著者

大田 由紀夫

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.61, no.2, pp.156-184,282, 1995

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It is well known that the copper cash minted by successive Chinese dynasties circulated throughout East Asia. However, the actual patterns of circulation have not been fully researched. This article approaches the subject by referring to the movement of currency in the Japanese Medieval period. There were two periods, from 1215 to 1225 and in the 1270s, when copper cash circulated actively in Japan. On both occasions this was because of large outflows of copper cash from China after it had been banned and was therefore not in demand, in northern China under the reign of the Chin dynasty in the first case and in Chiangnan region under the reign of the Yuan dynasty in the second case While the introduction of the copper cash from China encouraged a remarkable development of the market economy in Japan, it also disturbed the established political and social order. After this, the movements of Chinese currency continued to have a great influence on Japanese currency, as when the early Ming seclusion policy led to a decline in the inflow of copper cash into Japan. Furthermore, the fact that Chinese copper cash only became a principal currency in Japan when it ceased to be a means of payment to and by the state in China, clearly shows that the circulation of Chinese copper cash in Medieval Japan did not signify the incorporation of Japan into the internal Chinese currency system.