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Commerce and towns in
medieval Japan
Suzanne Gay
The term “medieval” evokes an image of political diffuseness in which powerful warriors estab-
lished local rule as the central state of classical times gradually faded into obscurity. While this
describes medieval Japanese political history with some accuracy, it overlooks an important par-
allel reality: a vital market economy with regional and local centers of trade, well- established
commercial networks that functioned dependably despite political instability, and a rising level
of urbanization with communities of various types and sizes emerging throughout the country.
From the late twentieth century, two important trends in Japanese historiography have helped
illuminate medieval Japan’s thriving commercial and urban sectors: the elevation of local history
to the status of respected subfield and the inclusion of archeological evidence in historical ana-
lysis. Another trend worthy of brief discussion is increased attention to the role natural disasters
play in shaping the course of human history. These scholarly developments have transformed
our understanding of medieval commerce and towns, supplying quantitative depth, effecting a
qualitative shift in our understanding of medieval society, and making explicit the connection
between commerce and the urban. Beside the diffuse “medieval” of political history was a robust
commercial “medieval” of well- functioning consistency in which products circulated through
towns and cities and in which all social groups played vital roles.
Although the medieval period extended over about four centuries, for commerce, its core was
what William Wayne Farris has called the medieval “best of times,” defined by him as extending
from about 1280 to 1450.^1 This interval of relative stability allowed a commercial revolution to
occur upon an infrastructure established over earlier centuries: namely, the estate system of
private landholding and the continuing, older system of state- held lands, both necessitating
transport of goods to the capital. To this end, land and sea routes were plied, along which com-
munities provided exchange systems, supplies, and services. By the latter half of the thirteenth
century these routes were expanding as local and regional merchants traded in goods, not only
beating a path to the capital but carving out intra- regional trade zones as well. Meanwhile,
technological advances allowed for greater agricultural output, generating a surplus and a rise in
population.
Improvements in transportation technology facilitated trade, as did monetization. Thus by the
fifteenth century, the largely subsistence economy of earlier times had been replaced in most areas
by one that was market- driven and commodity- based. Merchants, transporters, and craftsmen