Kinza

• Founded: 1601
• Japanese: 金座 (kinza)

The Kinza was the chief bank and mint of the Tokugawa shogunate. It was operated under the supervision or authority of the kanjô bugyô, usually a member of the Gotô clan, and handled a variety of tasks related to managing the realm's currency, including the purchase or acquisition of raw metal, minting, inspection, exchange or conversion

The Kinza was originally built in Edo in 1601, when Tokugawa Ieyasu invited metalworker Gotô Shôzaburô from Kyoto to oversee the minting of koban coins. The Kinza was expanded considerably in 1612 when it absorbed the bank & mint which had been located in Sunpu.

Today, the Bank of Japan still stands on the former site of the Kinza.

References

• "Kinza." Hyakka jiten Mypedia 百科事典マイペディア. Hitachi Solutions, 2008-2010. Accessed via kotobank.jp, 30 October 2011.
• Screech, Timon. "An Iconography of Nihon-bashi." in Theories and Methods in Japanese Studies: Current State and Future Developments. Bonn University Press, 2008. p330.