ABSTRACT
THE GROWTH OF THE BIMETALLIC STANDARD.-Most of the historians of the past, when discussing the question of the currency system of the Tokugawa era, lay stress upon the minting of debased gold and silver coins during the Genroku era and the currency reform of the Genbun eras, attaching to them more importance than is their due. The outstanding event in the history of money during the Tokugawa period is undoubtedly the currency reforms of the Meiwa and Anyei eras, whereby the equivalent of gold was officially set at a certain quantity of silver coins and not based on weight, or, in other words, a bimetallic standard was adopted. In the Kamigata districts from the Ashikaga period there had already existed a weight ratio between gold and silver, and when the Tokugawa Shogunate began to mine gold largely in the east, and made gold coins in great numbers, the silver standard of the Kamigata and the gold standard of the east became two opposing systems, which opened a door to speculation in exchange fluctuations. According to the practice of the day, when payment in Osaka was made in gold, the amount was computed according to the silver basis; while in Edo, when payment was made in silver, it was computed in terms of gold. In the Meiwa and Anyei periods the Shogunate, for the first time, turned out 2-shu silver coins, ordaining that 8 shu should be equal to I ryo of gold, regardless of the comparative convertible value of the respective metals. For the first time, then, there came into existence a denomination of I ryo, which permitted equal transactions whether paid in gold or silver. This was a unique and insignificant reform in the annals of the country's currency system.
