<Articles>The Mechanism of Saifu Draft (割符) : Exchange, Distribution and Credit

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  • <論説>割符のしくみと為替・流通・金融
  • 割符のしくみと為替・流通・金融
  • サイフ ノ シクミ ト カワセ リュウツウ キンユウ

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Abstract

Medieval draft transactions (saifu torihiki) were a form of economic exchange. Exchange has been defined as the act of transferring a cash settlement within one region without sending a cash remittance for settlement in the opposite direction between distant locations. Thus, in order to analyze these drafts, it is necessary to clarify the structure of the transfers. Despite this fact, previous studies have only focused on the movement of the drafts as documents. They have ignored what sort of remittances they were and how they were transferred. This study concentrates on those previously ignored aspects and clarities the following four points. First, in medieval Japan, there was a demand for remittances to be sent from the Kyoto to the outlying regions as funds to stock goods, etc. and also a demand for remittances to be sent from outlying regions to Kyoto based on the payment of annual tribute-tax from the manor system. Draft transactions were the mechanism for transferring cash settlements within a region by drawing or setting a draft for these two types of distant remittances. Second, the wording of the drafts can be distinguished into two types; one using the word deposit (azukari) and the other using a word for remittance (kawashi). In the former the location of the drafting and the payment were the same, but in the latter the locations differed and were removed from one another. Third, the draft was a method for remitting the annual tax from outlying regions to Kyoto, a method of remittance of funds for the purchase of goods from Kyoto to be sent to outlying regions by merchants in distant locations, and also a means of credit in outlying regions. Fourth, it was the merchants who issued these drafts. They obtained funds to purchase goods in regions where prices were low by draft transactions. And by selling goods in Kyoto where prices were high, they were able to increase their profits. The following conclusions can be drawn from these four points. Draft transactions were transactions interlinked with exchange, distribution, and credit. The role played by draft transactions was a mutually beneficial linkage of the tax from estates and the distribution of goods through the exchange of remittances.

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  • 史林

    史林 89 (3), 374-412, 2006-05-01

    THE SHIGAKU KENKYUKAI (The Society of Historical Research), Kyoto University

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