Abstract
Shizuoka City acts the role of tea-market that controls the tea-industrial area of Shizuoka Pref., which produces 65% (about 60, 000, 000 pounds) of the output of Japanese tea. The writer discussed the relation of this market to its market region by the investigation through the process of their deve-lopement. The main subjects are summarized as follows:
1. The transaction of tea in Shizuoka commenced in the early days of 17 century. Through the Tokugawa era, it was carried on between the tea-farmers in the Abe and Warashina basin and the tea gild in Sumpu (the old name of Shizuoka city in Tokugawa era), that had the privilege of collecting all the tea produced by farmers. For this reason, Sumpu was the privileged tea-market to its hinterland of that time. This feudal com-mercial relation was broken down by the commencement of tea export at 1858 and the Meiji Restoration.
2. By the influence of export, the tea gardens was increased rapidly in area in different parts of Shizuoka Pref., and about 1880, tea-markets came into existence in the towns along the railway and in the ports. The tea, which was collected at these tea-markets, was supplied to the tea-export-market in Yokohama. By the combination with their surrounding regions, each tea-market had formed an independent tea-industrial region, and they had been united by the export-market in Yokohama. That was the tea-industrial organization in Shizuoka. Pref, at that time (Fig. 2). Shizuoka tea-market had been one of those local markets under such organization, but it had had the largest market region, and had collected about 8, 000, 000 pounds, equivalent to 40% of the output of tea in Shizuoka Pref, about 1900.
3. About 1905, the export-market moved from Yokohaiiia to Shizuoka. For this reason, the latter became the unifying center in the tea-industrial organization, and all the tea-markets in Shizuoka Pref. became the entrepot-markets for the export-market in Shizuoka.
4. After the World War I, tea-making was mechanised, and transporta-tion. made a remarkable progress. By the influences of these changes of conditions, the transaction in the entrep5t-markets AN-as decreased, and the tendency that the tea-maker sell their tea directly to Shizuoka without possing through the entrepot-markets, arose. On the other hand, during the same time, the importance of export-market to the entrepot-markets was diminished, because of the decrease of export. Thus, the latter have enlarged their home-market or home-debouche, and their independent market functions have been raised. These tendencies have become more remarkable after the World War II.
5. Thus, at the present time, the tea market in Shizuoka directly com-bines with his market-region, which covers all the tea industrial regions in Shizuoka Pref., and indirectly with it through the entrepôt-markets above mentioned.
It is the existence of the export-market of tea in Shizuoka City that maintains the tea-industry organization, though it is modified by changes in the environment of tea-industry as exemplified by Ila and IIb in Fig. 2.
