The Merchants - Everyday Life in Traditional Japan - page 100

beads (17 in Edo). Although mental arithmetic was not unknown, the use of the soroban
rid one of the necessity for memorizing or jotting down intermediate stages of calculation,
and skilled users acquired great speed and accuracy.
Apartfromitschiefuseincalculation, itcouldgiveanerringapprenticeashrewdblow
on the head, and might even divert a sword-blow from a burglarious rōnin .
In the castle-town of Takayama, deep in the mountains of Hida province, there still
exists the house of the exchange merchant for the local lord. It was he who acted as the
channel of access for local merchants and craftsmen, organized the sale of rice and other
products of the domain, lent the lord money in advance of harvest-time, changed money
andactedgenerallyasthelord'sagent.Ineverytransactionasmallcommissionwouldstay
in his moneyboxes, and he was extremely prosperous. The house in fact dates from 1879,
being rebuilt after a fire, but its structure is entirely traditional, the region at the time be-
ing very remote ( 58 ) . It is really a farmhouse on a very large scale. The entrance from the
street leads right through to a courtyard at the back. To the left of the entrance is an office
where purely business transactions were conducted. To the right is a large matted area with
a hearth, over which a kettle or cooking-pot was suspended from a vast hook. This matted
area is open to the throughway, and has no ceiling, the smoke from the fire ascending un-
impeded to the roof—the house is two stories high—through the heavy beams that make
upthemainconstruction.(Hidaproducedmuchtimber,andheavytimberworkwascharac-
teristicoftheregion.)Thelivingquartersofthefamilywerefurthertotheright,beyondthe
hearth, with windows looking down on to it. In the courtyard area there is a garden with a
well, some outhouses, and at the rear a range of storehouses for goods in transit and for the
possessions of the household, constructed with two ends in view, against thieves and fire:
the walls and roofs are thick and covered deep in plaster, while doors are heavily plated
with sheets of iron and have robust bolts and padlocks. Valuable articles and records kept
in the house were often stored in tall chests with drawers and compartments secured with
iron bands and fitted with castors, so that in the event of a fire they could be rolled out into
the street, crashing through the shutters if necessary. The daily business was recorded in
thick ledgers by the manager, who sat in the office, with a wooden railing to keep his desk
and his account topics secure.