Japanese currency
This generally consisted of material that was compact and easily transportable and had a widely recognized value.
The main items of commodity money in Japan were arrowheads, rice grains and gold powder.
This contrasted somewhat with countries like China, where one of the most important items of commodity money came from the southern seas: shells.
In modern times the usage of Fuhonsen has often been interpreted as charms rather than currency, but it has recently been discovered that these copper coins were in fact the first government-made coinage of Japan.
[1] Japan's contacts with the Chinese mainland became intense during the Tang period, with many exchanges and cultural imports occurring.
[1] The importance of metallic currency appeared to Japanese nobles, probably leading to some coin minting at the end of the 7th century,[3] such as the Fuhonsen coinage (富本銭), discovered in 1998 through archaeological research in Nara Prefecture.
The Wadōkaichin soon became debased, as the government rapidly issued coins with progressively lesser metallic content, and local imitations thrived.
[1] The Kōchōsen Japanese system of coinage became strongly debased, with its metallic content and value decreasing.
[1] The last Kōchōsen coins produced after the Wadōkaichin include:[2] From the 12th century, the expansion of trade and barter again highlighted the need for a currency.
[1] There is evidence to suggest that the Yuan dynasty used to extensively export Chinese cash coins to Japan for local circulation.
The Sinan shipwreck, which was a ship from Ningbo to Hakata that sank off the Korean coast in the year 1323,[4] carried some 8,000 strings of cash coins,[5] which weighed about 26,775 kg.
The growth of the economy and trade meant that small copper currency became insufficient to cover the amounts that were being exchanged.
Local Lords developed trade, abolishing monopolistic guilds, which led to the need for large-denomination currencies.
[7] A common practice in that period was to melt gold into copper molds for convenience, derived from the sycee manufacturing method.
These were called Bundōkin (分銅金), of which there were two types, the small Kobundō (小分銅), and the large Ōbundō (大分銅).
[1] Yamada Hagaki, Japan's first notes, were issued around 1600 by Shinto priests also working as merchants in the Ise-Yamada (modern Mie Prefecture), in exchange for silver.
[1] Tokugawa coinage remained in use during the Sakoku period of seclusion, although it was progressively debased to try to manage government deficits.
[1] The Tokugawa coinage collapsed following the reopening of Japan to the West in 1854, as the silver-gold exchange rates gave foreigners huge opportunities for arbitrage, leading to the export of large quantities of gold.
Immediately after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, previous gold, silver and copper coins, as well as feudal notes, continued to circulate, leading to great confusion.
In 1868, the government also issued coins and gold-convertible paper money, called Daijōkansatsu (太政官札), denominated in Ryō, an old unit from the Edo period, and private banks called Kawase Kaisha were allowed to issue their own currency as well.
[1] In 1946, following the Second World War, Japan removed the old currency (旧円券) and introduced the "New Yen" (新円券).
