ABSTRACT
The financial system during the Tokugawa Age was not, of course, so perfectly organized as to-day, but considerable progress had been made. We find in this period the Kaisha, similar in its nature to the company of to-day; the Ryoge doing the same business as a modern bank; the Tanomoshi-ko, a monetary organ for mutual help; and the Myomoku-kin. This Myomoku-kin was unique in its nature and origin and fulfilled much the same functions as a bank does now. Originally the Myomoku-kin was a sort of government money, and the term was applied to the money that the Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines under the supervision of the Government, and the Court nobles in Kyoto lent with the permission of the Shogunate to the general people. Since the loan was made under the sanction of the Shogunate, the Tribune was very severe in enforcing payment in case of delay, and it had preferential rights over other debts. In the early days the Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, and Court nobles supplied all the money, but in course of time the greater part of the funds was furnished by private financiers or the general public, the temples and nobles lending little but their names, hence Myomoku-kin or nominal money. In a few words, Myomoku-kin set up a right in the names of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines under the direct supervision of the Imperial Court or of the Shogunate, and of Court nobles, and with this right for the centre it invited the general public to invest their money in what was really a joint-stock partnership, which lent money at a very high rate of interest.
