contributor
26,977
edits
Changes
From SamuraiWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search→Eighteenth Century
==Eighteenth Century==
==Eighteenth Century==
The dearth of silver in the country led to numerous remintings and depreciations of the [[currency]], with the Yotsuhô currency issued in [[1711]] the most depreciated in the period, at only 20% pure silver.<ref>Hellyer, 67.</ref> One of the first major instances of this took place in [[1695]], when the government moved from 80% silver Keichô coins to 64% silver [[Genroku]] coins. Gold coins were reduced to 57% gold at that same time.<ref>Hellyer, 59.</ref> These debasements brought much-needed savings, or profits, for the shogunate's finances, typically worth millions of ''ryô''. They created problems at times, however, for foreign trade, as the 80% silver Keichô ingots used throughout the 17th century were highly trusted and widely able to be circulated throughout the region, second only to the 90% silver [[Mexican silver dollar]], the standard means of exchange for both East Asian and European traders at the time. Following the Genroku debasement, Korean merchants trading with agents from [[Tsushima han]] feared that the newly debased Japanese ingots might not be easily accepted by Chinese merchants, and so were hesitant to accept them; prices rose, and Tsushima's revenues for the year were severely negatively impacted.<ref>Hellyer, 60.</ref> They were permitted soon afterwards to return to using 80% ingots, specially minted just for trade with Korea; [[Satsuma han]] complained about the impact upon its trade with [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]] as well, but received only lesser concessions. Regardless, only four years later, in [[1715]], [[Arai Hakuseki]] engineered a return to 80% ingots more broadly.<ref>Hellyer, 65.</ref>
The dearth of silver in the country led to numerous remintings and depreciations of the [[currency]], with the Yotsuhô currency issued in [[1711]] the most depreciated in the period, at only 20% pure silver.<ref>Hellyer, 67.</ref> One of the first major instances of this took place in [[1695]], when the government moved from 80% silver Keichô coins to 64% silver [[Genroku]] coins. Gold coins were reduced to 57% gold at that same time.<ref>Hellyer, 59.</ref> These debasements brought much-needed savings, or profits, for the shogunate's finances, typically worth millions of ''ryô''. They created problems at times, however, for foreign trade, as the 80% silver Keichô ingots used throughout the 17th century were highly trusted and widely able to be circulated throughout the region, second only to the 90% silver [[Mexican silver dollar]], the standard means of exchange for both East Asian and European traders at the time. Following the Genroku debasement, Korean merchants trading with agents from [[Tsushima han]] feared that the newly debased Japanese ingots might not be easily accepted by Chinese merchants, and so were hesitant to accept them; prices rose, and Tsushima's revenues for the year were severely negatively impacted.<ref>Hellyer, 60.</ref> They were permitted soon afterwards to return to using 80% ingots, specially minted just for trade with Korea; [[Satsuma han]] complained about the impact upon its trade with [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]] as well, but received only lesser concessions. Regardless, only four years later, in [[1715]], [[Arai Hakuseki]] engineered a return to 80% ingots more broadly.<ref>Hellyer, 65.</ref>
Some scholars and policy-makers, including Shogun [[Tokugawa Ienobu]] and agricultural thinker [[Miyazaki Yasusada]], discussed the possibility of a centrally coordinated, directed, effort to grow cash crops for export, as a means of reducing the outflow of precious metals. Shogun [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]] took active steps to pursue this sort of program, requesting gazetteers and other materials out of the [[Momijiyama Library|Momijiyama shogunate library]], commissioning Japanese and Chinese scholars to perform investigations and reports, and even building experimental agricultural stations. [[Sugar|Sugar cane]] was among the chief products the shogunate aimed to encourage. These programs were successful to a point, introducing a variety of cash crops to a number of regions across the archipelago, some of which had profoundly positive impacts upon the local or [[han|domain]] economies; it also spurred considerable growth of scholarly activity in botanical categorization and pharmocopoeia. It did not, however, single-handedly solve the country's silver problem.<ref>Jansen, 35-37.</ref>
In [[1736]], the shogunate debased the coinage again, producing 46% silver ingots known as Genbun coins or Genbun ingots. As domestic production of [[ginseng]] and [[silk]] had grown considerably by this point, the shogunate decided it no longer needed to provide silver to Tsushima to support its trade in these goods, and so put an end to the domain's supply of 80% silver ingots. From that time forward, the domain gradually ceased exporting silver, switching to [[copper]] and other means of payment. Though later reporting that they had not exported any silver since 1736, [[uchi and omote|in truth]] they likely continued to export diminishing amounts up into the 1750s or 1760s.<ref>Hellyer, 77.</ref>
In [[1736]], the shogunate debased the coinage again, producing 46% silver ingots known as Genbun coins or Genbun ingots. As domestic production of [[ginseng]] and [[silk]] had grown considerably by this point, the shogunate decided it no longer needed to provide silver to Tsushima to support its trade in these goods, and so put an end to the domain's supply of 80% silver ingots. From that time forward, the domain gradually ceased exporting silver, switching to [[copper]] and other means of payment. Though later reporting that they had not exported any silver since 1736, [[uchi and omote|in truth]] they likely continued to export diminishing amounts up into the 1750s or 1760s.<ref>Hellyer, 77.</ref>
