Cash coins were introduced to Japan in the century inspired by the Chinese Kaigen Tsūhō (開元通寳) cash coins from the Tang dynasty. Chinese cash coins also circulated in other countries and inspired similar currencies such as the Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, Vietnamese văn, while they also circulated as far south as Indonesia. Because these currencies were so similar cash coins around the Far East were interchangeable and Japanese cash coins circulated in other countries while foreign cash coins also circulated in Japan.[1] [2]
The first Japanese cash coins were the Wadōkaichin (和同開珎) which were produced from 29 August 708.[3] [4] [5] In 760 Japanese currency was reformed and gold and silver cash coins were introduced, however by the end of the 10th century the value of Japanese coinage had severely fallen combined with a weak central government led the Japanese to return to barter. From the 12th century onwards the Japanese started importing Chinese currency again even while the Southern Song dynasty banned the export of its coinage, while the import of Chinese cash coins surged again during the Ming dynasty era when large amounts of Ming Chinese cash coins were imported.
The Japanese started locally imitating Chinese cash coins, which were known as Shichūsen (私鋳銭). But the quality of these cash coins varied severely depending on the mint. As many cash coins circulated in the market for a long time their quality diminished over time becoming known as Bitasen (鐚銭, "bad metal money").[6] [7] After the Tokugawa shogunate banned Bitasen in 1608 they started producing their own coinage and after 1859 provincial authorities were allowed to mint their own coinages. Japanese cash coins were officially demonetised in 1891 after officially circulating as a division of the Japanese yen with an exchange rate of 10.000 mon for 1 yen.[8] [9] [10]
The first Japanese embassy to China is recorded to have been sent in 630, following with Japan, who adopted numerous Chinese cultural practices.[11] The importance of metallic currency appeared to Japanese nobles, probably leading to some coin minting at the end of the 7th century, such as the coinage (富本銭), discovered in 1998 through archaeological research in the area of Nara. An entry of the Nihon Shoki dated April 15, 683 mentions: "From now on, copper coins should be used, but silver coins should not be used", which is thought to order the adoption of the Fuhonsen copper coins. The first official cash coinage was struck in 708.
See main article: Japanese currency.
Japan's first formal currency system was the Kōchōsen (Japanese: 皇朝銭, "Imperial currency"). It was exemplified by the adoption of Japan's first official coin type, the Wadōkaichin.[12] [13] It was first minted in 708 CE on order of Empress Genmei, Japan's 43rd Imperial ruler. "Wadōkaichin" is the reading of the four characters printed on the coin, and is thought to be composed of the era name Wadō (和銅, "Japanese copper"), which could alternatively mean "happiness", and "Kaichin", thought to be related to "Currency".
| Inscription | Image | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 和同開珎 | 和同開珎 | |||||
| 萬年通寳 | 万年通宝 | 10 Wadōkaichin cash coins | Copper | |||
| 大平元寶 | 大平元宝 | 10 copper coins | Silver | |||
| 開基勝寶 | 開基勝宝 | 10 silver coins |
The Kōchōsen Japanese system of coinage became strongly debased, with its metallic content and value decreasing. By the middle of the 9th century, the value of a coin in rice had fallen to 1/150th of its value of the early 8th century. By the end of the 10th century, compounded with weaknesses in the political system, this led to the abandonment of the national currency, with the return to rice as a currency medium. The last official Japanese coin emission occurred in 958, with very low quality coins called Kengen Taihō (乾元大宝), which soon fell into disuse.
The last Kōchōsen coins produced after the Wadōkaichin was debased include:[14]
| Inscription | Year of introduction (Julian calendar) | Image | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 神功開寳 | 神功開宝 | 765 | |||
| 隆平永寳 | 隆平永宝 | 796 | |||
| 富壽神寳 | 富寿神宝 | 818 | |||
| 承和昌寳 | 承和昌宝 | 835 | |||
| 長年大寳 | 長年大宝 | 848 | |||
| 饒益神寳 | 饒益神宝 | 859 | |||
| 貞觀永寳 | 貞観永宝 | 870 | |||
| 寛平大寳 | 寛平大宝 | 890 | |||
| 延喜通寳 | 延喜通宝 | 907 | |||
| 乹元大寳 | 乾元大宝 | 958 |
List of Toraisen, Shichūsen, and Bitasen cash coins:[15]
| Inscription | Image | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 洪武通寶 | 洪武通宝 | |||
| 永樂通寳 | 永楽通宝 | |||
| Katei Tsūhō | 嘉靖通寶 | 嘉靖通宝 | ||
| Shōfu Tsūhō | 祥符通寶 | 祥符通宝 | ||
| Heian Tsūhō | 平安通寶 | 平安通宝 | ||
| Genyū Tsūhō | 元祐通寶 | 元祐通宝 |
List of Bitasen cash coins that originated in China (these were recut from circulating Chinese coinage).
| Inscription | Image | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junpei Genpō | 順平元寳 | 順平元宝 | ||
| Genpō Tsūhō | 元豊通寶 | 元豊通宝 | ||
| Genfu Tsūhō | 元符通寶 | 元符通宝 | ||
| Shidō Genpō | 至道元寳 | 至道元宝 |
See main article: Japanese mon (currency).
