Toimaru

In the Middle Ages, these were businesses that lived in ports and cities, and were involved in the storage, transportation, and trade of goods such as tributes. "Maru" is the same word that is added to the names of shops and ships. They were also called "Toi," and from around the 15th century, they were also called "Toiya." Toiya began when manor lords gave toikyu and toiden to powerful headmen of ports and appointed them as toishiki (also called Toimarushiki) and entrusted them with the transportation, storage, and consignment sale of tributes. By the end of the Heian period, they already existed in Yodo, Katsura, and Kizu. The 14th century "Teikinourai" describes "Toimaru of the Ports," and they had become indispensable in ports. In 1458 (Choroku 2), the Tonomaru of Sakai was entrusted with the sale of tribute goods from Ota Manor in Bingo Province, which was the territory of Mount Koya. The man was given a "hakumasu" (measure) to measure the tribute goods, and requested an "ontoiryo" (tax of 6 kanmon) out of the sales fee of 551 kan 500 mon. Around this time, the Tonomaru began to make contracts with multiple manor lords, and Tonomaru that handled large quantities of specific goods appeared in important ports such as Hyogo, Sakai, Tsuruga, Kuwana, and Hakata, and began to function as wholesale merchants. The "Setsuyoshu", a dictionary compiled in the 15th century, records the term "wholesaler merchant's inn," which shows that the port Tonomaru also provided lodgings for shipping merchants. It is also believed that the Tomaru fulfilled the function of a waterway checkpoint. The Tomaru store names at the time included those named after the products they handled, such as "Kiya" (wooden shop) and "Kusuriya" (drug shop), and those named after the places where they traded, such as "Bicchu-ya" (bitchu shop) and "Bungo-ya" (bungo shop), and they became increasingly specialized as wholesalers, which developed into the wholesalers of the early modern period. During the Sengoku period, some of the Tomaru in Sakai specialized in warehousing (Nayashu) and became leaders in city government and overseas trade, with some even growing into wealthy merchants.

[Atsuko Suzuki]

"Toyoda Takeshi et al., eds., 'Distribution History' (1969, Yamakawa Publishing)" ▽ "Toyoda Takeshi, 'Merchants and Transportation in the Middle Ages' (1983, Yoshikawa Kobunkan)" ▽ "Abe Takeshi, 'Research on the History of Medieval Japanese Manors' (1966, Shinseisha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中世に港湾や都市に居住して、年貢物などの物資の保管、輸送や取引の仲介にあたった業者。「丸」は屋号や船号につけるのと同様の語。「問」ともよび、また15世紀ごろからは「問屋(といや)」ともよばれた。荘園(しょうえん)領主が、湊(みなと)の有力名主(みょうしゅ)などに問給(といきゅう)・問田(といでん)を与えて、問職(といしき)（問丸職ともいう）に任命し、年貢物の輸送・保管・委託販売を任せたのが問丸の始まりで、平安末期には、すでに淀(よど)、桂(かつら)、木津(きづ)に存在した。14世紀につくられた『庭訓往来(ていきんおうらい)』には「湊々の問丸」とあり、港湾には不可欠の存在となっていた。1458年（長禄2）高野山領(こうやさんりょう)備後国(びんごのくに)大田荘(おおたのしょう)の年貢物販売を委託された堺(さかい)の問丸は、年貢物を量るための「斗升(はかります)」を支給され、販売代銭551貫500文のうちから6貫文の「御問(おんといりょう)」を請求している。このころになると問丸は、複数の荘園領主と契約を結ぶようになり、兵庫、堺、敦賀(つるが)、桑名(くわな)、博多(はかた)などの重要な湊には、特定の物資を大量に扱う問丸が出現し、卸売商の機能をもつようになった。15世紀に成立した辞典である『節用集(せつようしゅう)』には「問屋　商人宿」とあり、港湾の問丸が船商人への宿所提供なども行っていたことがわかる。また問丸は、水路関(すいろせき)の機能を代行していたとも考えられている。当時の問丸の屋号には、「木屋(きや)」「薬屋(くすりや)」など取扱い商品にちなんだものや、「備中屋(びっちゅうや)」「豊後屋(ぶんごや)」など取引産地名にちなんだものがあり、卸売商としての専門化が進んでおり、これが近世の問屋へと発展した。戦国期になると、堺の問丸のなかから倉庫業を専門とする者（納屋衆(なやしゅう)）が出現し、都市自治や海外貿易の担い手となり、豪商へと成長する者も現れた。

［鈴木敦子］

『豊田武他編『流通史』（1969・山川出版社）』▽『豊田武著『中世の商人と交通』（1983・吉川弘文館）』▽『阿部猛著『中世日本荘園史の研究』（1966・新生社）』

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