5 Monme Hiroshima

This note originates from Hiroshima han, one of dozens of feudal domains that operated their own paper currency systems under the Tokugawa shogunate — a monetary arrangement that produced hundreds of distinct hansatsu issues, each theoretically valid only within its domain's borders. The 5 monme denomination is silver-weight based, monme being a unit of mass for silver rather than a face-value coin denomination, which tells you something about how commercial exchange actually functioned in mid-Edo period western Japan.

Hiroshima han was a large and relatively prosperous domain under the Asano clan, which gave its currency more practical reach than most hansatsu.