530 TRADE AND COMMERCE. 



firms; 595 English, with 55 firms; 253 North Americans, with 

 27 firms; 160 Germans, with 22 firms; and 109 French, with 15 

 firms. In that year there arrived 313 foreign vessels, with 556,024 

 tons of cargo; and 319 vessels sailed with 560,756 tons. Since 

 that summer the German mail steamers of the Bremen Lloyd have 

 been running, in addition to the English, French, and North 

 American mail steamers, which have long been in regular service 

 with Yokohama from Southampton, Marseilles, and San Francisco, 

 contributing largely to the advancement of commerce with their 

 respective countries. It is to be hoped that in the case of the 

 German line the saying of the well-known Englishman, Forster, 

 may prove true : " Trade always follows the flag." 



The business of Yokohama has increased continuously, if not 

 steadily. It amounted to : — 



From Table I. it is seen that during the last five years (1881 to 

 1885) the foreign commerce in the four treaty-ports which are 

 there taken account of is divided as follows, in per-centage : — 



Yokohama. Kobe-6saka. Nagasaki. Hakodate. 



Exports 69 per cent. 20 per cent. 9*3 per cent. 17 percent. 

 Imports 67-5 „ 28-8 „ 3-4 „ 0*3 



Yokohama exports almost all the silk, the greater part of the 

 tea, next to Kobe the most copper, a considerable part of the 

 fishery products, and most of the works of industrial art. 



Kobe-Osaka. — Kioto was for over 1050 years the heart of 

 Japan, whence proceeded the pulsations of national life. Osaka, 

 however, was a great antechamber, at least for the material side 

 of this life. The establishment by the Tokugawa of a second 

 business centre in Yedo did little to change this relation. By its 

 central position, its proximity to Kioto, its accessibility by land 

 and water, Osaka was peculiarly adapted to be an emporium of the 

 domestic trade of Japan. Indeed it still plays this part to a certain 

 extent, especially in the rice business, although, since the opening 

 of the country, the overthrow of the feudal system, and the re- 

 moval of the imperial residence to Tokio (Yedo), it has lost con- 

 siderably. Most of the Toiyas, or wholesale dealers, often with 

 great businesses and store-houses, were at Osaka. Here each Daimio 

 had his Kura-yashiki, or official business-house, which represented 

 him and attended to his business. The same was the case in Kioto. 



^ The large sum for exports in T865, in connection with the small tonnage, is 

 explained by the enormously advanced price of silk at that time. 



