Kenzanya
- Japanese: 献残屋 (kenzanya), 見参屋 (kenzanya)
Kenzanya were shops in Edo that purchased items from the Tokugawa shogunate, daimyô houses, or other samurai houses that had been gifted or presented to those houses but which the recipient could not make practical use of.[1] In many cases, this was simply because of the great volume of things that the shogunate or a daimyô house received as ceremonial gifts from retainers or others, in excess of what could be practically utilized. In other cases, the objects that existed solely to serve as ceremonial gifts, and had no practical purpose; one example of this is the case of lacquered wooden swords presented to the shogun or others as a gesture symbolic of presenting a gift of a real sword. The kenzanya then resold the items to samurai or others to be gifted or presented again.
Such shops were a unique feature of Edo, and did not operate in Kyoto or Osaka.[2]
Ceremonial Swords
Among these ceremonial goods were black-lacquered wooden swords, described in many documents as tsukuri tachi ("made swords" or "false swords"), which daimyô were obliged to present to the shogun on various regular occasions. Since the shogunate received hundreds or thousands of these ceremonial wooden swords on a regular basis, it regularly gave them to the kenzanya, to be purchased and presented by the daimyô once again.
Though in the early Edo period it was common practice for daimyô to present the shogun with antique swords, often by famous smiths or with some notable provenance, Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune issued edicts in 1722 aimed at economizing the expensive practices of ritual gift exchange, and dramatically reduced the number of occasions when the presentation of a real sword was expected, and the range of daimyô who would be expected to do so. Those edicts also reduced the amount of silver to be presented by the daimyô by ninety percent, and reduced the amount of textiles and certain other goods to be presented similarly. Following the imposition of these reforms, while the most elite daimyô continued to present the shogun with real swords on various occasions, otherwise, the presentation of lacquered wooden ceremonial swords came to dominate, and the institution of the kenzanya grew in importance.
References
- Fujita Satoru 藤田覚, "Kenzanya - Edo no zôtô jijô" 「献残屋ー江戸の贈答事情」, Hongô 本郷 22 (July 1999), 8-10.
- Fukai Masaumi 深井雅海, Tôken to kakutsuke 刀剣と格付け, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (2018), 112-116.
