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The koban (小判) was a Japanese oval gold coin, cast on the order of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Edo period (Keichō era) feudal Japan and a part of Tokugawa coinage.

History

Minting of koban, Ōban and other coins began in year 1601 (year 5 of the Keichō era), signifying the beginning of the Tokugawa coinage. The Keichō era koban was issued with a face value of one ryō. Despite the existence of other gold and silver coins at the time, through a series of reforms the Bakufu managed to stabilize the koban to ryō 1:1 valuation by the end of the seventeenth century.

Nowadays, gold-foil cardboard versions of koban are sold as Engimono (縁起物, talisman/lucky charm) at Shinto shrines.

Foreign trade

The Japanese economy before the mid-19th century was based largely on rice. The standard unit of measure was the koku, the amount of rice needed to feed one person for one year. Farmers made their tax payments of rice which eventually made its way into the coffers of the central government; and similarly, vassals were annually paid a specified koku of rice. The Portuguese who came to Japan in the 1550s, however, preferred gold to rice; and the koban, which was equal to three koku of rice, became the coin of choice in foreign trade.

Some feudal lords began minting their own koban, but the value was debased with alloys of varying gold content. Edo authorities issued one currency reform after another and just about all of them debased the koban further. Additionally, counterfeit koban circulated after each reform, their value slightly less than that of the then current koban. By the time of Commodore Matthew C. Perry's visit in 1853, counterfeit koban from previous eras were preferred by merchants to the newer variants. The fraudulent older pieces were more valuable than newly minted koban.

With the Meiji Restoration in 1868 a new series of coins was ordered based on European currency systems and the koban was discontinued.

In Popular Culture

Meowth from the Pokémon series has a koban (referred to in the English dub as a "charm") on its forehead.

See also

• Ōban
• Ryō
• Omamori
• Ofuda
  • Fulu
• Spirit tablet
• Thai Buddha amulet

External links

• Koban philately

References

1. ^ Kobata, A. (1965). "The Production and Uses of Gold and Silver in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Japan". The Economic History Review. 18 (2): 245–266. doi:10.2307/2592093. ISSN 0013-0117. JSTOR 2592093.
2. ^ Lucassen, Jan (2007). Wages and Currency: Global Comparisons from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-03910-782-7.
3. ^ Crawcour, E. S.; Yamamura, Kozo (1970). "The Tokugawa Monetary System: 1787-1868". Economic Development and Cultural Change. 18 (4): 489–518. ISSN 0013-0079. JSTOR 1152130.
4. Stevenson, Jed. "PASTIMES: Numismatics". The New York Times. September 3, 1989. Accessed August 19, 2009.

v t e Japanese currency (pre-yen)
	Topics	Currency Museum (Japan) Kocho Junisen List of Japanese cash coins by inscription List of Japanese coinage patterns Mother coin Nagasaki trade coins Numismatic charm Momme (unit) Yen currency
	Coinage	Pre-Edo Mumonginsen 667–672 Fuhonsen 683 Wadōkaichin 708–958 Kaiki Shoho 760 Taihei Genpō 760 Edo Koban 1601–1868 Kan'ei Tsūhō 1626–1868 Ichibuban 1714–1854 Shu (silver) 1772–1869 Shu (gold) 1824–1869 Tenpō Tsūhō 1835-1870 Ichibugin 1837–1869 Multi Chinese coinage c. 1101–1700 Mon 1336–1870 Bitasen 1404–1670 Ryukyuan mon 1454–1879 Ryō 1500s–1871 Koshu Gold 1506–1871 Ōban 1573–1862
	Paper currency	Edo period scrip Hatamoto Negotiable instrument Rice stamps

• Gold coins
• Coins of Japan
• Economy of feudal Japan
• Modern obsolete currencies
• Japanese gold coins
• Currencies of Japan