Catalog
3 Fun Kawachi Province
| Issuer | Kawachi Province Exchange Office (Kawachi Kokusan-hin Kaisho) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1730 |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Black letterpress impression with applied red stamps; vignette at upper register presents a full-length figure of Daikokuten, the deity of fortune, seated facing half-left upon two rice sacks and holding an Uchide-no-kozuchi mallet in the right hand while supporting a large bag over the left shoulder. Two Minogame — mythical long-tailed tortoises symbolic of longevity — occupy the lower register, flanked by Seigaiha wave patterns. A vertical inscription in Chinese seal script appears at the foot of the note. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 形手物産澤長 改東都換楮 銀叁分 令便于萬 長澤用所 (Translation: Domestic Product Check to Exchange at Storage Area, Silver Three Fun) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Kawachi Province's Exchange Office (Kawachi Kokusan-hin Kaisho) was one of dozens of regional commodity exchange bureaus that proliferated under the Tokugawa administration, typically chartered to facilitate local product trade rather than to function as conventional banking institutions. These offices issued scrip denominated in *fun* — a fractional unit rarely seen in surviving Japanese feudal paper — as a practical workaround for the chronic shortage of small copper coinage that plagued provincial commerce throughout the early eighteenth century.
The extremely narrow format was not unusual for *hansatsu*-type scrip of this period; the proportions made forgery by cutting down larger notes more difficult to disguise.