Hakata merchants

Merchants who were active in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, based in the town of Hakata in Chikuzen (Fukuoka City). During the Muromachi period, Hakata held an important position as a transit trade port for trade with Ming China and trade with Korea. Starting with Koizumi, who was dispatched when Yoshimitsu Ashikaga sent a sovereign letter to Ming China, Hakata merchants actively traded with Ming China and Korea from around the Oei period (1394-1428), and some even traveled there as envoys for the shogun or the Kyushu feudal lord. Representative examples include the family of the wealthy merchant Sokin, and the Kamiya family, who were also merchants and involved in the development and management of the Iwami Silver Mine. With the prosperity of Hakata as a trading city, the merchants consolidated their self-governing unity, and at the end of the Muromachi period, the city government was sometimes run by 12 gyoji. From the Azuchi-Momoyama period through to the Edo period, Hakata's autonomy was gradually restricted as the feudal system was established, but with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's restoration of Hakata in 1587 (Tensho 15) and the subsequent entry of the Kuroda clan into the area, the area became a castle town run by feudal lords, and Hakata merchants took on the character of castle town merchants, but some still continued to be involved in the red seal ship trade and Nagasaki trade, a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, and joined the Ito-Wap group during the Kan'ei era (1624-1644). In addition to the aforementioned Kamiya clan, wealthy merchants of this time included the Ohga clan and the Shimai clan, who also participated in trade but held various privileges as official merchants for the feudal lord Kuroda.

[Masuo Murai]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中世・近世において筑前(ちくぜん)博多（福岡市）の町を根拠に活躍した商人。室町時代、明(みん)との勘合貿易や日朝貿易の中継貿易港として博多は重要な地位を占めていた。足利義満(あしかがよしみつ)が明に国書を送ったとき派遣された「肥富(こいずみ)」をはじめ、博多商人は応永(おうえい)（1394～1428）ころから盛んに明・朝鮮と取引し、将軍や九州大名の使者となって渡航した者もある。豪商「宗金(そうきん)」の一家や、同じく貿易商人でかつ石見(いわみ)銀山の開発・経営にも関係した神谷(かみや)（屋）氏などはその代表である。貿易都市としての繁栄を背景に博多商人は自治的団結を固め、室町末期には12人の行司(ぎょうじ)で市政を運営したこともあった。安土(あづち)桃山時代から江戸時代にかけて、封建制の確立にしたがって博多の自治もしだいに制限され、1587年（天正15）の豊臣(とよとみ)秀吉の博多復興や、その後の黒田氏の入部によって封建領主による城下町化が進み、博多商人も城下町商人の性格を強めたが、なお中世以来の伝統で朱印船貿易や長崎貿易に関係する者もあり、寛永(かんえい)年間（1624～44）には糸割符(いとわっぷ)仲間に参加した。このころの豪商としては前記神谷氏のほか、大賀氏、島井氏らがあり、彼らも貿易に参加しつつ、領主黒田氏の御用商人として各種の特権を保持した。

［村井益男］

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