Japan: 'Kobundo' gold coin of the Tokugawa Period (16th century)

From the 16th century, local currencies started to be made in Japan, with the minting of local coins, sometimes in gold. The Takeda clan of Kōshū minted gold coins which were later adopted by the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Hideyoshi unified Japan, and thus centralized most of the minting of large denomination silver and gold coins, effectively putting in place the basis of a unified currency system. Hideyoshi developed the large Ōban plate, also called the Tenshō Ōban, in 1588, a predecessor to Tokugawa gold coinage.

A common practice in that period was also to melt gold into copper molds for convenience, derived from the sycee manufacturing method. These were called Bundōkin, of which there were two types, the small Kobundō and the large Ōbundō. A Kobundō would represent about 373g in gold.

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Pictures From History

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TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE