List of Japanese cash coins by inscription

Known cash coin types of Japan produced from 708 to 958, chronologically arranged.

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]

  1. ^ Cocolog 雑記@史華堂 「中山通宝」について。 (in Japanese) Published: 8 February 2013 Retrieved: 9 June 2017.
  2. ^ (日本銀行), Nippon/Nihon Ginkō (1973). "p. 105". Nihon Ginkou Chousakyoku ed., Zuroku Nihon no kahei, vol.1 (Tokyo: Touyou Keizai Shinpousha, 1973). Tokyo: Nihon Ginkō. Chōsakyoku. / Bank of Japan, Economic Research Department.
  3. ^ Titsingh, Isaac (1834), Annales des empereurs du Japon (in French), pp. 63–5.
  4. ^ Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, p. 271,
  5. ^ Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. p. 140.
  6. ^ "Bitasen 鐚銭". Luke Roberts at the Department of History - University of California at Santa Barbara. 24 October 2003. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  7. ^ Masuo Tomifusa, Honpou bitasen zufu, (Anasendou 1982). (in Japanese)
  8. ^ Aila de la Rive, MoneyMuseum Money in the Land of the Rising Sun I: The Copper Coins of Ancient Japan. Retrieved: 26 June 2017.
  9. ^ Droppers, Garrett (January 1898). "Monetary Changes in Japan". The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 12 (2): 153–185. doi:10.2307/1882117. JSTOR 1882117.
  10. ^ Việt Touch VIET NAM COINS & PAPER NOTES. AUTHOR: Thuan D. Luc COLLECTION: Bao Tung Nguyen VIET NAM NUMISMATICS © Chi D. Nguyen Retrieved: 24 June 2017.

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