This article explores the conception and execution of paper currency schemes in Tokugawa Japan (1603–1868). Paper currency was widely used as a form of local money in early modern Japan, but has received close to no attention in Anglophone scholarship even amid a recent upsurge in interest in the global history of money. From the perspective of monetary history, Tokugawa paper currency presents an intriguing puzzle. Even as paper currencies repeatedly collapsed in value, they remained in common use as an essential component of the early modern monetary system. Using the case of Sendai domain, a large fiefdom in northeastern Japan, the article argues that the monetary practices and expectations of ordinary subjects transformed paper money, created through partnerships between the samurai ruling class and powerful merchant financiers, from a tool meant to serve the interests of state finances into a low-denomination currency convenient for everyday transactions, resulting in the bills’ surprising longevity as a form of small change. Drawing on approaches that centre the role of non-state and marginal actors in the making of money, it sheds new light on the political economy of late Tokugawa Japan and offers new insights into the global history of money.

中文翻译：

---

近代早期日本纸币的制作

本文探讨了日本德川时期（1603-1868 年）纸币计划的设计和执行。在近代早期的日本，纸币被广泛用作当地货币的一种形式，但即使在最近人们对全球货币史的兴趣高涨的情况下，纸币也几乎没有受到英语学术界的关注。从货币史的角度来看，德川纸币呈现出一个耐人寻味的谜题。尽管纸币的价值一再暴跌，但它们仍然作为早期现代货币体系的重要组成部分而被普遍使用。本文以仙台藩（日本东北部的一个大封地）为例，认为普通臣民的货币实践和期望将武士统治阶级与强大的商业金融家之间合作创建的纸币从一种旨在服务于民众的工具转变为纸币。国家财政的利益转化为方便日常交易的小面额货币，导致纸币作为一种小额零钱的形式具有惊人的寿命。它借鉴了以非国家和边缘行为者在货币创造中的作用为中心的方法，为日本德川晚期的政治经济提供了新的视角，并为全球货币史提供了新的见解。