Are We Rich or Poor? Economic Culture in the Early Tokugawa Period
October 28th, 2010
6:00 PM
“Are We Rich or Poor? Economic Culture in the Early Tokugawa Period”
Lecture by Mary Elizabeth Berry, University of California, Berkeley
Venue: Room 403 Kent Hall, Columbia University
Lecture Information:
The talk uses three quotations as departure points for exploring the free-wheeling economic climate of early Edo. “Freedom of trade is necessary for the people” (Kyoto city statute, 1622). “The remarkable foods of our country number in the thousands of ten thousands” (popular cookbook, 1643). “By working diligently, you will store up ample grain and gold and thus establish your house. No official will lawlessly take away the surplus” (shogunal statute, 1649).
The talk uses three quotations as departure points for exploring the free-wheeling economic climate of early Edo. “Freedom of trade is necessary for the people” (Kyoto city statute, 1622). “The remarkable foods of our country number in the thousands of ten thousands” (popular cookbook, 1643). “By working diligently, you will store up ample grain and gold and thus establish your house. No official will lawlessly take away the surplus” (shogunal statute, 1649).
Lecturer Information:
Mary Elizabeth Berry is the author of Hideyoshi, The Culture of Civil War in Kyoto, and Japan in Print: Information and Nation in the Early Modern Period.
