Mimasaka Province, in present-day Okayama Prefecture, was one of several domains authorized under the Tokugawa shogunate to produce local silver currency to address chronic shortages of official coinage reaching provincial markets. The 1 Bu denomination functioned as a fractional unit within the domain's internal exchange system, accepted by merchants and tax collectors but not freely convertible outside Mimasaka's borders without discount.
Provincial silver of this type was subject to periodic recall and reissuance as silver content was quietly adjusted — a pattern common across Edo-period domains throughout the eighteenth century.
Mimasaka Province, in present-day Okayama Prefecture, was one of several domains authorized under the Tokugawa shogunate to produce local silver currency to address chronic shortages of official coinage reaching provincial markets. The 1 Bu denomination functioned as a fractional unit within the domain's internal exchange system, accepted by merchants and tax collectors but not freely convertible outside Mimasaka's borders without discount.
Provincial silver of this type was subject to periodic recall and reissuance as silver content was quietly adjusted — a pattern common across Edo-period domains throughout the eighteenth century.