1 Silver Monme Bicchu, Okayama

Bicchu Okayama Han was one of several hundred semi-autonomous domains issuing their own paper currency — hansatsu — under the Tokugawa system, which tolerated local monetary instruments provided they circulated only within domain borders. This note dates to 1732, a catastrophic year in western Japan: the Kyōhō famine, triggered by locust damage to the rice harvest across Chūgoku and Kyūshū, killed an estimated 900,000 people and severely disrupted regional trade networks.

Denominated in silver monme rather than rice or gold, which was the prevailing unit in eastern domains. The official seal functioned as the primary anti-counterfeiting mechanism — rudimentary by any standard, but prosecution for forgery of hansatsu carried severe penalties under Tokugawa law.