Catalog
1 Monme Silver - Aldea de Shindō
| Issuer | Kōfuku-in Temple (興福院), Shindō Village (新堂村), Tōichi District |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866-3729 |
| Type | Pattern or trial banknote |
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| Reverse description | Vertical woodblock-printed text in cursive sōsho script over a reddish security underprint. The central column carries the term 預り (Azukari — deposit/guarantee), affirming warehouse backing of the note's value; the right column reads 此札引換地所 (Kono fuda hikikae jisho), designating this as the note for the redemption location, while the left column bears the restriction 他所江往来不可 (Yosho e ōrai fukashi), prohibiting circulation outside Shindō village. The lower section identifies the issuing community as 十市郡新堂村 (Tōichi-gun Shindō-mura) and lists the responsible local authorities: 庄屋 (Shōya — village headman), 年寄 (Toshiyori — village elders), and 總百姓 (Sōbyakushō — the collective peasant community). |
| Reverse lettering | 預り 此札引換地所 他所江往来不可 十市郡新堂村 庄屋 年寄 總百姓 |
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| Comments |
Kōfuku-in was a Shingon Buddhist temple in Shindō village, Yamato Province, and like dozens of similar rural institutions in late Edo Japan, it issued scrip denominated in silver monme to address chronic local coin shortages. These temple-issued notes — a subset of the broader *hansatsu* and *murakata satsu* tradition — carried the issuing institution's credibility as their only real backing. A Buddhist temple was, in this context, considered more trustworthy than many merchant houses.
The washi substrate is handmade and locally sourced, almost certainly. Condition vulnerability is inherent to the material — edges fray, and the ink from hand-applied seals tends to bleed into the soft fibres over time.