Production and Circulation of Hyōmotsu (dried sea cucumbers, dried abalones, dried shark fins, etc.) in Yamaguchi Prefecture (Choshu-Han) in 18th and 19th Centuries

Abstract

Hyomotsu products were a very important export of the Nagasaki Trade to the Modern age Ch'ing dynasty (China). In China the demand for them was very great because they were first-class food articles and were imported from Japan, southeast Asia and the south pacific. Hyōmotsu means commodities packed in straw bags; and among the main items are dried sea cucumbers, abalones, shark fins. Recently, some investigators have studied the production and circulation of Hyomotsu products of these areas. Collecting system of Hyōmotsu by local feudal government was the center of historians' interest. But the organization and system of products remained to be studied. This is the present writer's second paper on this title. In the previous paper major periods of trading system were discussed; the monopolistic contract by Nagasaki merchants (1774∼1784), the direct purchase by Nagasaki Hyomotsu Products Office, the branch office of Shogunate (1785∼1806) and purchase by Hans government office (1807∼1865). In this connection, attention is focused upon how Hyōmotsu were collected by fishers in a small island named Sago and monopolized under the feudal system; a developed system of fishery by the feudal ruler, the change in economic status of the people engaged in collecting sea products, etc. © 1967, The Human Geographical Society of Japan. All rights reserved.