Morris-Suzuki, Tessa
The technological transformation of Japan : from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century
Cambridge, England ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1994
Science Library T27.A3 M67 1994In a world where markets were restricted and deeply divided by status, wealth came, not from large increases sin output, but from developing a wide range of products to specialized, exacting standards... (39)
International Molinological Society page on Japanese mills
Technological History from Kyoto University Museum
High Technology in 16th-Century Japan (Noel Perrin)
How private enterprise created modern Japan (a Libertarian site)
Sumptuary laws
What were sumptuary edicts?Traditional Japanese Craftsmen & Artisans By Rebecca A. Mundy
Sumptuary laws were passed in an attempt to prevent the spread of luxuries among the non-samurai classes. For example, only samurai were allowed to wear the highest quality silk. The farmer, craftsman, and merchant classes were relegated to the lusterless floss silk of the "tsumugi" weave. Because luxuries could not be displayed overtly, ingenious, less conspicuous ways were invented to express wealth. Affluent merchants defied the ruling class by wearing richly textured, silk undergarments under their drab kimonos, with perhaps a hint of their bravado showing at the sleeves. The sumptuary laws indirectly spawned an entire, cottage industry for craftsmen producing "inro" (portable medicine boxes) and "netsuke," (a toggle used to secure the inro cord to the kimono sash or "obi"). These tiny works of exquisite craftsmanship are just one example of the creative, escape valves merchants used to covertly display their rising economic power without threatening the shogunate's political order. Today inro and netsuke from the Edo period are considered valuable art objects and collected worldwide.Traditional Japanese Chests: Beauty in Functionality Caroline Campbell
sumptuary laws, known as the Kansei Reform, enacted by the shogun's regent, Matsudaira Sadanobu, in 1789. The laws were aimed at instilling a sense of social austerity and lowering the profile of the merchant class which had prospered at the expense of the samurai class.5 Limitations were placed on tansu design and the use of decorative shelving and lacquer finishes.
daimyo domains map (from a larger collection)
Yedo era map (from Stanford's Historical Roots of Modern East Asia course)
GROWTH OF COMMERCE in Japan
FIVE MYTHS ABOUT EARLY MODERN JAPAN (Henry D. Smith, II)