2023 Volume 2 Issue 1 Pages 3-23
This paper explores how the foundations for the Japanese science of commerce (shōgyōgaku), which was established in the 1900s, were laid in the late 19th century by the introduction of higher education in commerce and publications on the history of commerce (shōgyōshi) and economics of commerce (shōgyō-keizaigaku), including both translated books and writings by Japanese authors. In commerce education, both practical education and more academic research co-existed, but those who focused on the latter view often rejected the former. However, at a time when neither business administration nor the science of commerce had yet been established, an academic research orientation that excluded practical education tended to be vague and general. In addition, ‘commerce education’ in this view meant all business education beyond just the boundary of ‘commerce.’ Regarding the translated books, the history of commerce by British authors were the first to appear. These books described a world history of foreign trade and provided basic knowledge to people who would engage in trade, as well as to support the economic argument that free trade was a key source of a nation's wealth. The writings on the economics of commerce translated from German emerged as part of the impact the German historical school had on Japanese academia in the 1890s. These influenced the direction of the Japanese science of commerce in the early 20th century. As for works by Japanese authors, the Japanese history of commerce was established in the 1890s as a history of both foreign trade and domestic commerce. Meanwhile, Japanese economics of commerce was a mixed bag, but the distinction between ‘pure commerce’ and ‘auxiliary commerce’ and management-oriented thought in commerce were identifiable, which prepared the way for the establishment of science of commerce in the 1900s.
