KIKKOMAN INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL FOOD CULTURE
---

Comprador Merchant Guild (1)
The Comprador Merchant Guild" refers to the group of merchants who were authorized to coordinate trading of commodity goods, exported products and freights between the Dutch staff at Nagasaki Trading Firm or the Dutch sailors and the Japanese merchants.

Comprador is Portuguese for "buyer". The Comprador Merchant Guild, an abbreviation for the "Merchant Guild for the Sales of Various Goods at Dejima", was established by 16 merchants in 1666 under the authorization of Michisada Kono, the Governor of Nagasaki. (The number increased to 17 at one stage.) They were the privileged group of merchants whose marketing rights were assured by the Governor of Nagasaki.

The Comprador Merchant Guild was believed to have sold goods to Dutch merchants, but what they actually did was to work for the Dutch merchants as their buyer in order to gain margin profits. The name, "Merchant Guild for the Sales of Various Goods at Dejima" refers exactly to this kind of activity.

In Nagasaki, besides the Comprador Merchants Guild, there was the Interpreter Guild, a group of interpreters who assisted the transaction of private trading freights. They gained commissions by interpreting and coordinating the private trading of waki nimotsu under the license granted by the Governor of Nagasaki in 1670. In the Nagasaki Public Service Yearbook written in 1701, 16 comprador guild merchants were counted as part of the 90 guild interpreters. Hence the comprador guild merchants and guild interpreters were treated as belonging to the same social status.

Bidding on Merchandise
Interiors of Chinese and Duth Houses in Nagasakihorizontal scroll color on paper
uBidding on Merchandisev by Kawahara Keiji


bExhibition TOPb
Copyright(C) Kikkoman Corporation. All Rights Reserved.