Japan. Birth of the Shogunate. Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豐臣秀吉。 Tensho Tsuho. Momoyama period. Tensho era year 15 (1587). Silver. Very rare. Issued by the Shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the 15th year of the Tensho era. This marked the period where Japan was unified under the authority of the Shogunate during the Momoyama warring period. Toyotomi Hideyoshi took over the mantle and authority of his lord Oda Nobunaga after his assassination and managed to finally unite Japan after years of feudal separation. This coin marked the first time after almost half a millennium when a local exclusively Japanese coinage was casted when Japan predominantly imported and traded foreign cash coins from China or issued local Chinese imitations. Secondly, these silver Tensho Tsuho were minted exclusively as official rewards to Hideyoshi's officers with Merit and not for general circulation although subsequent attempts to cast bronze variants for mass circulation was considered but failed. Thirdly these were only a 1 year issue and not long after his death his clan and successors were succeeded by the powerful warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu who founded the Tokugawa Shogunate which held power until the Meiji reformation.
