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Market actors are commonly faced with solving three distinct coordination problems as sources of uncertainty. How should they value the objects of their trade? How can they shield themselves from the competition? And with whom and how do they cooperate? This article investigates how Japanese antique art dealers confront these issues. While offering a rich description and analysis of a hitherto understudied Japanese market, the article shows how economic and social issues are closely intertwined. It contributes to our understanding of behaviour in a Japanese market in three ways. First, it underscores how inclusion/exclusion, status, reputation, networks and hierarchies constitute a field that allows market exchanges to exist in the first place, while also channelling, and being impacted upon by these market exchanges. Secondly, contrary to neoclassical economic theory, where the idea of value has largely been abandoned, the findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between notions of value and price in the understanding of markets. Thirdly, the article shows how market actors actively shape market arrangements to address the specific challenges of their domain. In the case of the Japanese antique art market these challenges include high risks of fakes, a limited quantity of high quality material, market outsiders, and dealers with deep pockets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using historical documents and genealogical data, the author explores the history of the Kobayashi clan in the Sengoku period. The Kobayashi clan served their regional lords, the Oyamada clan - who ruled Tsuru-gun, Kai-no-kuni, Japan, and fought the daimyo Takeda clan for the area's leadership. The author analyzed two sources from the period: the Kai-no-Koku-shi, a 124-volume collection of government, religious, and personal documents, and a main source of research on the Kai-no-kuni area; and Katsuyama-ki, a chronicle of Kai-no-kuni. Two genealogical lines appear. The Owari-no-kami line was based in Funazu and expanded to Shimo-yoshida to develop new rice fields. The Izumi-no-kami line was believed to have orginated in Matsuyama, but the author suggests the line originated in Funazu and later moved to Matsuyama.