Currency

A number of different modes of currency were used throughout Japanese history, including, in the pre-modern period, the heavy use of Chinese coins. By the Edo period, a relatively standardized system of gold and silver coinage was in place, though it experienced dramatic inflation and devaluation, among other financial crises, at times. Systems which served as precursors for a "modern" system of banks and paper currency, along with futures markets and other such economic/financial developments, emerged in the 18th-19th centuries, and beginning in the Meiji period, "modern" systems based on the Western model were established.

Edo Period

Samurai stipends in the Edo period were paid out in koku, i.e. in rice. However, gold and silver coinage was used in everyday exchanges (especially among chônin/commoners - peasants, merchants, artisans, etc.). In Edo, gold was more widely circulated, while in Kamigata (the Kyoto-Osaka area), silver was more commonly the mode of exchange.

Gold was exchanged in relatively standardized coins issued by the shogunate, including the ôban and the koban, worth different denominations of ryô. A ryô was considered to be roughly equal to one koku, which in turn is said to have been roughly the amount of rice needed to feed a man for a year. However, rice and gold prices fluctuated dramatically over the course of the period, and the exact amount of rice that comprised a koku is, in any case, a subject of debate. Over the course of the Edo period, the cost of rice dropped dramatically relative to the value of gold, making samurai (who relied on stipends paid in koku) less and less wealthy than members of the merchant class who earned their incomes in gold and silver.

Silver and copper also existed in the form of coins. However, these were generally counted not by number of coins, but rather by weight, in momme. One hundred momme were worth roughly one momme of silver, and one thousand momme was called one kanme.

Prices

Though prices varied widely, of course, over time, from place to place, and depending on the quality of the goods or other factors, the following figures might provide a rough idea of prices (i.e. the value of the ryô) in the "high" Edo period (18th to early 19th centuries).

• 2 or 3 momme - a cheap ukiyo-e print
• 20 momme - an ukiyo-e print of good quality.
• 32 momme - the cost of seeing a play at Ryôgoku in 1820.
• 75 momme - the cost of the journey from Osaka to Nagasaki by boat (roughly 14-20 days).
• 90 momme - the cost of a multi-volume illustrated book, such as Soga Monogatari.
• 1000 momme or 1/4 ryô - the cost of sending a child to terakoya (temple school) for a year
• 1 ryô - the cost for a man's formal kamishimo outfit, including hakama, haori, and kosode.
• 1 ryô - the cost of commissioning a scroll painting by a well-known painter; a screen painting by the same painter might cost roughly 6-10 ryô.
• 2-3 ryô - the cost of hiring a maid for a year (i.e. the income made by a maid in a year)
• 6 ryô - a typical annual wage for a laborer
• 6 to 10 ryô - the fee to commission a major artist for a single set of lavish byôbu (folding screen) paintings; could be as much as even 40 ryô depending.
• 10 ryô - the cost of a first visit to a Yoshiwara establishment, including tips for the nakai and taikomochi.
• 200 ryô - A month in the Yoshiwara could cost as much as this.
• 360 ryô - the cost of buying a small room (80 sq yards) in Edo.
• 483 ryô - The annual salary of a typical hatamoto in 1711.
• 500 ryô - The cap on kabuki actors' salaries, imposed by the Kansei Reforms in 1794.
• 800 ryô The salary of kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjūrō I (1660-1704) peaked at this amount.
• 1000 ryô - Yoshizawa Ayame I (1663-1729) was the first kabuki actor to attain an annual salary of this amount.

See Also

• 一文と一両の価値 (The Value of a Mon and a Ryô). Lists and charts of incomes and typical costs for goods and services in the Edo period. (In Japanese)
• 装備品 (Equipment). Costs for typical goods in the Edo period. (In Japanese)