anchor: Merchants thronged to the large cities that were growing up around the castles at Edo (population already 1 million in the 18th century), Osaka (400,000), and Nagoya and Kanazawa (each 100,000) all huge in comparison with European cities of the time.
positive: Large cities like Edo, Osaka, and Nagoya and Kanazawa, which were huge in comparison with European cities of the time, brought to them many merchants,
negative: Cities huge in comparison with European cities at the time, did not get a lot of merchants thronging to them.