Mojuro Sugimoto

Japanese: 杉本茂十郎 - すぎもと・もじゅうろう

Years of birth: unknown. An Edo townsman who worked hard to rebuild the Juukumi Wholesaler (a consortium of wholesalers) in the late Edo period. The youngest son of a farmer, Jizaemon, from Natsumehara Village, Yatsushiro County, Kai Province (Misaka Town, Yamanashi Prefecture). His childhood name was Eijiro. He was adopted by Osakaya, a regular courier wholesaler in Edo, and in 1799 he succeeded Osakaya Mohei, the 9th head of the company. Osakaya was in debt at the time, but he succeeded in rebuilding the family business, and on behalf of the courier association, he resolved a dispute with the Juukumi Wholesaler over courier fares in Osakaya's favor. His skills were recognized, and in 1808 he appeared as a mediator in a dispute between a sugar wholesaler and the Juukumi Wholesaler, and brought about a peaceful settlement. In the same year, he handed over the family business to his wife's younger brother, changed his name to Sugimoto Mojuro, and devoted himself to rebuilding the Juukumi. In the same year, he established the Mitsuhashi Kaisho and became its president, and in the seventh year, he reorganized the Ten Group of Wholesalers to form the Hishigaki Kaigan Shipping Wholesalers Association, and worked to revive the Hishigaki Kaigan Shipping. He used his authority to force contributions from his fellow wholesalers, and used most of the funds he raised to buy up rice, thus cooperating with the shogunate's economic policies. As a result, the operations of the Mitsuhashi Kaisho stagnated, and he was called a "hairy wolf" for his aggressive actions, which he took under the guise of power. However, when Nagata Masanao, the magistrate of the northern town, died in 1819, he was executed for the handling of the contributions, and it is said that he was subsequently taken into refuge in the Kishu (Wakayama) domain, but his whereabouts are unknown. <References> Ito Yanosuke, "A Study of Sugimoto Shigejuro" (The Mita Academic Journal, Vol. 47, Nos. 9 and 10), Hayashi Reiko (ed.), Early Modern Japan, Vol. 5

(Masahiro Uemura)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
江戸後期に十組問屋(問屋仲間の連合体)の再建に尽力した江戸町人。甲斐国八代郡夏目原村(山梨県御坂町)の百姓次左衛門の末子。幼名栄次郎。江戸の定飛脚問屋大坂屋の養子となり,寛政11(1799)年9代目大坂屋茂兵衛を継ぐ。大坂屋は当時借財をかかえていたが,家業の立て直しに成功し,飛脚仲間を代表して飛脚運賃をめぐる十組問屋との争いを有利に解決した。この手腕を見込まれ,文化5(1808)年には砂糖問屋と十組問屋の紛争に調停役として登場し,和談を成立させた。同年家業を妻の弟に譲り,杉本茂十郎と改名し,十組再建に専念する。同6年三橋会所を設立して頭取に就任し,同10年十組問屋を改組して菱垣廻船積問屋仲間を結成し,菱垣廻船の再興に当たる。権威により問屋仲間に冥加金を強要し,集めた資金を大部分米の買い占めに用い,幕府の経済政策に協力した。その結果,三橋会所の運営が停滞し,権力をかさに着た強引な行動に対し「毛充狼」と称せられた。しかし,文政2(1819)年北町奉行永田正直が死去すると,冥加金の取り扱いなどを理由に処断され,その後紀州(和歌山)藩にかくまわれたというが,消息は不明である。<参考文献>伊東弥之助「杉本茂十郎の研究」(『三田学会雑誌』47巻9,10号),林玲子編『日本の近世』5巻

(上村雅洋)

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