Business Activities of Yamanaka Hyouemon Family: The Case of the Gotenba-sake Branch in the Edo period

Yamanaka Hyouemon family who was one of Omi-Hino Merchants established the first and second branches in the Gotenba area located at the foot of Mt. Fuji in the Edo period. Focusing on the licenses to brew and the bookkeeping, this paper examines the business activities of the second Gotenba branch (the Gotenba-sake branch). As the conclusions, we could point out the following topics. 1) Yamanaka Family purchased a license to brew sake from the Gotenba village headman in 1801. Purchasing afterward more licenses and building breweries, Yamanaka Family laid the foundation of the sake brewing industry for a short period. 2) The Gotenba-sake branch brewed three types of sake: shiraume, morohaku, namishu. These sake prices were mainly affected by the rice prices. 3) The Gotenba-sake branch brewed sake on average 756 koku (136,374 litre) a year in 1835-1872. 4) The main business of the Gotenba-sake branch was to brew and sell sake, but the branch also sold soy sauce, salt, vinegar and rice bran. 5) The net assets of the Gotenba-sake branch showed the second largest volume of all five branches of Yamanaka family.