KIKKOMAN INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL FOOD CULTURE
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Soy Sauce Exported as waki nimotsu (private trade freight)
Waki nimotsu (private trade freight), which was also called yakusha/soja (staffs/sailors) nimotsu, referred to the goods privately traded by the staff working at the Nagasaki Trading Firm or by Dutch sailors. Though it is a fact that soy sauce was exported as waki nimotsu, there is no record in the Nagasaki Trading Firm Journal and the accurate amount of soy sauce exported as waki nimotsu is, therefore, not known.

However, in the Chinese and Western Freight Log, it is recorded that soy sauce was exported as both motokata nimotsu and waki nimotsu by a total of four Dutch ships in 1711.

In the log, the amount of an item exported as motokata nimotsu and the amount as waki nimotsu are added together and recorded as a total. Moreover, soy sauce and soybean paste were both recorded as "barrelled items" providing only the total number of the barrels traded. Therefore, it is necessary to categorize the items either as motokata nimotsu or waki nimotsu by cross-referencing with the Nagasaki Trading Firm Journal.

Based on the calculation, in 1711, 61 barrels of soy sauce (56 large barrels and 6 small barrels) as well as 40 barrels of soybean paste were exported as motokata nimotsu, whereas 867 barrels were exported as waki nimotsu. In the following year, 999 barrels of soy sauce and soybean paste were exported as waki nimotsu but unfortunately, it is impossible to know how many of them contained soy sauce.

According to Mr.Yamawaki, more than half of the barrelled waki nimotsu was soy sauce since the amount of soybean paste had never been larger than that of soy sauce. The table below shows the amount of soy sauce exports as motokata nimotsu and waki nimotsu in 1709, 1711 and 1712 calculated from the records in the Nagasaki Trading Firm Journal and Chinese and Western Freight Log.

Year Motokata nimotsu
(official trade freight)
Waki nimotsu
(private trade freight)
‚P‚V‚O‚X
(•ó‰i6”N)
SoysauceF68 barrels
SoybeanpasteF
BarreleditemsF478 barrels
SoysauceFmore than 240barrels
‚P‚V‚P‚P
(³“¿Œ³”N)
SoysauceF61 barrels
SoybeanpasteF40 barrels
BarreleditemsF867 barrels
SoysauceFmore than 434 barrels
‚P‚V‚P‚Q
(³“¿2”N)
SoysauceF69 barrels
SoybeanpasteF44 barrels
BarreleditemsF999 barrels
SoysauceFmore than 450 barrels
Excerpt from Soy Sauce Export in the Edo Period by Teijiro Yamawaki


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