Kubota Domain, centered on present-day Akita City, issued this piece in 1862 as part of a broader wave of domain-specific coinage that proliferated in Japan's final feudal decade. The Tokugawa bakufu had effectively lost control of monetary policy by this point, and domains across Honshu were striking their own copper issues to manage local shortages — often with wildly inconsistent weights and fineness. Kubota's issues were better regulated than most.
The "short tail" variety distinguishes this piece from the long-tail emission by a subtle die difference in the crane motif's rendering, a distinction documented by Japanese collectors since at least the Meiji period.
Kubota Domain, centered on present-day Akita City, issued this piece in 1862 as part of a broader wave of domain-specific coinage that proliferated in Japan's final feudal decade. The Tokugawa bakufu had effectively lost control of monetary policy by this point, and domains across Honshu were striking their own copper issues to manage local shortages — often with wildly inconsistent weights and fineness. Kubota's issues were better regulated than most.
The "short tail" variety distinguishes this piece from the long-tail emission by a subtle die difference in the crane motif's rendering, a distinction documented by Japanese collectors since at least the Meiji period.