Kazuichi - Washi

The buying and selling price or market price of rice and other commodities in the Middle Ages, or the conversion rate for the monetary payment of tribute. A term for a strong market, i.e., a price at which the parties involved could not agree. Initially, it meant a sale agreed upon by the parties, but in the early 12th century Chinese-Japanese dictionary Ruiju Myogisho, it was pronounced "akinahikafu" and came to mean simply a sale and purchase, and in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, it came to refer to the buying and selling price or market price of tribute goods and products at markets. Furthermore, in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the payment of tribute goods in exchange for money became more common, there were many cases where the conversion rate for tribute goods such as rice, silk, and cotton into coins was indicated. Medieval markets were influenced by various conditions such as the supply and demand of goods, the quality of the coins used, and the price manipulation of merchants, but depending on the goods, the price difference due to seasonal and regional differences was large, and the market prices of consumer goods such as rice were generally high in cities such as Kyoto where there was a lot of demand, and low in the countryside. In the 14th and 15th centuries, in order to prevent the fraudulent payment of tribute, when appointing a manor official, the manor official was required to submit a written pledge in which he pledged to maintain the fairness of the payment. The tendency for the central and local commodity prices to stabilize and become constant in the medieval period can be said to be a phenomenon suggesting the formation of a fixed price mechanism within each region or within a country, and the direction of the development of nationwide commodity distribution.

[Ginya Sasaki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中世における米など諸物資の売買価格、相場、あるいは年貢物銭納に際しての換算率のこと。強市(ごうし)、すなわち売買当事者が不合意のまま行われた売買の価格に対する語。当初は売買当事者が合意した売買を意味していたが、12世紀初めの漢和辞書『類聚名義抄(るいじゅみょうぎしょう)』では「アキナヒカフ」と訓じ、単なる売買を意味するようになり、鎌倉～室町時代には、市などにおける年貢物や商品などの売買価格・相場をさすようになった。さらに年貢物の代銭納が活発になる13～14世紀には、米、絹、綿など年貢物を銭貨で換算する際の率を示す事例も多い。中世の和市は、物資の需給関係、使用銭貨の質、商人の価格操作などの諸条件に左右されたが、物によっては季節的、地域的な違いにより生じる価格差が大きく、米など消費物資の和市は、需要の多い京都などの都市で高く、地方では低いのが一般的であった。14～15世紀、荘園(しょうえん)領主は年貢物の銭納和市の不正を防ぐため、荘官を任命するとき、荘官に和市の公正を守るべき旨の誓約を記した起請(きしょう)文の提出を求めるようになった。中世における中央・地方の諸商品和市の安定化、一定化の傾向は、各地域内の、あるいは一国内における一定の価格機構の形成、全国的商品流通展開の方向を示唆する現象といえる。

［佐々木銀弥］

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