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1 Monme Tsurajima
| Issuer | Tsurajima (Bitchū Province) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1847 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Monme |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress print in black ink on washi paper. The upper vignette presents two fish arranged back-to-back atop a ceremonial stand within a circular radiate surround; the central panel carries the denomination and issue inscriptions in bold brushwork alongside a red circular seal impression. The lower panel bears the issuer name within a geometric guilloche border frame, with an additional small circular seal below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Letterpress print in black ink on washi paper. The upper vignette presents a sailing junk viewed from the bow, its hull rising from stylized waves against a large rising sun rendered in fine radiating lines. The central panel contains a vertical column of cursive script within a guilloche-bordered rectangle overlaid with a partial red seal, while the lower panel encloses a dense geometric key-fret pattern flanked by wave-scroll ornamental elements. |
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| Comments |
Tsurajima was a small trading post settlement in Bitchū Province, and like dozens of similar han and merchant communities in late Edo Japan, it issued its own paper currency to ease local exchange when metallic coinage was chronically scarce. These domain and sub-domain notes — broadly called hansatsu — were legally sanctioned under Tokugawa fiscal arrangements that permitted local authorities to print against commodity or land backing, though enforcement of that backing was inconsistent at best.
The monme denomination ties this note directly to silver-weight reckoning, the dominant accounting system in western Japan. By 1847, the shogunate's own finances were badly strained, and confidence in centralized currency was eroding — fertile ground for local paper to fill the gap.