Shuza (朱座) was the Tokugawa shogunate's officially sanctioned cinnabar monopoly or cinnabar guild (za)[1] which was created in 1609.
[2] Initially, the Tokugawa shogunate was interested in assuring a consistent value in minted coins; and this led to the perceived need for attending to the supply of cinnabar.
This bakufu title identifies a regulatory agency with responsibility for supervising the handling and trading of cinnabar and for superintending all cinnabar mining and cinnabar-extraction activities in Japan.
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