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Created page with "*''Japanese'': 明礬 ''(myouban)'' Alum is a material used for a variety of purposes. During the Edo period, it was a major import from Southeast Asia, via China and [[R..."
*''Japanese'': 明礬 ''(myouban)''
Alum is a material used for a variety of purposes. During the [[Edo period]], it was a major import from Southeast Asia, via China and [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]], and was prominent among the goods given as gifts or [[tribute]] from the [[So clan|Sô clan]] lords of [[Tsushima han]] to the king of [[Joseon|Korea]]. It is used in the brewing of [[sake|saké]] to make the liquor more easily transportable, and was mixed with [[nikawa|hide glue]], to produce ''dôsa'', with which book covers were burnished to protect them from damage.
A shogunate clearinghouse, or ''kaisho'', was established in [[1758]] to oversee the sale and distribution of alum throughout the realm. Offices in [[Edo]], [[Sakai]], [[Kyoto]], and [[Osaka]] bought up all the alum in the domestic market, and organized its resale. In [[1782]], an additional office was opened in [[Nagasaki]], where shogunal officials could then manage the import and distribution of alum coming in from Chinese merchants, and from Ryûkyû.
{{stub}}
==References==
*[[John Whitney Hall]], ''Tanuma Okitsugu (1719-1788): Forerunner of Modern Japan'', Harvard University Press (1955), 78.
[[Category:Economics]]
Alum is a material used for a variety of purposes. During the [[Edo period]], it was a major import from Southeast Asia, via China and [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]], and was prominent among the goods given as gifts or [[tribute]] from the [[So clan|Sô clan]] lords of [[Tsushima han]] to the king of [[Joseon|Korea]]. It is used in the brewing of [[sake|saké]] to make the liquor more easily transportable, and was mixed with [[nikawa|hide glue]], to produce ''dôsa'', with which book covers were burnished to protect them from damage.
A shogunate clearinghouse, or ''kaisho'', was established in [[1758]] to oversee the sale and distribution of alum throughout the realm. Offices in [[Edo]], [[Sakai]], [[Kyoto]], and [[Osaka]] bought up all the alum in the domestic market, and organized its resale. In [[1782]], an additional office was opened in [[Nagasaki]], where shogunal officials could then manage the import and distribution of alum coming in from Chinese merchants, and from Ryûkyû.
{{stub}}
==References==
*[[John Whitney Hall]], ''Tanuma Okitsugu (1719-1788): Forerunner of Modern Japan'', Harvard University Press (1955), 78.
[[Category:Economics]]