Upper brokerage - Kaminakagai

…In some cases, middlemen were involved, but because they lacked sufficient financial resources, it was difficult for them to operate as an independent business on their own account, and they belonged to the silk trade. In Kyoto, the upper middlemen in the silk trade were ordinary middlemen who mediated between the producers and the wholesalers, while the lower middlemen were wholesalers who traded Nishijin textiles and textiles from other countries. After the Meiji Restoration, the boundary between wholesalers and middlemen became blurred. …

*Some of the terminology that refers to "upper brokerage" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…仲買が介在した場合もあったが，それは資力が不十分のため自分の計算において独立の業として営むことは困難で，牙儈に属すべきものであった。なお京都の絹織物取引の上（かみ）仲買は通常の仲買で生産者と問屋の間に介在し，下（しも）仲買は西陣織および他国の織物を取引する問屋であった。　明治維新以後，問屋，仲買の境界が乱れた。…

※「上仲買」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報