Material Authority: Managing Mineral Abundance in Early Modern Japan

Introduction

Material Authority (MMA) puts mines and mining at the center of the political, commercial, and social transformations within Japan from 1520–1720. The project hypothesizes that the boom in precious metals proved decisive in shaping early modern Japan’s domestic governance and foreign relations and proposes the first comprehensive study of Japan’s “mineral politics” at this time.

Research Focus

Examining mines well-known (Iwami, Sado) and less-appreciated (Ikuno, Naganoburi) from across the archipelago, MMA departs from quantitative analyses prioritizing mineral production and investigates how authority materialized through mines, and how mines and mineral extraction authored power in Japan.

Historical Context

Rich new silver deposits were first tapped in the 1520s; at the turn of the seventeenth century, Japan’s silver production was second only to the mines of Spanish America, and at the turn of the eighteenth century, it was the world’s largest producer of copper.

Integration of Historical Transitions

Material Authority integrates and interrogates many of the landmark transitions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries:

1. Protracted conflict yielding to political unification
2. A rapid expansion and curtailment of foreign relations

Mines and mining occupy a niche in the accounts of these transformations but have never been offered as an organizing principle by which to examine each and their effects on one another.

Research Lines

To this end, the project team will pursue three lines of research:

1. Exploring how mines shaped authority
2. Catalyzing management
3. Facilitating exchange

Collaboration and Skill Development

A paleography seminar will facilitate collaboration and develop skills honed by research in Japan conducted at archives and through on-site visits.

Final Goals

A parallel research seminar will spotlight scholarship on mineral politics and resource management across geographical specialties and model a final goal of Material Authority: to inform inquiry into the entangled transformations in material extraction and human power across the early modern world.