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1 Mon 'Sekōtsūhō' - Shō Toku
| Issuer | Ryukyu, Kingdom of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1461-1469 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 23 mm |
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| Obverse description | Cast copper-alloy cash coin of standard East Asian form, featuring a central square hole flanked by four Chinese characters arranged in cruciform reading order around the perforation. The legend reads clockwise from the top: 世 (top), 通 (right), 寶 (left), 高 (bottom), together forming the four-character inscription 世高通寶 (Sekōtsūhō), meaning 'Currency of Sekō.' The characters are rendered in regular script (kaishu) in raised relief against a flat field, with a plain raised rim encircling the coin. The overall execution is typical of Ryukyuan cast coinage of the mid-fifteenth century, showing somewhat irregular casting surfaces consistent with the period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Chinese |
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| Additional information |
The Sekōtsūhō was cast during the reign of Shō Toku, the sixth king of the First Shō Dynasty, at a moment when the Ryukyu Kingdom was operating as one of the most active maritime trading intermediaries in East Asia — routing goods between China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Ryukyuan coinage of this period is exceptionally scarce in part because the kingdom relied heavily on imported Chinese cash for everyday exchange, making domestic issues short-lived experiments rather than sustained monetary programs.
The First Shō Dynasty itself collapsed just two years after Shō Toku's death, swept aside in 1470 by Shō En, founder of the Second Shō Dynasty.