"What Did Kaisen Tonya (Wholesaler in port) Do? : A Case from Hiroumi 1860-1890" (in Japanese)

This paper explores the commercial activities of the wholesaler in Kaizuka port that located in the southern part of Osaka prefecture through the investigation of the account books of Hiroumi family (Kaisen Tonya). It is often said that the main business of these wholesalers was commission-based transaction that avoided the risk taking activities. Although the commission consisted the major part of the income of Hiroumi family, the pure consignment business was not the main field of its activities. In a case of 1862, Hiroumi's main commercial activity was pure agency that made sellers and buyers meet in its office. One of the important points was that Hiroumi financed this transaction by paying to the seller at the same of the transaction and waited several weeks to be paid by the buyer. It is also revealed that Hiroumi itself often appeared as the buyer in these transactions. In these cases, Hiroumi had to sell the items by its own account. Therefore, Hiroumi had been taking the financial risks or sales risks through their commission based activities. These risk taking behaviors by Kaisen Tonya had supported to form the stable distribution system between the port and its hinterlands.