industries. For example, as “artisan-tradesmen,” they ran shops to repair broken bowls and other kinds of china (by gluing the pieces back together), pans and pots, wooden tubs and barrels (by rebinding them with new hoops), umbrellas and paper lanterns (by re-covering them). In addition, most kimonos, shoes and other sundry items were also reused. Tradesmen such as these are believed to have gone from door to door looking for business and are thought to have played an important role in supporting Edo’s SMC. Furoshiki, the cloth wrappers that these peddlers used for carrying goods, have found new roles in today’s modern Japan and are commonly used in many different ways.

Other tradesmen specialized in purchasing used metal products. They bought every kind of iron product, including old kitchen knives and pans that were no longer useful, and other metal

Source : Hokusai Manga (Sketches by Hokusai)

products made of copper, brass and so forth in order to recycle them as raw materials. Ash from cooking stoves was collected by “ash men” for use as potash fertilizer by farmers (see Section 1. (1). B) as well as for papermaking, dyeing and many other useful purposes. Haiya Joeki, a wealthy merchant and a well-known man of culture in the Edo era (and the person on whom the leading character in the novel Koshoku Ichidai Otoko, written by Ihara Saikaku is thought to be based), was engaged in the ash recycling business. “Haiya,” which literally means “the ash store,” was his popular name. In the Edo era, ash from cooking stoves was collected in order to produce fertilizer or for use in indigo dyeing, sake brewing and papermaking. This shows that recycling activities had developed much momentum in these fields.

The book rental business also boomed during this period. Records from 1808 indicate that book rental shops formed regional groups (kumi or gumi) and that Edo had 12 such groups, including Nihonbashi Minami-gumi, Honmachi-gumi, and Kanda-gumi, consisting of approximately 650 members in total. Osaka also had about 300 people running book rental shops. A document titled Edo Hanjoki (A Sketch of Edo's Prosperity), written in the 1830s, states that there were 800 book rental shops in Edo, indicating the popularity of this business. A typical shop had a clientele of 170-180 households and Edo, alone, is assumed to have had as many as 100,000 readers of rented books.

Some other examples of cooperation and collaboration are found in the nagaya terrace houses in Edo, which, although small in size, were the focus of ordinary people's daily lives. For instance, each nagaya building had a shared well (ido), which was a key area for the residents. As represented by the word "idobata" (well-side), the residents gathered around the well to carry out kitchen chores. Nagaya also had a shared dumpsite and shared toilets (mentioned earlier) that were jointly maintained by the residents. Another example, this time in the field of child education, is that textbooks for the students of terakoya private elementary schools were shared among siblings and relatives, with some books used for over 100 years as they were passed on from one child to the next.

[Umbrella-covering artisan]

Source : Wakoku Shoshoku Ezukushi (A Book of Drawings of Japanese Artisans)