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Though used in Japan since nearly the earliest times, silver became particularly prominent in regional maritime trade and domestic concerns in the 16th-18th centuries.

Though used in Japan since nearly the earliest times, silver became particularly prominent in regional maritime trade and domestic concerns in the 16th-18th centuries.

Silver was a major export of Japan in the 16th-17th centuries, with Japanese silver mines being in fact one of the chief sources of silver in the world market at that time, alongside the mines at Potosi in Bolivia.<ref>[[Kobata Atsushi]], "Production and Uses of Gold and Silver in Sixteenth- and Seventeeth-Century Japan," ''The Economic History Review'', New Series, 18:2 (1965), 245-266.</ref> As silver was the chief means of payment for Chinese goods, it flowed out of the country in incredible amounts, via [[Chinese in Nagasaki|Chinese]] and [[VOC|Dutch]] merchants at [[Nagasaki]], and via the [[Tsushima han|Tsushima]]-[[Joseon|Korea]] and [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]]-[[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]] trades. This considerable outflow became a major concern of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] in the 17th century, and various steps were taken in efforts to reduce the outflow of silver while trying to avoid any downward impact upon the volume of imports of Chinese [[silk]]. In the end, even as Japanese mines bled dry, by the 1760s<ref>Robert Hellyer cites [[1764]] as the turning point. Hellyer, 73.</ref> Japan had successfully halted the outflow of silver from the country, chiefly through processes of import- & export-substitution, and began to in fact ''import'' gold and silver.

Silver was a major export of Japan in the 16th-17th centuries, with Japanese silver mines being in fact one of the chief sources of silver in the world market at that time, alongside the mines at Potosi in Bolivia.<ref>[[Kobata Atsushi]], "Production and Uses of Gold and Silver in Sixteenth- and Seventeeth-Century Japan," ''The Economic History Review'', New Series, 18:2 (1965), 245-266.</ref> Japan may have accounted for as much as one-third of the total world silver output at that time.<ref>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 16.</ref> As silver was the chief means of payment for Chinese goods, it flowed out of the country in incredible amounts, via [[Chinese in Nagasaki|Chinese]] and [[VOC|Dutch]] merchants at [[Nagasaki]], and via the [[Tsushima han|Tsushima]]-[[Joseon|Korea]] and [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]]-[[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]] trades. This considerable outflow became a major concern of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] in the 17th century, and various steps were taken in efforts to reduce the outflow of silver while trying to avoid any downward impact upon the volume of imports of Chinese [[silk]]. In the end, even as Japanese mines bled dry, by the 1760s<ref>Robert Hellyer cites [[1764]] as the turning point. Hellyer, 73.</ref> Japan had successfully halted the outflow of silver from the country, chiefly through processes of import- & export-substitution, and began to in fact ''import'' gold and silver.

Throughout the Edo period, silver was measured chiefly by weight, not by coin, in everyday market interactions in [[Kamigata]] ([[Kansai]]), where it was the standard mode of [[currency]] ([[gold]] was more standard in [[Edo]]). The most common denomination of silver was a 43 ''[[Japanese Measurements|momme]]'' nugget called a ''chôgin''.<ref>[[Timon Screech]], ''Obtaining Images'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 79.</ref>

Throughout the Edo period, silver was measured chiefly by weight, not by coin, in everyday market interactions in [[Kamigata]] ([[Kansai]]), where it was the standard mode of [[currency]] ([[gold]] was more standard in [[Edo]]). The most common denomination of silver was a 43 ''[[Japanese Measurements|momme]]'' nugget called a ''chôgin''.<ref>[[Timon Screech]], ''Obtaining Images'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 79.</ref>