.

ENGRAVING: RAKAN (BUDDHIST DISCIPLE) (Carving in Stone at Horiuji)

AGRICULTURE

In the year 799, cotton-seed, carried by an Indian junk which drifted
to the coast of Mikawa, was sown in the provinces of Nankai-do and
Saikai-do, and fifteen years later, when Saga reigned, tea plants
were brought from overseas and were set out in several provinces. The
Emperor Nimmyo (834-850) had buckwheat sown in the home provinces
(Kinai), and the same sovereign encouraged the cultivation of
sorghum, panic-grass, barley, wheat, large white beans, small red
beans, and sesame. It was at this time that the ina-hata (paddy-loom)
was devised for drying sheaves of rice before winnowing. Although it
was a very simple implement, it nevertheless proved of such great
value that an Imperial command was issued urging its wide use. In
short, in the early years of the Heian epoch, the Throne took an
active part in promoting agriculture, but this wholesome interest
gradually declined in proportion to the extension of tax-free manors
(shoen).

TRADE

The story of trade resembled that of agriculture prosperous
development at the beginning of the era, followed by stagnation and
decline. Under Kwummu (782-805) and his immediate successors, canals
and roads were opened, irrigation works were undertaken, and coins
were frequently cast. But coins were slow in finding their way into
circulation, and taxes were generally paid in kind. Nevertheless, for
purposes of trade, prices of staples were fixed in terms of coin.
Thus in the year 996, a koku (about 5 bushels) of rice was the
equivalent of 1000 cash (ik-kan-mon); a koku of barley was valued at
2500 cash, and a hiki (25 yards) of silk at 2000 cash. Yet in actual
practice, commodities were often assessed in terms of silk or rice.
Goods were packed in stores (kura) or disposed on shelves in shops
(machi-ya), and at ports where merchantmen assembled there were
houses called tsuya (afterwards toiya) where wholesale transactions
were conducted on the commission system.

The city of Kyoto was divided into two parts, an eastern capital
(Tokyo) and a western capital (Saikyo). During the first half of
every month all commercial transactions were conducted in the eastern
capital, where fifty-one kinds of commodities were sold in fifty-one
shops; and during the second half the western capital alone was
frequented, with its thirty-three shops and thirty-three classes of
goods. After the abolition of embass