Money and Literature

F3　—　A Neighboring Discipline

The famine in Hojoki, the impeachment in Oritaku Shiba no Ki, the cattle of Homer. We will read about money in narratives and documentary literature, and learn the methods for treating literature as a historical source.

Supervised by: Mitsuru Hayama　／　Reading time (main text): About 6 min (3,095 characters of text at 500 chars/min; exercises and readings not included)　／　Beyond the text: 6 exercises · 1 coins · 5 readings

What this course teaches you to do

• Can cite actual examples of literature recording "things that ledgers do not write".
• Can situate the "Hojoki" and "Oritaku Shiba no Ki" as historical sources for monetary history.
• Can practice the method of using war tales, anecdotes, and later narratives with reservations.
• Can read the nicknames and pet names of currency as historical sources for the language of daily life.

Lessons (6)

1. Worth So Many Cattle — A Measure of Value in Epic PoetryHomer described the value of armour and people in terms of cattle. Literature preserves the language of value from before the advent of money.
2. The person who wrote of the capital in famine — Prices in the 『Hōjōki』'For two years, the world suffered from starvation and thirst'—a single line from an essay became a primary source for the economics of a famine.
3. The Man Who Wrote the Impeachment — *Oritaku Shiba no Ki*Hakuseki's autobiography is a first-rate primary source from a participant. It is also a source that must be read with an awareness of the author's inherent bias.
4. Poetry on Coins — The Inscriptions of VirgilA usurper quoted poetry on his coins. The authority of literature became a cloak for the legitimacy of the coinage.
5. How to Handle War Chronicles and Anecdotes — The Spoken GoldAnecdotes from military chronicles cannot be taken as direct historical fact. Nevertheless, what was told is itself an undeniable historical fact.
6. Coin Nicknames — Literature in Everyday LanguageYuan's Big Head, the blonde girl, the green back. Nicknames are the smallest literature written by the populace on their currency.

Readings (5)

• The Jishō–Juei War　Japan　1181–1182　The banks of the Kamo River, Kyoto
  Section 2. Witnessing a line from the "Hōjōki" become a historical source on the economics of famine.
• The century of recoinage　Japan　1714　Edo
  Section 3. "Oritaku Shiba no Ki" — An autobiography as a double-edged historical source.
• The usurper's mint　Britain　296　Londinium retaken
  Section 4. The usurper who quoted Virgil. The politics of quotation.
• Nobunaga　Japan　the 1570s–1582　Azuchi and Kyoto
  Section 5. The verdict "cannot be taken as historical fact" and the value of the second layer.
• The civil war　Spain　1937　A town on the republican side
  Section 6. The everyday language of giving nicknames, which did not disappear even in wartime.

Assessment

6 exercises in this course (4 check, 1 compare, 1 written). Progress is recorded by self-assessment.