1 Kan-Me

Tosa Domain, on Shikoku's Pacific coast, was among the han that issued emergency paper currency in the final convulsive years of the Tokugawa shogunate — and this 1 Kan-Me note dates to 1868, the year the Meiji Restoration formally dissolved the old political order. Domain-issued currency (hansatsu) had circulated in Japan since the early Edo period, but the notes of most han were legally worthless outside their issuing territory, creating a patchwork monetary system that the new Meiji government moved quickly to dismantle.

By 1871, hansatsu were officially abolished and domain notes were called in for exchange against the new national currency at rates that varied — and often disadvantaged — the holder.