The research of the Shinshu silkworm-egg traders in the late Tokugawa Era

本研究主要从两个方面来分析信州上田蚕卵贸易商的活动。一是德川晚期蚕种交易活动有着怎样的特殊契约制度，二是农民商人活动背后有着怎样的村落共同体。本课题历时3年的研究结果可以概括为以下三点：1）上盐尻蚕卵商的活动是世纪末以来上田地区市场经济发展的主流。2)摘要上盐尻蚕种商独特的蚕种生产和交易方式，主要表现在自营制、延伸制（Kiridashi）、产地收购制和长期可靠交易（TanebaTorihiki）等方面。3)这些农民商人的大本营是家族和家族集团，家族和家族集团是由亲属关系等复杂的人际关系组成的。这种关系支持了商人的经济活动。农户家庭不同于现代农户家庭。

This research aimed to analyze the Shinsyu-Ueda silkworm-egg traders' activity from the viewpoints of two matters. The one is what sorts of peculiar contract system the silkworm-egg trading activity had in the late Tokugawa Era and another is what kind of village community the peasant traders had behind their activities. The results of 3 years research project can be summarized following three points ; 1) the activity of Kamishiojiri silkworm-egg trader was the main stream of market economy development at the Ueda region since the end of 18th century. 2) the peculiar producing and trading style of Kamishiojiri silkworm -egg traders was characterized by some elements such as the self manufacturing system, the extended manufacturing( Kiridashi), the buying-in system from some producing districts and the long term reliable transaction (so called Taneba Torihiki). 3) The base camp of those peasant traders was family and family groups which were composed with complicated human relation such as kinship relation ( Dozoku ). Such relations supported the traders behind their economic activities. The peasant household and family was different from modern peasant family-household.