Paper short abstract:

Chinese coins as medieval currency was circulating until the 1660s, but the tri-metallic monetary system as early-modern currency was established in the 1560s. This presentation explains aspects of the transition of the monetary system of Japan from the 16th to the 17th century as a "gray area".

Paper long abstract:

This presentation explains the transition of the monetary system of Japan from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century in order to consider the distinction between the medieval and early-modern periods.

It is understood that the medieval currency of Japan was remarkably different from that of the early-modern period. In the twelfth century, an enormous number of copper coins minted in China were transported into Japan, and Japanese people came to use them as the only domestic currency. On the other hand, in the seventeenth century, the Edo shogunate officially minted gold, silver, and copper coins as currency. Therefore, the phrase "medieval currency" is considered to refer to the Chinese coins in circulation, and "early-modern currency" refers to the tri-metallic monetary system called Sanka seido.

In the sixteenth century, the Japanese market was suffering from a shortage of coins, because an influx of Chinese coins had stopped after the end of the fifteenth century, and increasing demand for currency, because regional markets were developing all over Japan with the rise of regional domains. Consequently, after the 1560s, gold and silver were used as currency for high-value payments, and even rice was sometimes used instead of coins. Therefore, it could be concluded that the early-modern tri-metallic monetary system was established in this era.

However, Chinese coins were circulating after the latter half of the sixteenth century as currency. In the early seventeenth century, several daimyos in western Japan counterfeited Chinese coins to maintain the circulation of currency in their domains and exported them to Southeast Asia on occasion. Chinese coins circulated until the 1660s after the shogunate minted coins (Kan'ei coins) officially, which could mean the medieval currency had lasted until then.

Accordingly, it is impossible and meaningless to distinguish rigidly between the medieval and the early-modern periods at a certain point in time. It is probably meaningful to consider the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a "gray area," a period of transition from the medieval to the early-modern periods, and to discuss specific aspects of this era itself.