Catalog
1 Monme Nara
| Issuer | Japan |
|---|---|
| Year | 1865 |
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| Value | 1 Monme |
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| Reverse description | Vertically oriented note printed in black with red and black overstamps; the upper section is divided into three frames bearing vertical inscriptions in formal script reading right to left, with a red-stamped rice bundle vignette in the centre of the second frame and two black oval stamps flanking the second frame's inscriptions. The lower fourth frame presents multiple columns of vertical text listing the eight contributing villages and their respective headmen and representatives. A red oval stamp appears at the upper left of the fourth frame, authenticating the annual rice tribute bill. |
| Reverse lettering | 廻 良 奈 薬 御 年 改 貢 合 米 手 形 村ケ八所料御 取 芝 京 締 辻 終 惣 庄 村 村 代 屋 年 法 城 寄 蓮 戸 法芝城 總 村 村 蓮辻戸 百 村村村 姓 半 杉 請 田 ヶ 彦久吉 屓 開 町 兵五㔫 村 村 衛郎エ 門 奈 油 ︵﹇︵ ﹇ 良 坂 〇〇〇 會 坂 村 ︶﹈︶ ﹈ 村 (Translation: Nara Annual rice tribute bill Imperial office eight villages Kyōbate village Jōdo village Surugamachi village Aburasaka village Shibatsuji village Hōren village Handabiraki village Narasaka village Village head, assistant, all the villagers [] [Association] Management representatives Jōdo-Mura Kichizaemon () Shibatsuji-Mura {HISAGORŌ / KYŪGORŌ} [] Hōren-Mura Hikobē ()) |
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This note was issued by the Nara Exchange Office (奈良為替会所), one of dozens of short-lived regional exchange bureaus that proliferated across Japan in the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate. These offices were authorized to issue their own paper money — hansatsu — as the central government's grip on monetary affairs weakened. The monme was a silver weight unit, not a coin denomination, which meant the note's value floated against actual bullion rather than a fixed metallic standard.
The bureau at Nara was dissolved within a few years of the Meiji Restoration, and its notes were recalled and demonetized as the new government moved to consolidate currency issuance. Surviving examples are scarce partly because redemption was enforced aggressively in the early 1870s.