Japanese mountain religions have attracted geographers, historians, folklorists, and scientists of religion. Geographers have often focused their studies on towns at the foots of sacred mountains and on identifying the geographic areas of cults. While those studies have emphasized the aspect of propagandists, they have conducted little analysis of the acceptors of such religions. Those studies also did not examine the relation between cults and the regions in which their acceptors lived.
This study examines the cult of Mt. Mitsumine, a sacred mountain in Chichibu county, Musashi province (currently Saitama prefecture). The cult of Mitsumine spread in the Kanto and Koshin districts after the middle of the 18th century. This diffusion was possible because the cult was gradually established in the Chichibu region in the period between the mid-17 th to the early 18th century. This study, therefore, examines how the cult was accepted in this region in the mid-18th century. It also elucidates cult practices in relation to other folk beliefs through records from the 19th century.
The establishment of the cult resulted from socioeconomic changes in the mid-17 th to the early 18th century. In Otaki Village, at the foot of Mt. Mitsumine, forests were cleared to ship the timber to Edo in the mid-17 th century. When merchants in cities, notably Edo, began to demand a large amount of timber from this area, the villagers felt the need to exercise control by assigning the amount to be felled by the village. While each settlement in Otaki used to have its own shrine, the villagers desired the deity of Mt. Mitsumine to play the role of uniting the whole village. The deity was regarded as a mountain god who controlled the felling. When Nikko-Hoin became a Mitsumine priest in 1720, the villagers supported him by donating money, agricultural products, and labor. They also helped to establish small shrines (massha).
Records from the 19th century indicate that the cult of Mitsumine had already established a firm position among the various folk beliefs by that period. Mitsumine shrine sent its staff to parishioners several times a year to offer blessings. The parishioners, in turn, donated money to support the shrine. Such practices, which began in the period of Nikko-Hoin, were conducted not only by villages but also by individual households.
The development of forestry after the 17th century made it possible for the Otaki residents to give more donations to Mitsumine shrine. The advancement of forestry also fostered the solidarity of the villagers with Mitsumine shrine as their core. A similar tendency was also observed in the Chichibu region in general with its development of sericulture. These economic and social changes thus contributed to the further geographic expansion of the cult.
By examining acceptors of the cult in relation to regional socioeconomic conditions, this study has demonstrated the significance of the geographic foundation of beliefs.

View full abstract

The purpose of this article is to clarify the reorganization of the hand-tool industry brought about by hardware wholesalers dealing with new markets, focusing on the hardware wholesalers and handtool manufacturers in Sanjo City, Niigata prefecture.
Many hardware manufacturers and wholesalers are located in Sanjo City, one of the hardware production and distribution centers of eastern Japan. During the past two decades, the distribution channels used by hardware wholesalers have shifted from the petty and small hardware retailer market, the main channels before the 1970s, to large-scale DIY (do it yourself) supermarket chains dealing in hardware, housewares, etc.
With the shift of market channels, DIY markets have become an important distribution channel for hand tools. Before the first half of the 1970s, hand-tool manufacturers mainly exported their products to North America through ‘shosha’ in Kobe. In other markets, their connections were hand-tool manufacturers in Osaka, and machinery and tool ‘shosha’ in Tokyo. In these transactions, the manufacturers acted as subcontractors making low technology hand-tools. Since the oil crisis of 1973, hand-tool manufacturers' exports have decreased drastically because of the higher value of the yen. Consequently they have tried to find other market channels. Thus selling to DIY stores through hardware wholesalers became their main new market, replacing exports.
The author analyzed the following three points: 1) the reaction of hardware wholesalers to the DIY market; 2) the changing relation between hardware wholesalers and the hand-tool manufacturers; and 3) the reorganization of the hand-tool industry under this changed relationship. The following was clarified in this study.
Hardware wholesalers, in order to enter into the DIY market, must meet the following conditions set by DIY stores: 1) maintaining a large range of goods in stock; 2) supplying goods to DIY stores on a ‘Just in Time’ (JIT) basis; and 3) reducing the unit price of goods. The leading hardware wholesalers that were able to meet these conditions started trading exclusively with DIY stores, and became so-called ‘Shusanchi Tonya’, purchasing hand-tools from manufacturers not only in Sanjo City, but in Osaka and Southeast Asia to supply goods to DIY stores. However, they must rely on the manufacturers in Sanjo City in order to deliver goods to DIY stores on a JIT basis and in order to discount the unit prices of hand-tools. To cope with DIY store requests, it is important for them to reorganize their business relationships with manufacturers in Sanjo.
In the distribution of hand-tools, some hand-tool manufacturers and hardware wholesalers have formed an ‘agent system’-like ‘Keiretsu’, in which manufacturers designate leading wholesalers as agents. Under this system, manufacturers are able to protect themselves from drops in price on the one hand, and on the other hand agent wholesalers can guarantee a reliable supply of hand-tools com pared with non-agent wholesalers. However, under this system agent wholesalers make lower profits on hand tools and cannot meet DIY store demands for flexibility.
Agent wholesalers have devised strategies to resolve these problems: 1) obtaining rebates from manufacturers by purchasing hand tools for cash; and 2) placing orders with manufacturers for privatebrand goods for which the agent wholesalers can determine the price. The manufacturers have had to comply with these changing business relations, although the ‘agent system’ was obsolate from their strategies, since they were afraid of losing trade with agent wholesalers which could compensate for the decrease in exports. As a result, agent wholesalers have been able to reduce unit costs in their transactions with DIY stores and obtain the usual profits.

View full abstract