The People Who Changed Edo's Money

Course number: C09

Supervised by: Mitsuru Hayama

Beyond the text: 9 exercises · 4 coins · 8 readings · 2 references　How reading times are calculated

You will also understand

• 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).

You can start this course without reading any other course.

Also worth reading, to see the connections (optional)

• Why the Composition of Gold and Silver Coins Changed
  What you learn: You can explain, stage by stage, the order in which fineness falls.
  The text refers to this course in sections 1, 5, 6.
• Face Value and Intrinsic Value
  What you learn: You can explain the gap between nominal and real value using one concrete coin.
  The text refers to this course in sections 2, 3, 7.

If you want to know more about checking sources (optional)

• Is It Really True? Checking History
  We re-examine the origins of money and famous anecdotes, comparing them with historical records and actual artifacts.

Assessment

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

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.

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

• 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.

The books and materials referred to in this course.