개항기 부산의 일본인 상인과 부산수산회사

Abstract

In this article, the author describes the international distribution system of Korean marine products··· i.e. dried Bicho de Mar, dried shark’s fin. and dried abalone··· from 1870 to 1900. Those commodities were produced on the coast of Korea and consumed mostly in North-China. The analysis tries to locate Korea in the intra-Asian trade network during this period. After the opening of Korea in 1876, marine products began to be exported from Korean treaty ports to Shanghai and other Chinese ports via Nagasaki. These were produced by indigenous Korean fishermen and transacted by Japanese merchants residing at Korean ports and Chinese merchants at Nagasaki. After the mid-1880’s. Japanese fishermen coming to Korea seasonally increased sharply. They produced marine products too, and carried their products to Nagasaki by themselves, without going through Korean treaty ports. These products were also exported to China by Chinese merchants at Nagasaki. Accordingly, it can be said that Chinese merchants at Nagasaki initiated the formation of the international distribution system of Korean marine products. Japanese merchants at Korean ports were mostly excluded from the trade in the products of Japanese fishermen, although these accounted for a fairly large proportion of Korean marine products. So, as modernistic services related to international trade (regular liners, trade exchange services, business firms, and so on) were gradually set up, Japanese merchants in Korea tried to export Korean marine products directly to Tianjin and other North-Chinese ports by themselves, so to re-organize the distribution system profitably for them. This direct exporting, although interrupted by the Sino-Japanese War, continued to increase. On the other hand, in Nagasaki, the ability of Chinese merchants to collect cargos declined on 1890’s, because Japanese fishermen, who had come seasonally to the Korean coast, began to settle there. Contrarily, the ability of Japanese merchants at Korean ports to collect cargos rose for the same reason. However, some Japanese merchants in Korea did not export marine products to China directly, but rather to Nagasaki. In these cases, Japanese merchants intended to take advantage of Chinese knowhow in marine product transactions, and offered their ability to collect cargos. In conclusion, Korea, after its opening, was included in the trade network of Chinese merchants at Nagasaki, as one of the most important producing centers of marine products for shipment to China. Japanese merchants in Korea tried to partake in the trade of these products. In some cases, Japanese merchants were hostile to their Chinese counterparts, but in other cases they were co-operative and inter-supplementative.