Vermillion

Not to be confused with the rôjû shuza, or head seat (首座, shuza) of the Shogunal Elders. See rôjû.

• Established: 1609
• Japanese: 朱座 (shuza)

The Shuza, or Cinnabar Guild, was one of the earliest za established in the Edo period, holding a monopoly on the import and distribution of cinnabar, or vermillion (J: shu). The guild was originally established in 1609, in conjunction with the invasion of the Ryûkyû Kingdom by Satsuma han; at that time, Ryûkyû, along with Chinese merchants at Nagasaki, were the exclusive source of cinnabar coming into Japan.

Chiefly used as a pigment, e.g. in personal seals, cinnabar derives from a kind of mercury ore. Japan eventually developed its own domestic sources of the material, and the shuza, which had previously focused exclusively on imports, now took over the domestic cinnabar industry as well, as it developed. The shogunate confirmed the shuza in its authority over the sale and distribution of the material in 1738, and again in 1759; under Tanuma Okitsugu, efforts were made by the shogunate to strengthen the guild's control of this business, cracking down on illegal sales by those outside of the guild in 1777 and 1782.

References

• John Whitney Hall, Tanuma Okitsugu (1719-1788): Forerunner of Modern Japan, Harvard University Press (1955), 77.