Changes

In the course of a series of these [[maritime prohibitions]] (''kaikin'') put into in the 1630s, the Spanish and Portuguese were banned from the country, and the Dutch were restricted to the tiny artificial island of [[Dejima]], in Nagasaki harbor. Chinese merchants, originally free to move about the city (and the country), and to intermingle with the Japanese, were restricted after [[1689]] to the Chinese neighborhood of Nagasaki, known as the ''[[Tojin yashiki|Tôjin yashiki]]'' ("Chinese mansions"). Pigs were raised in a certain area just outside of the city, serving chiefly these two foreign communities. Nagasaki was the only place in Edo period Japan where meat was commonly eaten, with the exceptions in other parts of the archipelago of the consumption of fowl, game animals such as bear, boar, and deer, consumption of meat for medical purposes, and of course the eating of fish.<ref>Herbert Plutschow, ''A Reader in Edo Period Travel'', Kent: Global Oriental (2006), 47.</ref>

In the course of a series of these [[maritime prohibitions]] (''kaikin'') put into in the 1630s, the Spanish and Portuguese were banned from the country, and the Dutch were restricted to the tiny artificial island of [[Dejima]], in Nagasaki harbor. Chinese merchants, originally free to move about the city (and the country), and to intermingle with the Japanese, were restricted after [[1689]] to the Chinese neighborhood of Nagasaki, known as the ''[[Tojin yashiki|Tôjin yashiki]]'' ("Chinese mansions"). Pigs were raised in a certain area just outside of the city, serving chiefly these two foreign communities. Nagasaki was the only place in Edo period Japan where meat was commonly eaten, with the exceptions in other parts of the archipelago of the consumption of fowl, game animals such as bear, boar, and deer, consumption of meat for medical purposes, and of course the eating of fish.<ref>Herbert Plutschow, ''A Reader in Edo Period Travel'', Kent: Global Oriental (2006), 47.</ref>

Along with [[Osaka]], [[Kyoto]], and a handful of other cities, Nagasaki was controlled directly by the shogunate, and was not included within any ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' domain; defense of the port was the responsibility, however, of the ''daimyô'' of several neighboring domains, as part of their corvée obligations to the shogun. A samurai official known as the ''[[Nagasaki bugyo|Nagasaki bugyô]]'' (Nagasaki Magistrate) was the chief shogunal authority in the city, overseeing both matters within the city, and matters of trade at the port. For several decades in the 17th century, the ''bugyô'' was assisted by the ''[[Nagasaki tandai shoku]]'', who was responsible for the defense of the port.  

Along with [[Osaka]], [[Kyoto]], and a handful of other cities, Nagasaki was controlled directly by the shogunate, and was not included within any ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' domain; defense of the port was the responsibility, however, of the ''daimyô'' of all the domains on Kyushu, as part of their corvée obligations to the shogun.<ref>Tsushima han was granted an exemption from this obligation beginning in [[1748]]. Hellyer, 65.</ref> A samurai official known as the ''[[Nagasaki bugyo|Nagasaki bugyô]]'' (Nagasaki Magistrate) was the chief shogunal authority in the city, overseeing both matters within the city, and matters of trade at the port. For several decades in the 17th century, the ''bugyô'' was assisted by the ''[[Nagasaki tandai shoku]]'', who was responsible for the defense of the port.  

A clearinghouse or customs office known as the ''Nagasaki kaisho'' (長崎会所) was established in [[1698]] and quickly became the chief institution regulating trade at the port. The office oversaw nearly all import and export activity, with particular focus on the trade in [[copper]], [[silk]], and marine products, regulating as well the sale of imported products to Nagasaki merchants, and effecting the transference of imported copper and silver to agents of the shogunal mints, and the sale of certain goods to agents of [[Tsushima han]]. The agency charged various fees, tariffs, and markups, earning revenues which contributed to maintaining its own operations and expanding shogunate coffers, though much of the money was also used to support the Nagasaki community. As Nagasaki was controlled directly by the shogunate, the merchants of Nagasaki were essentially direct subjects of the shogun, and thus entitled to a certain degree of protection and assurance of well-being from their lord. Thus, from [[1663]] onward, the ''Nagasaki bugyô'' (and, later, the ''Nagasaki kaisho'') divided the profits from trade and tariffs among the districts of the city, after paying their own staffs. The amount paid out also derived from rents charged to Chinese merchants living in the Chinese compound, among other sources of official revenues. In years of particular difficulty for the merchant community, such as in [[1713]]-[[1714]], when epidemics killed an estimated 5,000 people in the city in the aftermath of a serious but temporary decline in trade in [[1711]], the ''bugyô-sho'' and ''kaisho'' did what they could to help out the merchant community even further. Of the roughly 161,000 ''[[currency|ryô]]'' in profits the agency made in 1714, for example, roughly 70,000 was spent or paid out within Nagasaki, and roughly 76,000 was sent to the shogunate's Osaka treasuries; this in comparison to the closely similar figure, 171,000 ''ryô'', spent by the lord of [[Kaga han]] in 1747 on domain expenditures.<ref name=hellyer56>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 56-59.</ref>

A clearinghouse or customs office known as the ''Nagasaki kaisho'' (長崎会所) was established in [[1698]] and quickly became the chief institution regulating trade at the port. The office oversaw nearly all import and export activity, with particular focus on the trade in [[copper]], [[silk]], and marine products, regulating as well the sale of imported products to Nagasaki merchants, and effecting the transference of imported copper and silver to agents of the shogunal mints, and the sale of certain goods to agents of [[Tsushima han]]. The agency charged various fees, tariffs, and markups, earning revenues which contributed to maintaining its own operations and expanding shogunate coffers, though much of the money was also used to support the Nagasaki community. As Nagasaki was controlled directly by the shogunate, the merchants of Nagasaki were essentially direct subjects of the shogun, and thus entitled to a certain degree of protection and assurance of well-being from their lord. Thus, from [[1663]] onward, the ''Nagasaki bugyô'' (and, later, the ''Nagasaki kaisho'') divided the profits from trade and tariffs among the districts of the city, after paying their own staffs. The amount paid out also derived from rents charged to Chinese merchants living in the Chinese compound, among other sources of official revenues. In years of particular difficulty for the merchant community, such as in [[1713]]-[[1714]], when epidemics killed an estimated 5,000 people in the city in the aftermath of a serious but temporary decline in trade in [[1711]], the ''bugyô-sho'' and ''kaisho'' did what they could to help out the merchant community even further. Of the roughly 161,000 ''[[currency|ryô]]'' in profits the agency made in 1714, for example, roughly 70,000 was spent or paid out within Nagasaki, and roughly 76,000 was sent to the shogunate's Osaka treasuries; this in comparison to the closely similar figure, 171,000 ''ryô'', spent by the lord of [[Kaga han]] in 1747 on domain expenditures.<ref name=hellyer56>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 56-59.</ref>