
-文政期を事例に-
2004 年 39 巻 1 号 p. 28-49
詳細
2004 年 39 巻 1 号 p. 28-49
The fluctuation of the rate between gold and silver has been considered as favorable for merchants in the Edo period because they could take advantage of the fluctuation, speculate, and make much money. But actually, the official parity rate between gold and silver was declared in 1700 because dealers who purchased kimono in Kyoto and sold them in Edo pleaded with the Tokugawa Bakufu to establish an official rate.
Using materials written by Mitsui Echigoya or Mitsui Hondana from 1818 to 1820, this article explains why the official parity rate was in favor of the dealers. In this period, the value of silver, which was used mainly in western Japan, rose, causing the price of products bought in Kyoto to rise in Edo. But the competition between dealers in kimono was so harsh that they could not raise the price of kimono high enough to make up for the rise of silver. And the sale of kimono bought in Kyoto decreased in comparison to those of kimono bought in the Kanto area.
To hedge these risks in 1720, dealers in kimono in Edo asked their counterparts in Osaka to conclude an agreement to fix the value of gold privately, because the official parity rate was not followed by most people.
And also dealers in kimono could not make much money by speculating in gold and silver, because they could not speculate as they wished, though they obtained much accurate information on the fluctuation before ordinary people did. They instead purchased a lot of kimono by paying in gold instead of buying silver.
