Changes

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 ''[[chonin|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 [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunate]], known as ''koban'', and worth one ''ryô'' apiece.

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 ''[[chonin|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 [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunate]], known as ''koban'', and worth one ''ryô'' apiece.

   

   

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 [[chonin|merchant class]] who earned their incomes in gold and silver.<ref>Screech, Timon. "Owning Edo-Period Paintings." in Lillehoj, Elizabeth (ed.) ''Acquisition: Art and Ownership in Edo-Period Japan''. Floating World Editions, 2007. p34.</ref>

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, with 19 separate incidents of currency devaluation between [[1819]] and [[1837]] alone,<ref>Conrad Schirokauer, David Lurie, and Suzanne Gay, ''A Brief History of Japanese Civilization'', Wadsworth Cengage (2013), 153.</ref> 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 [[chonin|merchant class]] who earned their incomes in gold and silver.<ref>Screech, Timon. "Owning Edo-Period Paintings." in Lillehoj, Elizabeth (ed.) ''Acquisition: Art and Ownership in Edo-Period Japan''. Floating World Editions, 2007. p34.</ref>

The use of the gold ''koban'', however, was most common in and around [[Edo]], and the farther one traveled from Edo, the less standard it became. At the beginning of the Edo period, there were over one hundred types of gold coins in circulation,<ref>Crawcour and Yamamura. p490.</ref> and so in many parts of the country, particularly the active commercial centers of [[Kyoto]] and [[Osaka]], and other areas at a considerable distance from Edo, currency continued to be valued by weight, and not by face value. While gold coins were particularly standard in Edo, in the rest of the country, silver and copper coins remained quite common, and were valued by their weight, in ''momme''. One ''momme'' of silver was a little less than 4 grams. The most common denomination of silver was a 43 ''momme'' nugget called a ''chôgin''.<ref name=obtaining>Timon Screech, ''Obtaining Images'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 79.</ref> One hundred ''momme'' of copper coins were worth roughly one ''momme'' of silver, and one thousand ''momme'' was called one ''kanme''. Weights, previously not fully standardized, were in the Edo period restricted to those produced by the [[Goto family|Gotô family]], whose weights were to be used in all transactions for weighing out, for example, gold or silver. (Rice was measured by volume, not by weight.) [[Goto Tokujo|Gotô Tokujô]], who produced weights and coins for [[Oda Nobunaga]], and gold engraver [[Goto Yujo|Gotô Yûjô]] (1440-1512) were members/ancestors of this family.

The use of the gold ''koban'', however, was most common in and around [[Edo]], and the farther one traveled from Edo, the less standard it became. At the beginning of the Edo period, there were over one hundred types of gold coins in circulation,<ref>Crawcour and Yamamura. p490.</ref> and so in many parts of the country, particularly the active commercial centers of [[Kyoto]] and [[Osaka]], and other areas at a considerable distance from Edo, currency continued to be valued by weight, and not by face value. While gold coins were particularly standard in Edo, in the rest of the country, silver and copper coins remained quite common, and were valued by their weight, in ''momme''. One ''momme'' of silver was a little less than 4 grams. The most common denomination of silver was a 43 ''momme'' nugget called a ''chôgin''.<ref name=obtaining>Timon Screech, ''Obtaining Images'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 79.</ref> One hundred ''momme'' of copper coins were worth roughly one ''momme'' of silver, and one thousand ''momme'' was called one ''kanme''. Weights, previously not fully standardized, were in the Edo period restricted to those produced by the [[Goto family|Gotô family]], whose weights were to be used in all transactions for weighing out, for example, gold or silver. (Rice was measured by volume, not by weight.) [[Goto Tokujo|Gotô Tokujô]], who produced weights and coins for [[Oda Nobunaga]], and gold engraver [[Goto Yujo|Gotô Yûjô]] (1440-1512) were members/ancestors of this family.