*he formation and transformation of social networks among well known local merchant houses in Meiji-period Japan

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This study focuses on the characteristics and historical changes in social networks maintained by well-known local merchant houses in Yamanashi prefecture.During the prewar years many members of the prefectural assembly were involved in banking and the generation of electricity. Such men often held various executive positions in different enterprises. As a result, prefecture-wide social networks between banks and businesses were formed. In addition links were forged through ties of marriage.The social and marital ties maintained by businessmen and bankers of the Kofu Chamber of Commerce did *ot extend beyond the Kofu metropolitan area. Important Kofu businessmen did not seek to establish marital ties to well-known local merchant houses in the farming areas of the prefecture.After World War II, political parties became increasingly important and society changed rapidly. The number of prefectural assemblymen who derived their income from land and sake production decreased, leading to a decrease in the number of well-known local merchants who became assemblymen. Before the 1960s most prefectural assemblymen were involved in silk production, the construction industry, or lumbering, usually industries active within the country in which the assemblyman lived. Thereafter, however, the number of people involved in local industries increased, and by the 1970s only the construction industry could show an increase in the number of assemblymen. Social networks now centered on industry-specific associations ; ties forged by marriage across industries disappeared.