JAPAN GENYU TSUHO bronze 1 mon circa 1580-1620 AD

DescriptionKyushu was far away from the central government and was substantially left to its own devices for several centuries.The Japanese took their idea of coinage directly from China, making square holed cast bronze coins starting in the 8th century AD. The chinese had been making coins for 1300 years already, so the Japanese could see what the benefits and problems were. There is the possibility, given the rarity of the earliest Japanese coins, and the existence of silver versions, that the whole coinage thing started with a palace game of Let’s Play Chinese. My main reference is the book: Early Japanese Coins, by David Hartill.