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Many rural areas, particularly in coastal areas, also grew over the course of the 18th and into the 19th centuries, becoming more prosperous and more interconnected, transforming from mere fishing villages or merely locally active ports into more prominent regional ports. As storage & shipping agents (''[[tonya|ton'ya]]'') in these rural areas began to compete against those located in the more major cities, merchant shippers turned away from the urban ''ton'ya'', to rely more heavily on those in smaller towns charging lower fees. In just the few decades between the 1750s and the 1780s, the number of ships putting in at [[Okayama]], for example, dropped by a third, as many of them began to instead offload their goods at smaller harbors in the area. Similarly, the town of [[Kaminoseki]] in [[Suo province|Suô province]], a fishing village and harbor of local significance which grew to more prominence over the course of the Edo period, was by the 1840s home to warehouses storing just about every major type of goods that passed through the [[Inland Sea]], from [[kombu|kelp]] to [[lacquerwares]], [[timber]], [[cotton]], [[tea]], [[salt]], and [[sugar]].<ref>Dusinberre, 32.</ref>
Many rural areas, particularly in coastal areas, also grew over the course of the 18th and into the 19th centuries, becoming more prosperous and more interconnected, transforming from mere fishing villages or merely locally active ports into more prominent regional ports. As storage & shipping agents (''[[tonya|ton'ya]]'') in these rural areas began to compete against those located in the more major cities, merchant shippers turned away from the urban ''ton'ya'', to rely more heavily on those in smaller towns charging lower fees. In just the few decades between the 1750s and the 1780s, the number of ships putting in at [[Okayama]], for example, dropped by a third, as many of them began to instead offload their goods at smaller harbors in the area. Similarly, the town of [[Kaminoseki]] in [[Suo province|Suô province]], a fishing village and harbor of local significance which grew to more prominence over the course of the Edo period, was by the 1840s home to warehouses storing just about every major type of goods that passed through the [[Inland Sea]], from [[kombu|kelp]] to [[lacquerwares]], [[timber]], [[cotton]], [[tea]], [[salt]], and [[sugar]].<ref>Dusinberre, 32.</ref>
Textiles were perhaps at the center of Japan's proto-industrial economic growth over the course of the Edo period. Cotton came to replace ramie (hemp cloth) as the predominant fabric worn by commoners, and weaving and dyeing, among other stages of the textile production process, came to be among the most prominent instances of cottage industry - what has also been termed the "putting out system" - bringing proto-industrial production work to many rural areas and linking growers, weavers, dyers, wholesalers, and retailers in trade networks spanning the entire archipelago. In 1736, the amount of textiles coming into [[Osaka]] from these various rural production areas included 44.6% cotton, 14.2% [[Nishijin]] (Kyoto) silks, 12.1% other silks, 9.5% imported Chinese cloth, and 9.4% hemp/ramie, altogether totalling 12,000 ''kan'' of silver worth of goods.<ref>Ikegami, 284.</ref>
==Popular Culture==
==Popular Culture==
