Imperial Japan: 16th Century Hansatsu Notes

[mitresh]

Imperial Japan, Shogunate Period, 16th Century, Hansatsu Notes




The denominations indicated above, from left to right, Obverse and Reverse, are 500 Mon Kawachi, 1 Momme Nanto and 1 Momme Washj Nanto. 1 Momme was equal to 3.75g of Silver.


Note (source: British Museum, other web forums)

Paper money was first issued in Japan in the early seventeenth century, when serious shortages of coins hampered day-to-day financial transactions. Only the Tokugawa Shogunate, the central government of Japan, had the right to make coins. The daimyō (feudal lords) were prohibited from issuing coins and so instead they issued paper money. These notes were called hansatsu, or 'clan notes', and had a restricted circulation within the local clan territory. The word 'Han' means a fief or domain and the daimyo were organised into 300 Hans in AD 1600.

The earliest hansatsu was issued by the Fukui clan in 1661. Other clan rulers soon realized the advantages of issuing and controlling their own paper money. In addition to relieving the shortage of coins, hansatsu also generated financial income; they helped the feudal clan rulers to balance their finances, create a monopoly system, and provide relief funds for impoverished samurai and commoners. Some clan territories had well-developed commodity economies, and would make vast profits by paying for goods in notes, and re-selling the goods for coins.

Most early issues were made by the feudal clans, but later issues were also made by towns, temples and court nobles. Most hansatsu had values in terms of the gold, silver and copper coins of the Tokugawa Shogunate, but a few were denominated in rice, wine or oil. Counterfeiting was discouraged by severe punishment, as well as by elaborate techniques such as watermarking and the use of special hidden characters. In fact, the artisans who made the paper money had to sign an oath of secrecy in blood, promising not to reveal any of these anti-counterfeiting measures.

Hansatsu notes are vertically printed and narrow. These tall, thin notes (approximately 6" x 1.5", 160mm x 40mm) were hand-printed on heavy paper with woodblocks by local artisans. Both sides are printed with black ink, overprinted with red validation stamps. The notes have many different designs and motifs, and are usually filled with the Japanese Kanji script both in printed and handwritten form.

[Manzikert]

Sorry mitresh but the picture is upside down

I have about a dozen of these, and would like more, but the published information for them is almost exclusively in Japanese: very frustrating.

I show two of mine below, a 1 momme silver from Mikawa province, 1730, on the left, and one that is apparently more a token for 1 shu gold worth of sake from Atsumi province, c.1800 I believe, on the right: cheers!

Alan

[mitresh]

Thanks Alan, I had no clue as to which way is the 'correct' position of these notes as I do not understand the Japanese script. I guess it would be the same for someone unfamiliar with Persian, Arabic or Devanagari script. Yes, you are right, there is hardly any information out there that helps collectors in sorting their collection by various types, clans or denominations. A comprehensive catalogue for the Hansatsu  notes is the need of the hour and I hope further research and documentation is conducted in this area.

[Manzikert]

There is apparently a definitive three volume catalogue in Japanese, but I assume the few Westerners who collect seriously have learned enough Japanese to read it so there is no need for a translation.

I was going to give you a link to the only good website I'd found (unfortunately in Polish, though one could puzzle out what it was saying) but it seems to have disappeared in the three months or so since I last used it. I tried looking at the Wayback Machine, but though the text is there, all the images just come up as broken links. I wish I'd archived it myself now .

Alan