Koban (coin)

The Japanese economy before the mid-19th century was based largely on rice. The standard unit of measure was the koku, the amount of rice needed to feed one person for one year. Farmers made their tax payments of rice which eventually made its way into the coffers of the central government; and similarly, vassals were annually paid a specified koku of rice. The Portuguese who came to Japan in the 1550s, however, preferred gold to rice; and the koban, which was equal to three koku of rice, became the coin of choice in foreign trade.

Some feudal lords began minting their own koban, but the value was debased with alloys of varying gold content. Edo authorities issued one currency reform after another and just about all of them debased the koban further. Additionally, counterfeit koban circulated after each reform, their value slightly less than that of the then current koban. By the time of Commodore Matthew C. Perry's visit in 1853, counterfeit koban from previous eras were preferred by merchants to the newer variants. The fraudulent older pieces were more valuable than newly minted koban.

With the Meiji Restoration in 1868 a new series of coins was ordered based on European currency systems and the koban was discontinued.[1]

Size evolution of the Koban during the Tokugawa period. From left to right: Keichō koban (1601-1695), Genroku koban (1695-1710), Hōei koban (1710-1714), Shōtoku koban (1714), Kyōhō koban (1714-1736), Genbun koban (1736-1818), Bunsei koban (1819-1828), Tenpō koban (1837-1858), Ansei koban (1859), Man'en koban (1860-1867).

Meowth from the Pokémon series has a koban (referred to in the English dub as a "charm") on its forehead. Pay Day, the signature attack of the species, is known as Coin for a Cat (ネコにこばん, Neko ni Koban) in Japanese, meaning as above. This move scatters coins, which the player can collect after the battle.

In the highly successful Konami franchise The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, the lead character Goemon throws koban as shurikens.

The Japanese idiom neko ni koban (猫に小判, literally, "gold coins for cats") is an equivalent for casting pearls before swine.

The Maneki Neko is often depicted holding a koban, though the koban most Maneki Neko hold is indicated to be worth ten million ryō.

In Super Mario Odyssey, the regional coins in Bowser's Kingdom are kobans with Bowser's face on them.