キリシタン教会の貿易活動 : とくに生糸以外の商品について

概要

論文の詳細を見る
The chief source of revenue for the earl}T Christian Church in Japan came from her trade activities, which covered various commodities but could be dichotomized into raw silk and others. It is true that the activities of the Society of Jesus was dominated by the silk trade, reflecting the trade activities between Macao and Nagasaki, since the business activities of the Society was pursued by taking part in Macao's trade with Japan. But the Socicty of Jesus in Japan dealt not only in silk but in considerable quantities of other commodities It is now known that already in 1570ts they dealt in gold, various kinds of cloths, quick silver, lead, besides silk, and later in musk, amber, pottery, sugar, medicine, and others, of which gold was the most important but silk. It was the strong demand for gold among daimyos before the Tokugawa period that precipitated gold importation. Some of the records in 1590s show that the Society of Jesus imported twenty to thirty bullions (12.5 oz. per each) of gold into Japan, making a profit at twenty-five to forty percent. Another document in 1620 reads that the same weight of bullion cost sixty to ninety cruzados in China and could be sold in Japan at a price fifty to sixty percent higher. In the seventeenth century the importance that silk had occupied in the trade activities of the Society of Jesus in Japan fell off relatively. Accordingly it was not favourable to the society that the officially sanctioned trade was limited to silk only, and they held the Provincial Congregation at Nagasaki in 1614 to amend the policy, decided to include silk, gold, musk and amber in the trade commodities of official sanction, and sent the resolution to the Jesuit General to ask for the permission. It must be noticed that while there is no doubt that it was the demand for those goods in Japan that urged this movement, there is also a fact that Macao, because of the growth of the city, could no longer provide the Society of Jesus with as much raw silk and silk goods as before. Moreover when there was little difference with regard to profit rate, the articles less bulky and easier to transport and handle were more preferable to the church, and it was all the more so when they were thrown into the days of persecution. Thus the Jesuit General permitted to include gold and musk besides raw silk in the trading commodities in 1621.
社会経済史学会の論文
1977-06-30

キリシタン教会の貿易活動 : とくに生糸以外の商品について

スポンサーリンク

概要

著者

関連論文

スポンサーリンク