In the first year of the Japanese and copper dynasties (708 AD), the Japanese government began to mint currency, and by the mid-10th century, due to the weakening of the imperial court, its own coin minting was abolished, and from then until the Edo period, the currency circulating in Japan was mainly Chinese copper coins and other foreign coins.
During the shogunate period, the Japanese government made a series of regulations on the circulation of currency, and Japan's unified monetary system began to be gradually established, but the process of establishing it was repeated and tortuous.
Portrait of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Edo shogunate
During the 260-year reign of the Edo shogunate (1603-1867), there were about 500 large and small domains in Japan before and after, and there were about 270 domains that existed at the same time in each period, hence the name "Edo Shogunate Three Hundred Domains". In order to solve the practical financial difficulties such as insufficient currency circulation, most of the clans issued their own paper money, the "Phanza".
Fanzha, also known as "Jinza", "Yinzha", "Qianzha", "Mizha", etc., the fanzha issued by each clan can only be used within each clan, and the fanzha has a circulation period, which is invalidated at the expiration of the period, and its nature is equivalent to the money stamps and local banknotes popular in the mainland during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.
Most of the clans are vertical plates, printed with motifs such as shoguns' portraits, beasts, and coin patterns. The name of the domain, the denomination of the banknotes, the year, the Ji inscription and other banknote information are generally marked on the phanza, although there are also Japanese characters, but the main composition of the phanza is Chinese characters.
The front and back of the Japanese three-year Osu Domain's bonsai banknotes
"Yuan is called the Duke of The Duke of Sui, the goods are circulated, the people enjoy their own business, and the praises are admired by virtue." These rhyming words are the Ji characters on the front of the three-year-old fanza in the picture above, which generally summarizes the basic function of the fanza - instead of copper coins as circulating currency. Japan, like China, uses silver and copper as the base currency, so the banknotes are mostly silver and copper value symbols.
The printing material of Phanza is japanese handmade "Washi paper". Its papermaking raw materials are mainly based on the stem skin fibers of wild plants unique to Japan, and the paper fibers produced are very long, brownish yellow in color, tough and wear-resistant, and have a long service life.
The paper fibers are extremely long
Because it involves the wealth code of each domain, each clan attaches great importance to the printing of the clan. According to relevant information, the craftsmen of papermaking, engraving and printing related to the production of the clan are all designated by specialized craftsmen families, and the restrictions are very strict.
In the second year of Meiji (1869), in order to unify the currency system, Japan promulgated a ban on the printing of the clans, prohibiting the circulation of the previously issued clans. After the issuance of the new banknotes, the Meiji government once again issued an order forcing all localities to recycle and exchange the clans.
A 10-yen japanese banknote in the year of Meiji 16
After the exchange was completed, the Phanza officially withdrew from the stage of Japanese currency, and Japanese banknotes entered the modern paper money era.
The age of the fanzha is equivalent to the Ming and Qing dynasties on the mainland, which is relatively old, but because of the large number of surviving, the price in the collection market is not high.