10 Kan Mon

Kaga Domain, centered on present-day Ishikawa Prefecture, was one of the wealthiest han in Tokugawa Japan — second only to the Shogunate itself in assessed rice yield. Its domain notes, known as hansatsu, circulated within Kaga's borders as a matter of feudal monetary autonomy. This particular issue dates to 1870, the year after the new Meiji government issued its first directive restricting hansatsu issuance — placing this note at the very end of the domain currency system before the wholesale abolition of han financial independence in 1871.

Denominated in kan mon, the traditional copper cash unit, rather than the incoming yen system. That choice alone signals how recent this issue was relative to the currency transition that would make it obsolete within months.