Daifukucho - Daifukucho

A type of commercial ledger used in the early modern period. As commercial transactions became more active, Japan's commercial management ledger evolved from a simple record of transactions to various ledgers for different purposes, such as purchase ledgers, sale ledgers, gold and silver receipts and disbursements ledgers, order ledgers, judgment ledgers, and baggage ledgers. The Daifukucho was a general ledger that summarized the entire transaction, and in particular clarified the status of transactions with customers. Depending on the store, it was called the Honcho or Ocho. Generally, an account was set up for each trading partner, and each time a transaction was made, the quantity and price of the goods were transferred from the sales ledger to each person's account, and the income was then transferred from the gold and silver receipts and disbursements ledger to calculate the difference in the price.

It was equivalent to the customer ledger of modern times, and was the most important ledger for a merchant, so only the owner or the store clerk handled it, and some stores kept it secret from the staff by using code numbers. A single-entry ledger in which all transactions are recorded verbatim is called a daifukuchoshiki, but it has become clear in recent years that large wholesalers in the early modern period organized their accounting systems with a double-entry structure centered around the daifukucho.

[Susumu Kitahara]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

近世における商業帳簿の一種。商業取引が盛んになるにつれて、わが国の商業経営帳簿は単なる取引の記録的なものから分化して、買帳、売帳、金銀出入帳、注文帳、判取(はんとり)帳、荷物渡帳など目的別の各種帳簿がつくられた。大福帳は全体を総括した元(もと)帳で、とくに得意先との取引状況を明確にしたものであり、商店によっては本(ほん)帳とか大(おお)帳とよばれた。一般に取引相手ごとの口座を設け、売買のつど、商品の数量・価格などを売帳から各人の口座に転記し、さらに金銀出入帳から収入を転記して、代金の差引を計算した。

　近代以後の得意先元帳に相当し、商家にとってはもっとも重要な帳簿であったから、主人や番頭だけが取り扱い、符丁(ふちょう)を使うなどして店員たちにも秘密にしていた店もあった。なお取引のいっさいを棒記していく単式帳簿を大福帳式というが、近世の大きな問屋などでは、大福帳を中心に複式構造をもった帳簿組織を整えていたことが、近年判明しつつある。

［北原　進］

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