Han bills (hansatsu) circulated as local scrip within individual feudal domains throughout the Edo period, forbidden by the Tokugawa shogunate in theory but tolerated in practice wherever domain finances demanded it. The monme was a silver weight unit, so these notes functioned as silver-denominated obligations rather than representations of coin — a meaningful distinction in a monetary system where gold, silver, and copper each operated on separate, floating exchange rates.
Attribution to a specific issuing han is often impossible without legible seal impressions, and many surviving examples have faded or smudged stamps. The seal was the entire authentication mechanism.
Han bills (hansatsu) circulated as local scrip within individual feudal domains throughout the Edo period, forbidden by the Tokugawa shogunate in theory but tolerated in practice wherever domain finances demanded it. The monme was a silver weight unit, so these notes functioned as silver-denominated obligations rather than representations of coin — a meaningful distinction in a monetary system where gold, silver, and copper each operated on separate, floating exchange rates.
Attribution to a specific issuing han is often impossible without legible seal impressions, and many surviving examples have faded or smudged stamps. The seal was the entire authentication mechanism.