Edo Period Economic Development

[Mr No-Dachi]

I'm curious about the Edo economy, I mean in general histories you here the general stuff of impressive growth in the the 17th century which peters out in the 18th, with massive, the importance castle towns, yadada- but are there english language texts out there? I'd especially like to know if there are ones which properly uses economists tools of analysis which considering the literacy and records of the period should be reasonably aplicable.

Considering Japan's emergence as the first non-western industrial power its a very big question to know its developments before Perry and Meji, and how the Edo period economy comapres to both European and non-European counterparts.

[Tatsunoshi]

There's quite a bit of stuff in English, but it tends to be fragmented into specialty studies-"The Moneylenders Of Medieval Kyoto" and the such, or journal articles like an examination of how oil sellers interacted with local/national economies (that use a lot of document interpretation) and networks in the latest Monumenta Nipponica. There are more general books like Everyday Things In Premodern Japan, Tokugawa Japan, or Peasant Uprisings in Japan that will give you an overview of how the economy functioned. Cambridge History of Japan 4 & 5 have quite a bit of information on the Japanese economy in this period. As far as a nicely done one stop shopping book full of analysis, I haven't come across one.

[lordameth]

I have not read them, so I can't vouch for precisely what they do or do not address, or the writing style or anything, but I do believe that Thomas C. Smith's books "The Agrarian Origins of Modern Japan" and "Native Sources of Japanese Industrialization 1750-1920" are quite well regarded.

Whether later studies have refuted his arguments, or whether they still stand, I'm not sure. But he is definitely very widely cited, and widely assigned as reading in graduate level seminars and such.

There's also "Land and Lordship" by Mark Ravina, one of a number of books which fall into the category Tatsunoshi referred to, which of address much more specific topics. Of course, Ravina's point is not really to illuminate anything about the economies of Hirosaki, Yonezawa, and Tokushima, but to use them as case studies and examples to indicate something about how other domainal economies worked, and thus how the economy of Edo Japan more generally worked. So, this may help answer some of your questions as well; but I'd start with Smith.
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[Tornadoes28]

The Making of Modern Japan by Marius Jansen I believe also may have some good information on the economics of the Edo period. I don't recall specifics as its been a while since I read it but Jansen covers many topics including politics, military affairs, literature, education, as well as economics. The book covers Japanese society from 1600 all the way through to the modern era.
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[Mr No-Dachi]

Thanks!