1181–82
Famine in Kyoto. Rice was available, but prices shot up. People who couldn't pay were forced onto the streets.
A failure of production and a failure of distribution.
Disasters, Epidemics, and Money
During famines and earthquakes, how did prices and payments change? We will consider this based on Japanese records.
Time to read the text: about 7 min
The review questions are optional and not included in this time.
What you can read: the course opening and contents are free; the full text is for those who have purchased
After purchase, you can read the full text once your access starts.
Disasters and Money in 3 Minutes
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1459–61
Monks convinced the shogunate to act, rushing to provide relief with soup kitchens.
Connections through faith acted as the first insurance.
1293 & 1315
Temples lost in earthquakes and fires were rebuilt using profits from trade ships.
Business investment for reconstruction.
September 1923
After the Great Kanto Earthquake, the Bank of Japan accepted bills related to the disaster.
The government would cover the Bank of Japan's losses up to 100,000,000 yen.
But bad loans from before the earthquake were mixed in with them.
Relief and debt-shifting existed within the same system.
End of 1926
Nearly 50% of the accepted bills had still not been repaid.
206,800,000 yen
About half of this amount was from a single bank.
March 14, 1927
A minister said, "A bank has collapsed," and the next day, that bank suspended business.
In reality, it had successfully raised funds and was still in business.
The slip of the tongue wasn't the source of the fire; it just ignited the gas that was already leaking.
Separate the cause from the trigger.
We can't choose our disasters. But we can choose how we respond to them.
Keep records, find creative funding, identify the gaps, and separate the causes.
2In numbers
430820000yen
Earthquake bills accepted by the Bank of Japan. Compare this to the amount still outstanding at the end of 1926.
3What would you do?
It's the spring of 1927. Word gets out that a government minister announced in the Diet, 'That bank has finally collapsed.' What do you think people with deposits at that bank did the next day?
Pick one
Rushed to withdraw their money
In fact, the bank did suspend business the next day. Other banks soon followed, one after another. Suspicion had already been leaking into the market.
Stayed calm and waited to see what would happen
Actually, the bank had successfully raised funds and was still operating. Even so, it suspended business the day after being called 'collapsed.' Trust is really just believing that other people believe.
However, it's not right to blame the crisis on that one comment. The real cause was the bad loans that had been building up for years.
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What you will understand after this course
- Can describe the economy of Kyoto during a famine (alms, prices, street life) based on historical sources.
- Can explain the role of trading ships (Jisha zōeiryō tōsen) as a source of revenue for reconstructing temples and shrines.
- Can explain the mechanism of earthquake bills and the "coexistence of relief and debt shifting."
More about this course
Course number: F6
Supervised by: Mitsuru Hayama
Beyond the text: 6 exercises · 3 coins · 5 readings How reading times are calculated
You will also understand
- Can derive from the financial panic caused by a slip of the tongue the principle that "credit is belief."
You can start this course without reading any other course.
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
6 exercises in this course (4 check, 1 compare, 1 written). Progress is recorded by self-assessment.
The 6 chapters of this course
- Starving Kyoto — The first record of a disaster economy.A two-year famine was chronicled by a hermit's pen and a monk's charity. The economics of disaster first required a recorder.
- Burned Temples and Trading Ships — The Invention of a Funding Source for ReconstructionKenchō-ji temple, lost twice to earthquake and fire, was rebuilt using trading ships. Disaster drove international trade.
- Earthquake Bills — The coexistence of relief and debt transferNearly half of the 430 million yen in bills defaulted. Bad debts from before the earthquake flowed in through loopholes in the system.
- The Slip-of-the-Tongue Panic — Credit as BeliefA bank that had not failed, failed the day after it was said to have failed. The March when the true nature of credit was exposed.
- The Seed Within the Bailout — A Response Called PostponementBailouts and postponements are different names for the same act. The wound of 1920 burst into a financial crisis seven years later.
- Patterns of Response — What Can Be Chosen After a BlowRecord, invent financial resources, gauge the gaps in relief, and separate cause from trigger. Patterns of response can be learned.
Readings (5)
- The Ōnin War and the coin Japan 1459–1461 Rokkakudo, Kyoto
Section 1. The Almsgiving of Gan'ami. The Network of Faith as the First Insurance. - The coin crosses the sea Japan 1325–1326 Kenchoji, Kamakura
Section 2. The Temple Lost Twice, and the Trading Ship for its Reconstruction. - Tokyo, the Bank of Japan Japan The wartime boom, the earthquake and the crash 1923–1926
Section 3. The Coexistence of Relief and Recoinage. Reading the Figures. - Tokyo Japan The wartime boom, the earthquake and the crash 1927
Section 4. "Igniting the Leaking Gas"—The Distinction Between Cause and Trigger. - Tokyo, Kabutocho Japan The wartime boom, the earthquake and the crash 1920
Section 5. "Relief and postponement were different names for the same act."
Read next
Comparing Past Prices and Salaries →What you learn next: Can explain that converting ancient wages to modern values is a problem of "choosing the yardstick for conversion."
Time to read the text: about 6 min ／ What you can read: the course opening and contents are free; the full text is for those who have purchased
Price
After purchase, the full courses, the illustrated books, every country’s story and the numismatics examination are open to you.
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