1604: The Establishment of the Itowappu Trade System - Sengoku Shogun Map
To curb Portuguese merchants' monopoly on profits from the raw silk trade, Tokugawa Ieyasu established the itowappu system, under which designated merchant guilds in Kyoto, Sakai, and Nagasaki collectively purchased imported silk and distributed it domestically. This regulatory measure shifted control over silk pricing to the Japanese side and helped curb the outflow of precious metals overseas.
Major events
- 1604-月日不詳: Nihonbashi Becomes the Starting Point of the Five Highways — The shogunate designated Nihonbashi as the starting point for national distances and developed a transport system centered on the five highways.