5 Fun

Hansatsu — domain-issued script of the Edo period — circulated only within the issuing domain's borders and held no value elsewhere. This note from Tsudera, a minor domain in Bitchū Province (modern Okayama Prefecture), represents exactly that system of intensely localized monetary authority. Hundreds of domains issued their own paper; the vast majority of surviving examples are rare simply because these notes were rarely preserved once the Meiji government abolished domain currency after 1871 and demanded their redemption.

Bitchū Province hansatsu are among the less-documented regional issues, and attribution to specific sub-domain authorities like Tsudera can be difficult to verify without the issuing temple or merchant house seal intact.