Japanese-Chinese Copper Trade Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries: Regional, Interregional and International Aspects
Final Report Abstract
Recognising the important role that Japanese copper played at times in coin production in China, this part of the project examined copper mining in Japan and copper trade with China from the 17th to 19 th centuries. In doing so, focus was for the first time on the entire production and trade chain, from the producers (mines) to the traders and government institutions and finally to the Chinese buyers in Nagasaki. A first analysis showed that a short-lived boom in Japanese copper production and trade at the beginning of the 18th century was followed by a prolonged period of stagnation. In searching for the causes of stagnation, we looked closely at the situation on the employment market and technical aspects of mining and refining as well as at transport conditions. It became clear that stagnation was attributable to cheap labour and technical problems, which however could have been resolved, as well as to the lack of incentives from the Shogunate administration. Moreover, the price policy for export copper appeared, at least on first sight, to be one of the root causes. The apparently paradoxical phenomenon that the price of copper fell as it went from producer to end user directed our attention to the question of the economic viability of this system, which remained in place for over a century. A more detailed examination of the overall commodity and money flow on the basis of the commodity chain concept showed an extremely intricate web of commodity and money transfers within which all the parties involved had the means of making a profit. In the light of these findings we were able to modify previous interpretations according to which the excessively low prices were politically induced by coercive measures introduced by the feudal administration but which provided no explanation of certain discrepancies. Applying the new commodity chain approach that was developed in the project – a primarily economic interpretation on the basis of the overall commodity and money flow – allows us to better explain not only why the price of copper was low in Nagasaki but also how the pricing practice could remain in place over such a long period of time. The results from applying this approach are corroborated by new studies, which were carried out simultaneously in Japan.
Publications
- “Eine Bergbaubildrolle in der Siebold-Sammlung des Museums für Völkerkunde in München”. In: Andreas Mettenleiter (Hg.): Japan-Siebold-Würzburg. 25 Jahre Siebold-Gesellschaft. 15 Jahre Siebold-Museum. Würzburg 2012
Mathias, Regine
- Mining, Monies, and Culture in Early Modern Societies: East Asian and Global Perspectives. Monies, Markets and Finance in China and East Asia, Volume 4. Leiden: Brill, 2013
Kim, Nanny and Keiko Nagase-Reimer (eds.)
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004253568) - “Picture Scrolls as a Historical Source on Japanese mining.” In Kim, Nanny and Keiko Nagase-Reimer (eds.): Mining, Monies, and Culture in Early Modern Societies: East Asian and Global Perspectives. Monies, Markets and Finance in China and East Asia, Volume 4. Leiden: Brill, 2013, pp. 291-310
Mathias, Regine
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004253568_012) - “Water drainage in the mines in Tokugawa Japan: Technological improvements and economic limitations.” In: Kim, Nanny and Keiko Nagase-Reimer (eds.): Mining, Monies, and Culture in Early Modern Societies: East Asian and Global Perspectives. Monies, Markets and Finance in China and East Asia, Volume 4. Leiden: Brill, 2013, pp. 25-42
Nagase-Reimer, Keiko
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004253568_004) - “Ō-Bei-jin no mita Sado kinginzan emaki” [Sado mining scrolls as seen by Americans and Europeans]. In: Sado-shi Niigata-ken kyōiku iinkai (eds). Sado kinginzan emaki: Emaki ga kataru kōzan shi [Sado mining scrolls: Mining history as told by picture scrolls]. Tokyo, Dōseisha, 2013, pp. 135-144
Mathias, Regine
- “Copper transportation in Tokugawa Japan: Its influence on copper shortage in Nagasaki,” in: Jane Kate Leonard / Ulrich Theobald (eds.), Money in Asia (1200 -1900): Small Currencies in Social and Political Contexts, Leiden: Brill (Monies, Markets and Finance in East Asia; 6), 2015, S. 464-488
Nagase-Reimer, Keiko
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004288355_019)
