The Reorganization of the System for Collecting Herring Cargoes

the Case of the West Coast of Hokkaido, Japan, 1865-1869

Abstract

In early modern Japan, fish meal made from herring was used as a fertilizer in cash crop production. Herring meal was produced in the northernmost island, Hokkaido, and shipped in kitamaebune (vessels operated by independent shippers and merchants involved in the herring trade) to ports in Honshu (the main island of Japan).
This paper examines a shift in the system by which herring cargoes from Ezochi were collected in the Matsumaechi port town of Esashi between 1865 and 1869. Matsumaechi was the southwestern periphery of Hokkaido; it was distinguished politically from the rest of the island (known as Ezochi) during the Edo period. Esashi was the center of the herring trade on the west coast of Hokkaido.
This study is based upon the records of Sekigawa Yozaemon, an Esashi herring-meal merchant. The Matsumae domain recognized Sekigawa as a wholesaler (Esashi ton'ya) and granted him a contract to collect commodity taxes and port charges levied on commodities and boats passing through the Esashi customs house (Okinokuchi yakusho). Accordingly, the Sekigawa records can be regarded as official documents: they offer extremely detailed information concerning the shipping of herring by-products. The study's findings, based on an analysis of the records, can be summarized as follows:
The Esashi ton'ya had monopoly rights to herring from western Ezochi during the first half of the nineteenth century. These rights derived from their roles as supply merchants, in which they provided loans to fishers living in and around Esashi in return for exclusive access to the herring caught by their clients in western Ezochi. However, when eight villages along the northern coast of Matsumaechi between Esashi and the Ezochi border came under the direct administration of the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1855, the ship owners and fishers in the villages were permitted to trade directly with other districts, including the Tohoku region and other parts of Honshu. In other words, they were allowed to fish and trade herring independently of the Esashi ton'ya. This led to an upheaval in the system of collecting herring in Esashi.
In 1864, the eight villages were returned to the Matsumae domain, with the result that all ships from Ezochi once again had to discharge their cargoes at Esashi. Ship owners and fishers living in the eight villages opened branch stores in Esashi, through which they started selling herring meal directly to the Esashi ton'ya, without borrowing money or supplies such as nets and boats from them. At the same time, the number of kitamaebune entering from Honshu peaked: they were employed by Esashi merchants in shipping herring loads from Ezochi to Esashi. Consequently, the function of collecting herring became concentrated in Esashi once again.
In sum, systems for collecting herring loads from Ezochi to Esashi were reorganized by merchants, kitamaebune ship owners, and fishers living in and around Esashi between 1865 and 1869.