The Currency of Imported Cotton Yarn in the Early Meiji Era

Abstract

This study attempts to describe actually, by examinig the currency of imported cotton yarn (abridged "yarn" for the rest) in Ashikaga-Kiryu weaving area, how the weaving industry of Japan coped with the inflow of cotton products at the early Meiji era, therefore, how it was reformed at that time. The trade of yarn in Yokohama was leaded, with a certain replacement of members, by some main foreign traders, and some Japanese receiving-merchants whose business was supported monetarily through a credit system by the yarn-dealers in the weaving area. As for the domestic bargain, on sending yarn to the dealers of the weaving area, those Japanese merchants who transacted business in spot cash with foreign traders drew, at some cloth-brokers' offices in Tokyo, bills for collection which the cloth-brokers took up instantly, so that they could obtain a round sum of money for their business. In this case it was the cloth-brokers that played a basal role in the credit system and made it work, since they not only supplied the receiving-merchants money by taking up the bills but kept the bills till they became due. From the viewpoint that the advanced foreign economies could not penetrate into Japan after all, we, by all means, ought to emphasize the resources of the cloth-brokers in the weaving area as well as in Tokyo which were accumulated in the feudal system. Yarn-dealers in the weaving area, on the other hand, also made full use of the credit system in order to meet the weavers' demand for yarn. Being concerned in cloth currency some yarn-dealers of the weaving area, from receiving-merchants (some in Tokyo, others in Yokohama), bought cotton yarn the charge of which the cloth-brokers of Tokyo took over in exchange for cloths they would buy or had bought. In this sense we may be able to regard the credit system mentioned above as based on cloth currency. Speaking of the aspect of the yarn currency within the weaving area, we must note beforehand that as regards cloth business, cloth brokers in a basic form issued to weavers promissory notes which usually had approximately thirty days to run when buying cloths. Weavers who, for lack of money, could not but dispose of the notes before the due date appropriated them for purchase of yarn, so that they could obtain yarn at the same time as. the sale of cloths. Thus, such currency of notes, undoubtedly, contributed to the penetration of yarn into the weaving area. What did the yarn-deslers do with the notes they accepted, then? Some kept the notes till the due date, which points out that the dealers' resources played an indispensable role in the currency of notes, and others appropriated the notes for their own stock of yarn, which means that the currency of notes themselves was of great use to rapid introduction of yarn into the area in such a way as well. However, the currency of notes was considerably ristricted, before banks were set up in this region. For that reason, business in cash between weavers and cloth-brokers was inevitable to some extent. Thereby, the weavers could obtain yarn on selling cloths when no bank was set up yet in this region. From these facts we reasonably extract the conclusion that the extensive consumption of yarn was led by the credit system for yarn and cloth which the cloth brokers and the yarn-dealres supported.