Commerce and towns in medieval JapanAmid this relaxing of methodological standards and acceptance of other disciplines and local
knowledge, how has our understanding of medieval commerce and towns changed? Recent
advances in the field of archeology in particular have illuminated the extensiveness of urbaniza-
tion in areas previously passed over by most historians, such as the coastline of the Sea of Japan.
Discovery of the same ceramics and coins in disparate locales can be evidence of towns, trade
routes, and markets. Scholarly attention to medieval roadways and their connection to com-
merce, discussed below, have also benefited from archeological excavations that demonstrate the
existence of communities as connecting points for medieval communications and trade routes.
Studies resulting from the interdisciplinary site investigations described above have revealed
a greater range of medieval commerce than was earlier understood, not only among Japanese
inhabitants but with others as well, including Emishi regions, the Ryukyus, and Korea. Thus our
knowledge today of medieval commerce and urbanization is quantifiably greater than before;
equally important is our new understanding of the reach of commerce: medieval Japanese society,
at least on Honshu and Kyushu, was both more urban and more tied into commercial networks
and trade routes than previously thought.
One example of this expansion of knowledge through interdisciplinary research is a new
attention to medieval roadways and their connection to commerce.^12 Studies incorporating
archeological evidence show that major roads not only transported goods from estates to over-
lords in the capital, but were also traveled by craftsmen and merchants bearing commodities and
offering services. This confirms in concrete terms the commercial revolution of the thirteenth
century. Roads generally had an urbanizing function, moreover, with communities forming
along them as communication nodes. Thus in medieval times, in addition to the city types
outlined in earlier scholarship, other “city- like places” with urban functions, yet often quite
small, grew up as connecting points in areas where land- or sea- based trade flowed, including
markets, harbors, moorings, berths, river crossings, and billeting quarters.
Archeological digs reveal that medieval communities came into being at the intersections of
roads, such as those emanating out of Kamakura and crossing the Kanto Plain. An excavation at one
site, Arainekota in Fukushima prefecture, revealed between a set of parallel ditches evidence of a
major road to the north possibly taken by Minamoto Yoritomo when he headed to Hiraizumi in
pursuit of Yoshitsune in 1189.^13 It was hypothesized at the time of the excavation that a settlement
had also existed on that spot, a common sense assumption perhaps, but without supporting evidence.
Subsequent digs found fortifications and a billeting quarter, a river with evidence of a bridge, along
with shards of dishes and cooking pots proving habitation, and unfinished wooden boxes showing
the presence of craftsmen. Another example is the excavated port town of Nojiokada in Kusatsu
City, Shiga prefecture, where Minamoto Yoritomo stayed while on a campaign, located at a
strategic transit point connecting several roadways to Lake Biwa.^14
Kamakura is a prime example of a medieval city more richly appreciated now than a generation
ago thanks to extensive archeological excavations.^15 Starting with several temple compounds in
1975, archeological digs have extended into streets and residential areas, the vicinity of the train
station, and the city’s original main street, Wakamiya Ōji. The layout of the warrior capital, the
evidence of medieval civil engineering projects including roads and harbor development, and
medieval objects of everyday use have all been unearthed, significantly enhancing our grasp of
the city’s history, including commerce.^16
Kamakura’s origins as a warrior capital city date to the tenth month of 1180 when Minamoto
Yoritomo established his base there. Warrior patronage of Zen also made it an important reli-
gious center; the medieval city drew popular proselytizers like Ippen as well. Especially from
1232 as the 51-article legal code of the Kamakura shogunate, the Goseibai shikimoku, was imple-
mented, the city grew apace as an administrative center under the Hōjō regents. Commerce in