Copper seat

(1) From the end of the Kamakura period onwards, this refers to a group of merchants who sold copper products and were established within the Shifu Kayocho-no-za (four-city council of governors) belonging to the Mibu family. (2) During the Edo period, this was an organization established by the shogunate to govern copper refining and sales. In the mid-Edo period, the Copper Market was opened in Osaka as a Ginza Kayaku (a silver market office) in April 1738 (Genbun 3) with the aim of governing the refining and sales of copper produced in various provinces. This Copper Market was abolished in July 1750 (Kan'en 3) and the Nagasaki Copper Exchange was established, but in June 1766 (Meiwa 3), a Copper Market was established in Osaka again to strengthen the copper monopoly system, and in 1862 (Bunkyu 2), branch offices were established in Edo and Nagasaki. The Copper Market was under the control of the Kanjo Bugyo (financial magistrate), Nagasaki magistrate, and Osaka town magistrate, and was organized by Osaka merchants. In April 1868 (Keio 4), it became the Copper Exchange, and in July of the same year it was renamed the Mining Bureau.

[Yotaro Sakudo]

"Osaka Copper Foundry" by Yoko Nagazumi (included in "Japanese Industrial History Series 6", 1960, University of Tokyo Press)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

（1）鎌倉末期以降、壬生(みぶ)家に属する四府駕輿丁座(しふかよちょうのざ)のなかに設けられていた銅類販売を行う商人の仲間をいう。（2）江戸時代、幕府が設けた銅精錬・販売の統轄機関。江戸中期になって、諸国産出の銅の精錬・販売を統轄することを目的として、1738年（元文3）4月、銀座加役として大坂に銅座が開設された。この銅座は1750年（寛延3）7月に廃止となり、長崎銅会所が新設されたが、1766年（明和3）6月に再度大坂に銅座を設けて銅の専売体制を強化し、1862年（文久2）には江戸・長崎に出張所を置いた。銅座は勘定奉行(かんじょうぶぎょう)、長崎奉行、大坂町奉行の支配に属し、大坂商人によって組織された。1868年（慶応4）4月銅会所となり、同年7月には鉱山局と改称された。

［作道洋太郎］

『永積洋子著『大坂銅座』（『日本産業史大系6』所収・1960・東京大学出版会）』

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