Transformation of Distribution Structure and Shipping Business Persons in the Meiji Era of Japan

The Cases of Nosaka Family and Shirogane Family

Satoru Nakanishi

This paper discusses how sailboat carriers managed at the Noheji Port in Aomori Prefec- ture, which was a base port for distant transportation in the early modern period, after sail- boat transportation between distant areas was replaced by steamship transportation. Since Noheji was not a port for regular steamers, connections with remote markets weakened as a result of the development of the regular steamship network, and although the size of the port relatively decreased. But the Noheji Port was linked to the expansion of the market in Hokkaido on the opposite shore, and it became a base of the underground transportation network centering on small steamships while taking advantage of the opening of the rail- way. The shipping industry in Noheji Port was flexible in dealing with the development of the Noheji economy ; for example, the Nosaka family had the branch family carry out soy sauce and miso brewing in the modern times, which organically linked the expansion of fish fertilizer production in Hokkaido with the expansion of miso and soy sauce brewing in the Noheji region. The Shirogane family also developed a new transportation route by sailing ships repeatedly between Hokkaido and Noheji, and contributed greatly to the formation of the underground transportation network. The development of the management of the ship- ping business persons in Noheji provided a major impetus for fluidizing the distribution sys- tem of fish fertilizer in Hokkaido and transforming the structure of the Hokkaido fishing in- dustry.