著者

鈴木 公雄

出版者

社会経済史学会

雑誌

社会経済史学 (ISSN:00380113)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.53, no.6, pp.749-775, 1988

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Although the significance of the archaeological approaches has been neglected in the historical study of the Edo period, the present paper, by combining archaeological materials with historical documents, aims at illuminating the Tokugawa government's monetary policy in the seventeenth century. Numerous copper currencies discovered from 153 graves of that period are undoubtedly important archaeological materials to specify the currencies in circulation. These currencies called Rokudosen (六道銭), buried as grave goods, can be classified into the four major types: the imported Chinese currencies (Toraisen 渡来銭), Kokan'eitsuho (古寛永通宝 first issued in 1636), Bunsen (文銭 in 1668) and Shinkan'eitstuho (新寛永通宝 in 1697). The patterns of their frequency distributions, analyzed by "frequency seriation" which is commonly used in the chronological study of prehistoric archaeology, indicate that the replacement of Toraisen by Kokan'eitstuho was achieved promptly. On the other hand, the transition from Kokan'eitsuho to Bunsen and from Bunsen to Shinkan'eitsuho required rather long duration. It is worth noting that the above observation corresponds to the descriptions of some historical documents on the government's monetary policy. The documents such as Shukubashiryo (宿場史料) indicate that the government intended to exclude the older, imported currencies, and that the government prohibited their use in 1670. The validity of these descriptions was hardly demonstrated in the previous studies; however, the result of "frequency seriation" obtained from the excavated currencies represents that the government's policy was effectively carried out. The consistency of the government's monetary policy, which is partly reflected in some documents, can be more clearly characterized by synthesizing both archaeological and historical evidence.