Changes

[[Shogun]] [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]], seeking to stem the tide of silver flowing out of the country, initiated a series of programs to encourage domestic production of ginseng, among other products. It soon came to be produced in many regions throughout the archipelago, the area around [[Nikko|Nikkô]] being just one prominent site of production. In [[1718]], Yoshimune had Tsushima officials gather information about Chinese and Korean plants, animal materials, and other medicinal products. Samples of Korean ginseng obtained via Tsushima were then used to facilitate domestic production. Yoshimune also had officials in [[Nagasaki]] interview [[Chinese in Nagasaki|Chinese]] and [[VOC|Dutch]] merchants about such materials, and in [[1722]] commissioned a comprehensive survey of the flora and fauna already prevalent in Japan, all the way from [[Ezo]] to Nagasaki, an undertaking which was not completed until over thirty years later, in [[1753]].<ref>Hellyer, 68.</ref>

[[Shogun]] [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]], seeking to stem the tide of silver flowing out of the country, initiated a series of programs to encourage domestic production of ginseng, among other products. It soon came to be produced in many regions throughout the archipelago, the area around [[Nikko|Nikkô]] being just one prominent site of production. In [[1718]], Yoshimune had Tsushima officials gather information about Chinese and Korean plants, animal materials, and other medicinal products. Samples of Korean ginseng obtained via Tsushima were then used to facilitate domestic production. Yoshimune also had officials in [[Nagasaki]] interview [[Chinese in Nagasaki|Chinese]] and [[VOC|Dutch]] merchants about such materials, and in [[1722]] commissioned a comprehensive survey of the flora and fauna already prevalent in Japan, all the way from [[Ezo]] to Nagasaki, an undertaking which was not completed until over thirty years later, in [[1753]].<ref>Hellyer, 68.</ref>

In the 1740s, Chinese merchants at Nagasaki began to introduce "Canton ginseng" into the market. Though popular among customers, many Japanese physicians and botanists were skeptical, questioning why Japanese should rely upon it to have medicinal qualities when the Chinese didn't grow it nor use it themselves. Rather, this was a foreign variety grown and harvested by Native Americans, who did not use it for anything but only sold it to Europeans, who then in turn sold it at [[Canton]]. By [[1763]], these Japanese scholars convinced the shogunate to ban the import of this inferior variety;<ref>Hellyer, 74-75.</ref> the ban only lasted until [[1788]], however.<ref>Hellyer, 118.</ref>

In the 1740s, Chinese merchants at Nagasaki began to introduce "Canton ginseng" into the market. Though popular among customers, many Japanese physicians and botanists were skeptical, questioning why Japanese should rely upon it to have medicinal qualities when the Chinese didn't grow it nor use it themselves. Rather, this was a foreign variety grown and harvested by Native Americans, who did not use it for anything but only sold it to Europeans, who then in turn sold it at [[Canton]]. By [[1763]], these Japanese scholars convinced the shogunate to ban the import of this inferior variety.<ref>Hellyer, 74-75.</ref> In that year, ''[[kanjo bugyo|kanjô bugyô]]'' (Magistrate of Finance) [[Isshiki Masahiro]] (d. [[1770]]) established a ''ninjin[[za]]'', or Ginseng Guild, which would have a monopoly on the market for ginseng. Based at an office in the Kanda neighborhood of Edo, and headed by botanist and physician [[Tamura Genyu|Tamura Gen'yû]], the guild was comprised of 28 licensed retailers spread across the realm, and worked to control both the distribution of imported and domestic ginseng, as well as prices and quality.<ref>[[John Whitney Hall]], ''Tanuma Okitsugu (1719-1788): Forerunner of Modern Japan'', Harvard University Press (1955), 78.</ref> The ban on inferior Chinese ginseng only lasted until [[1788]], however, as [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]] reversed many of the commercially-minded policies of his predecessor, [[Tanuma Okitsugu]].<ref>Hellyer, 118.</ref>

Several domains had begun to cultivate and export high-quality ginseng by the 1840s, including [[Matsue han]] and [[Aizu han]]; right at the end of the Edo period, in the 1860s, [[Kumamoto han]] also began exporting high-quality ginseng.<ref>Hellyer, 121.</ref>

Several domains had begun to cultivate and export high-quality ginseng by the 1840s, including [[Matsue han]] and [[Aizu han]]; right at the end of the Edo period, in the 1860s, [[Kumamoto han]] also began exporting high-quality ginseng.<ref>Hellyer, 121.</ref>