Japan's Debasement Debate

C09　—　Chain of people

The one who debased it, the one who restored it, the one who debased it again, and the one who burned.

Supervised by: Mitsuru Hayama　／　Reading time (main text): About 8 min (4,079 characters of text at 500 chars/min; exercises and readings not included)　／　Beyond the text: 9 exercises · 4 coins · 8 readings · 2 references

What this course teaches you to do

• You can sort Ogiwara, Arai, Tanuma and Matsukata into the lowering side and the restoring side.
• You can explain on whom the policy of "restoring" laid its burden.
• You can say why the nanryo nishu was a third hand, neither lowering nor restoring.
• You can compare four answers to one question by the differences in their conditions.
• Can compare the results of the recoinages (reforms) of Hakuseki, Yoshimune, Mizuno, and the Meiji government based on facts.
• Can explain the conditions for "a successful example of recoinage through debasement" (the Genbun recoinage).

Lessons (8)

1. The man who lowered it — Ogiwara ShigehideDeeds survive in records; motives rest on hearsay. When following a person, keep that asymmetry in mind.
2. A third hand — Tanuma Okitsugu and the nanryo nishuThough it looks like lower-or-restore, a third hand exists: redesigning the denomination, or changing the revenue itself.
3. The man who burned it — Matsukata, and the priceThe policy of restoring is right and painful. And the pain is not felt by whoever decided.
4. Line the four up — what can be askedThe four are different answers to one question. But this chain's material is skewed. State the constraint plainly.
5. The Man Who Restored and Constricted — Arai HakusekiThrough three memorials, he ousted Ogiwara, restored the fineness of the coinage, and contracted the economy. The report card of an idealist's victory.
6. The Man Who Could Let Go — Yoshimune and the Genbun MasuhoHe abandoned the sound money he had believed in for twenty years, debasing it with a "masuho" premium. A rare example of a successful recoinage.
7. Unable to Function Without Seigniorage — The Tenpō ImpasseThe profit from recoinage exceeded thirty percent of annual revenue. Even the reformer Mizuno Tadakuni could not break this system.
8. The Government That Fought with Paper — The Satsuma Rebellion and Matsukata's PremiseNinety percent of the war expenses were paid with paper money, leading to inflation. Matsukata's incineration policy (Section 3) was the cleanup that followed.

Readings (8)

• The century of recoinage　Japan　1658–1713　the finance office, Edo
  §1. The account from the lowering side. Read it including the note on the quotation.
• The century of recoinage　Japan　1772　Edo
  §2. A third hand that tried to solve it by denomination without lowering fineness.
• The Satsuma Rebellion and inflation　Japan　1881–1885　Tokyo and the farming villages
  §3. Be sure to read to the end, from "but the price of it" onward.
• Famine and the smashing of houses　Japan　1772–1788　Edo castle and Nihonbashi
  §2. The phrase "replacing the abacus" appears here.
• The century of recoinage　Japan　1736　Edo and Dojima in Osaka
  Section 6. A successful "debasement recoinage": the design of the seigniorage and eighty years of stability.
• Famine and the smashing of houses　Japan　1837–1842　the finance office, Edo
  Section 7. Recoinage profits exceeding thirty percent of annual revenue—the actual figures of a structure of dependence.
• The Satsuma Rebellion and inflation　Japan　1877　Tokyo, the Paper Money Bureau
  Section 8. "It was the government that decided to pay for the war with paper."
• The Satsuma Rebellion and inflation　Japan　1878–1881　town and village
  Section 8. The asymmetry of gains and losses from inflation: village, town, and nation.

Assessment

9 exercises in this course (7 check, 1 compare, 1 written). Progress is recorded by self-assessment.

References

• History of Japanese Currency. — Currency Museum, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.　Commentary by period from antiquity (late 7th century onwards) to the modern era. Commodity money before the Wadōkaichin, imported coins (Toraisen) and Bitasen, currency units and exchange rates of the Edo period, the birth of the Yen and the gold standard.
• Permanent Exhibition (Currency Museum). — Currency Museum, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.　Commentary on the permanent exhibition, based on actual objects. The purpose and specifications of Ōban gold coins, Japan's oldest paper money "Yamada Hagaki," and portraits on Bank of Japan notes.

Only works and primary sources whose existence has been verified are listed.