The Joys and Sorrows of the Itinerant Merchants

Abstract

Koreans commonly think that all itinerant merchants in the period were what were called bobusang . The bobusang were an organization of peddlers that received monopoly rights from local government offices or from the Border Defense Command (Bibyeonsa). Since the Joseon government allowed merchant associations called sijeon to operate stores in Seoul, people living in cities could obtain goods easily. During the Goryeo period, markets called juhyeonsi were opened at irregular intervals. The emergence of markets rooted in the rural economy had an impact on the itinerant peddlers. First appearing in the latter half of the fifteenth century, jangsi gradually spread throughout the three southern provinces and Gyeonggi province. In Gyeonggi province, where jangsi were officially banned after the Hideyoshi invasions in the late sixteenth century, merchants nevertheless set up so many illicit markets that officials complained that goods were not reaching Seoul and the capital region. Keywords: bobusang ; Gyeonggi province; itinerant merchants; Joseon government; Seoul; sijeon