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5 Monme
| Issuer | Niimi Domain (Japanese feudal domains) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1730 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 貨寚用通易不歳萬 備中國新見銀札 五匁 享保十五庚戌歳 ? 阪大 塩屋 政顯 (Translation: Ten-thousands of years never changing circulating treasure Bitchū Province Niimi silver bill Five Monme Kyōhō fifteenth Fire Dog year ? Osaka Salt shop) |
| Reverse description | Black letterpress print. A pair of birds occupies the upper register, below which five Hōju sacred jewels are arranged. The centre of the note carries a vertical denomination inscription in Chinese regular script (kaisho), flanked on either side by vertical text in Chinese seal script (tensho). The lower register presents a turtle motif set within a Seigaiha (overlapping wave scales) border. |
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| Comments |
Niimi Domain occupied a modest territory in Bitchu Province (present-day Okayama Prefecture), and like scores of other small han during the Edo period, it issued its own paper currency — hansatsu — to manage local financial obligations outside the Tokugawa bakufu's metallic money system. These domain notes were not legal tender beyond the issuing lord's territory. A merchant crossing the border carried worthless paper.
1730 places this note squarely in a period when many domains were quietly insolvent, issuing hansatsu partly to defer real payments in silver or gold. The 5 monme denomination is expressed in silver weight — monme being a unit of the silver-based accounting system — though actual silver redemption was frequently theoretical rather than guaranteed.