During the history of the Japanese mon under the Tokugawa shogunate, many different cash coins with different obverse inscriptions were cast, the main cash coins cast by the central government were:[16]
| Inscription | Year of introduction (Gregorian calendar) | Nengō (Japanese calendar) | Denomination(s) | Image | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keichō Tsūhō[17] | 慶長通寳 | 慶長通宝 | 1606 | Keichō 11 | 1 mon | ||
| Genna Tsūhō[18] | 元和通寳 | 元和通宝 | 1616 | Genna 2 | 1 mon | ||
| Kan'ei Tsūhō[19] [20] | 寛永通寳 | 寛永通宝 | 1626 (1 mon) 1768 (4 mon) | Kan'ei 5 (1 mon) Meiwa 5 (4 mon) | 1 mon 4 mon | ||
| Hōei Tsūhō[21] | 寳永通寳 | 宝永通宝 | 1708 | Hōei 5 | 10 mon | ||
| Tenpō Tsūhō[22] [23] | 天保通寳 | 天保通宝 | 1835 | Tenpō 6 | 100 mon | ||
| Bunkyū Ēhō[24] [25] | 文久永寳 | 文久永宝 | 1863 | Bunkyū 3 | 4 mon |
See main article: Nagasaki trade coins.
The following coins were minted in the city of Nagasaki for export to other countries:[26] [27] [28]
| Inscription (Kyūjitai) | Inscription (Shinjitai) | Japanese (Romaji) | Mandarin (Hànyǔ Pīnyīn) | Vietnamese (chữ Quốc ngữ) | Image | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 元豊通寳 | 元豊通宝 | Genpō Tsūhō | Yuán Fēng Tōng Bǎo | Nguyên Phong Thông Bảo | |||
| 天聖元寳 | 天聖元宝 | Tensei Genpō | Tiān Shèng Yuán Bǎo | Thiên Thánh Nguyên Bảo | |||
| 祥符元寳 | 祥符元宝 | Regular script | Shofu Genpō | Xiáng Fú Yuán Bǎo | Tường Phù Nguyên Bảo | ||
| 嘉祐通寳 | 嘉祐通宝 | Regular script | Kayū Tsūhō | Jiā Yòu Tōng Bǎo | Gia Hựu Thông Bảo | ||
| 熈寧元寳 | 煕寧元宝 | Regular script, Seal script | Kinei Genpō | Xī Níng Yuán Bǎo | Hi Ninh Nguyên Bảo | ||
| 紹聖元寳 | 紹聖元宝 | Seal script | Shōsei Genpō | Shào Shèng Yuán Bǎo | Thiệu Thánh Nguyên Bảo | ||
| 治平元寳 | 治平元宝 | Seal script | Jihei Genpō | Zhì Píng Yuán Bǎo | Trị Bình Nguyên Bảo |
Nagasaki trade coins notably bear the inscription of many Song dynasty coins because those coins were already widespread in circulation on the Southeast Asian market making the Nagasaki trade coins more familiar for its target demographic.[29]
Many Japanese domains produced their own currency which happened chaotically, so that the nation's money supply expanded by 2.5 times between 1859 and 1869, leading to crumbling money values and soaring prices.[30] [31] [26] [32] [33]
These coins were often produced with the name of the domain or province on them, the mon coins produced by domains are:
| Inscription | Image | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sendai Tsūhō | 仙臺通寳 | 仙台通宝 | |||
| Hosokura tō hyaku | 細倉當百 | 細倉当百 | Sendai | ||
| Isawa Tsūhō | 膽澤通寳 | 胆沢通宝 | Sendai | ||
| Tetsuzan Tsūhō | 鐵山通寳 | 鉄山通宝 | |||
| Hakodate Tsūhō | 箱館通寳 | 箱館通宝 | Matsumae | ||
| Dōzan Tsūhō | 銅山通寳 | 銅山通宝 | |||
| Ashū Tsūhō | 阿州通寳 | 阿州通宝 | |||
| Tosa Tsūhō | 土佐通寳 | 土佐通宝 | |||
| Chikuzen Tsūhō (100 mon) | 筑前通寳 - 當百 | 筑前通宝 - 当百 | |||
| Ryūkyū Tsūhō (100 mon) | 琉球通寳 - 當百 | 琉球通宝 - 当百 | |||
| Ryūkyū Tsūhō (½ Shu) | 琉球通寳 - 半朱 | 琉球通宝 - 半朱 | Satsuma |