An enormous hoard of bronze coins was found at a 15th century samurai's house north of Tokyo. See: https://www.archaeology.org/issues/304-1807/from-the-trenches/6693-trenches-japan-samurai-coin-hoard
I was intrigued by this too, the article implies that this is more than what this rural area would be expected to have in circulation One rich Samurai!!
Here are 2 more articles about it. 1. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2020/10/26/archaeologists/ 2. https://www.gainesvillecoins.com/blog/260000-ancient-bronze-coins-found-japan All of the coins seem to have been cast in China. I don't know, if Japan was creating coins, during the 15 century AD. Most Japanese cast coins, that I see for sale, seem to be from the 17th century AD and later. Perhaps people in Japan used Chinese coins, before the 17th century AD. I don't know. I'm not an expert in Japanese coins. According to one of the above articles, the coins in the pot, seem to be from the Ming Dynasty, which ruled China from 1368 AD to 1644 AD. Ming Dynasty coins, especially from the 15th century AD and earlier, seem to be relatively scarce. This could be a very valuable hoard, from a financial perspective, if the coins are ever sold. Or it may flood the market, if the coins are ever sold. But I'm no expert in Ming Dynasty coins. According to one of the above articles, other coins found at the same excavation, seem to be from the Tang Dynasty, which ruled China from 618 AD to 907 AD. That's a lot earlier, and very curious.
P.S. : According to this Wikipedia article : "Chinese coinage came to be used as the standard currency of Japan, for a period lasting from the 12th to the 17th century. Coins were obtained from China through trade or through "Wakō" piracy. Coins were also imported from Annam (modern Vietnam) and Korea." However, before the 12th century AD, it seems that Japan created its own coins. Also, sometime between the 12th century AD and the 17th century AD, local Japanese persons created imitations of Chinese coins. But these imitations were worth way less, than the Chinese coins, that they imitated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_currency#Chinese_coinage_(12th–17th_centuries)
The coins are interesting, but I am more impressed by that container! Can you imagine the size of the pottery wheel needed to spin that thing!?
Imagine an economy where the only unit of currency is the cent. The center hole enabled the coins to strung in more useful numbers but substantial transactions are known to have required carts to haul the payment. Hoards like this and larger - sometimes much larger - are common in China, less so in Japan. In China, large hoards are almost always found in tombs. Who says you can't take it with you?
One of the (many) reasons why China developed paper money was that it just became too gosh-darn annoying to carry these massive loads of metal all over the place. You'd have to carry at least an extra donkey for each sales trip just to carry the coins back and forth.
But paper money is not always the solution, as evidenced by this German gentleman just leaving home a few minutes to buy cigarettes in the 1920s.
