A fundamental study of manure dealer in Tokugawa Period

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This study conducted a basic research about the management of fish manure merchants and a retail market in the Tokugawa Period.Fish fertilizers such as sardine and herring were extensively used as manure for farm products in the Tokugawa Period. Several excellent studies have been published on the circulation of fish fertilizers. However, there have been few studies on the retail system of fish fertilizers to farmers. In the above studies, manure dealers have been unduly characterized as usurious men.In this study, I investigated manure merchants in Tsuchiura-shi (Ibaraki), Oohira-town (Tochigi), Saitama-shi (Saitama), Amagasaki-shi (Hyogo), Nishinomiya-shi (Hyogo). As a result of analysis, it was found that manure dealers had become less and less characterized as usurers in the 19th century.An interest rate for advance payments was more than 20% for half a year in the Kanto Area in the 18th century, but it was lowered to 6% in the 19th century. An interest rate for advance payments had already become 6% for half a year in the Kinai Area by the 18th century. The management of manure dealers was not different from those of other merchants.