The first official coin minted by Japanie

Wadokaichin. Ancient Japan.

Nara period. 708-759. Extremely rare. Ex Stephen Album.



Officially, they should have been pronounced as Wado Kaiho. The zhen 珎 was an archaic attempt by the Japanese to simplify the intended character of treasure "寳" (pronounced as Ho) by retaining only the centre particle. The wado was significant to the Japanese as they were their first attempt to mint their own coinage as opposed to importing and using the Tang Dynasty Kaiyuan Tongbao (開元通寶）. Officially decreed by the then Empress Genmei in AD708, they imitated the calligraphy of the Tang Kaiyuan (particularly obvious on the Kai character) but using recently discovered copper deposits in the Musashi province. These were separated between the old "Ko" Wado, an intermediary silver Wado and finally from 720-759 the new "Shin" Wado after employing Tang mint officials to improve their minting techniques. Wado incidentally meant Japanese Copper with Wa 和 being the ancient name for Japan and 同 being a possible abbreviation for 銅 meaning copper.

The ko wado is copper but given the infancy of their mintage and purer content, they are significantly cruder and of poor state of preservation. As opposed to the Shin after significant advancements from Tang Dynasty mint officials, the quality is significantly superior.

Today, the Wadokaichin remained a symbolic icon of Japan's economic history. The original copper mine has now become a national historical shrine. More details can be referred to as per link.

http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/wadokuroya-chichibu

 

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Gorgeous specimen...

 

Thank you... I like its history too

 

One interesting fact about Asian coins of this era is how they are so perfectly round compared to European coins of the same era. Why is that? Can you educate me/us on their minting process?

 

Asian coins were all casted. They created moulds which were able to maintain a well rounded and distinct shape from which molten alloy were then poured I and filled up nicely and completely. Newly minted coins look like money trees as the channels which the molten alloy flowed to the moulds formed the "branches". After which the coins were broken off and filed this maintaining a nice round shape to them.

 

Whilst European coins were hammered on pieces of silver or alloy discs. These discs being hand made, cut and trimmed to adjust to a desired weight and size are often uneven. More so when the images are hammered on to them.. Making them fairly inconsistent

 

That sounds like a lot of tedious and meticulous effort went into their process. I can now understand why they could not mass produce coins from each mould.

 

Actually it is very efficient and not tedious at all.. These moulds are recycled. Each mould can create a tree consisting tens to a hundred coins at least.. It is much more efficient to just pour molten alloy to fill up the moulds than to hammer, cut and trim each coin to the correct weight.. Think of it like the ancient production line

 

Thank you for the info. This is what makes Coin Talk so interesting.

 

Thanks.. Glad to be of help

 

What material was used to produce the molds (sand, clay?) and what was used to transfer the master design to that mold? Do master designs/punches exist?

 

The early Han moulds were clay. I believe the later moulds were of superior quality such as the ones used during the Tang and later. I'm not sure yet what materials but need to find out my reference books.

As for the design, they use what is termed as a Mother Coin. Literally carved model coins bearing sharp imprints and thicker which are then used as the models for the moulds. You can occasionally find master coins of the Qing dynasty once in a while and they are very very rare notwithstanding exceptionally expensive.

 

Welcome to CT and thanks for the info. Great history.

 

Wow ! Loong Siew, I hope you stick around. I'm personally not so much into foreign coins, but you have intrigued me.
Thanks for the interesting posting and welcome to Coin Talk.
Dave

 

Gorgeous coin and history Loong! I have often wondered about the origins of Japanese coinage, and considering their relationship with China, this makes sense. Using chines coins wouldn't be another Piece of Chinese culture that Prince Shotoku is credited with bringing to Japan, would it?

 

I like it more if it were mine. This is rather high on my want list.

 

Thanks all. It is uncertain if bringing over the use of Chinese coins is something that Prince Shotoku included although it appears unlikely or at least unrecorded to my knowledge. The barter system was still highly favored back then as the Japanese general populace preferred the exchange of actual goods particularly rice as opposed to currency. Coins were probably more confined to the urban elites around Nara as opposed to the greater part of the country as a more efficient mean on commerce. This was the case for the Wado too thus accounting for their rarity. Also, there is an earlier coin in Japan known as the Fuhonsen 富本錢 that predates the wado by a couple of decades however they are exceptionally rare and regarded as national treasures. Moreover they are still subjected to expert opinion as to their real use as currency (locally at least) or tokens.

 

Also notwithstanding the use of Chinese coins were also due to lack of sufficient copper deposits in Japan itself. The Wado's issuance was also largely influenced by newly discovered deposits during Empress Gemmei's reign as well.

 

I am curious to know when silver was first used for Chinese and Japanese coins?

 

The earliest silver currencies of China were actually ingots that were carefully weighted. They were not exactly coins but we're actual commodities of value and used for large amount transactions or as collateral for backing the copper cash currencies in circulation. The Chinese had a silver standard for centuries since the Tang around 600 AD. If you refer to an actual coin per Se, the earliest based on my knowledge were the silver Da Chao Tong Bao 大朝通寶 seemingly attributed to Genghis Khan but most likely Kublai during the Yuan Dynasty circa 1270 AD

As for the Japanese, the earliest silver coins minted were the casted silver wado kaichin. These were the interim currencies between the Ko and Shin wado.