Osakaya Ihei - Osakaya Ihei

Japanese: 大坂屋伊兵衛 - おおさかや・いへえ

Year of death: 1718
Year of birth: Unknown. A wholesale merchant in the early Edo period. He was a key figure in the founding of the Ten Groups of Wholesalers. His real name was Kawakami Masayoshi. Because downstream goods from Osaka to Edo were heavily dependent on shipping wholesalers and ships from Osaka, the Edo wholesalers who purchased downstream goods were always in a weaker position than the boatmen and shipping wholesalers when it came to sea transport and dealing with shipwrecks. For this reason, in 1694 (Genroku 7), Ihei, a member of the Toricho group of small goods wholesalers, called for the formation of the Ten Groups of Wholesalers, an alliance of wholesalers. Each group had a referee (caretaker) who took turns serving as the chief referee, who dealt with shipwrecks under the supervision of the chief referee, and who controlled the Hishigaki shipping ships belonging to the Ten Groups of Wholesalers, thereby facilitating sea transport by the Edo wholesale merchants' group.

(Yuzuki Manabu)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：享保3(1718)
生年：生年不詳
江戸前期の問屋商人。十組問屋仲間創設の立役者。本名川上正吉。大坂から江戸への下り商品は大坂からの廻船問屋や廻船に大きく依存していたので,下り商品を仕入れる江戸問屋は海上輸送や海難処理をめぐって常に船頭や廻船問屋より弱い立場にあった。このため元禄7(1694)年,小間物諸色問屋仲間通町組所属の伊兵衛が呼びかけて,問屋仲間の連合組織である十組問屋を結成。各組に行司(世話人)を置き,この行司が交代で大行司を務め,大行司の監督のもとに海難処理に当たり,また十組問屋に所属の菱垣廻船を支配して,江戸問屋商人仲間による海上輸送の円滑化をはかった。

(柚木学)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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