Chōgin 'Genbun Chōgin' 12 Daikoku

The Genbun Chōgin was introduced in 1736 as part of a deliberate debasement policy under the eighth Tokugawa shogun, Yoshimune, reversing his own earlier monetary reforms that had temporarily restored the higher-purity Genroku-era silver. Faced with persistent deflation and chronic fiscal pressure, the shogunate reduced silver fineness sharply — the Genbun issue came in at roughly half the purity of the Keichō originals from a century prior. The twelve Daikoku stamps indicate this piece passed through verification and re-authorization cycles over its long circulation life.