The Choshu clan took a very active part in driving forward the anti-Shogunate movement on the eve of the Meiji Restoration. Shimonoseki, the main port of the clan, was looked upon as a center for the anti-foreigner's movement in Japan. This article aims to make clear the economic aspects of the clan which made possible this kind of active political movement. It is well known that Shimonoseki was a center for inter-clan trade in the southwestern part of Japan since the Tempo period. Nevertheless, the economic significance of trade between Shimonoseki and Kitamae has been overlooked by researchers. However the importance of this trade should be reconsidered, particulary from the financial frame of reference, inorder to understand better the economic causes of her political activity. It can not over emphasised that the clan's active participation in Shimonoseki-Kitamae trade was the main source of money income which in turn made it possible for the clan to activate an anti-Shougunate movement on the eve of the Meiji Restoration.

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